VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball player
Devan Bade and volleyball player
Tsvetelina Ilieva have been chosen as the SUNY Scholar-Athletes of the Year for 2024-25. The pair were selected from a pool of sport winners throughout the year, giving the Bearcats a sweep of the most prominent SUNY scholar-athlete recognition.
The SUNY Scholar Athlete Award honors student-athletes for combining academic achievement with success in the arena of athletic competition. Students are nominated by their institutions based on their cumulative grade point average, current and career statistics, and athletic and academic honors. In the spring, fall and winter, student-athletes from each division are selected as winners, and in July two student athletes are selected as the overall men's and women's winners from each division.
Bade, who carried a 3.63 GPA in electrical engineering, capped his stellar four-year career with one final honor. In May, he steered the Bearcats to another America East title and accompanying NCAA Regional appearance. Bade was a first team all-conference selection and at the conference tournament, he was named Most Outstanding Player after amassing 12 hits and 12 RBI in five games. He hit .348 and led the conference with 59 RBI. Bade ranked among the top-5 in conference in hits (73), HR (11) and RBI and graduated among Binghamton's all-time top-5 in hits, runs, HR, RBI, slugging and on-base percentage. In addition to the SUNY scholar honors, he was named to the America East All-Academic Team.
Ilieva graduated in December after closing her record-setting volleyball career. She departed as a three-time America East Player of the Year and three-time All-American – both "firsts" for a Binghamton team sport athlete. Ilieva also was named the University's Athlete of the Year three consecutive years, the first time that has happened in 27 years. Academically, Ilieva was equally elite, having garnered national Academic All-America accolades by the College Sports Communicators (CSC). Only seven other Binghamton athletes have earned that distinction during the program's 25 years at NCAA Division I. Thanks to a 3.99 cumulative GPA in business administration, she graduated with the highest GPA of any Bearcat student-athlete and was named an America East Presidential Scholar-Athlete.
