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Binghamton University Athletics

2025 SUNY CHANCELLORS
©2025 Nick Grace

Leitner, Thomas named SUNY Chancellor XC Scholar-Athletes

| By: David O’Brian (dobrian@binghamton.edu)
Nick Thomas and Sydney Leitner

Bearcat duo honored for academic and athletic success

VESTAL, N.Y. - Senior women's cross country runner Sydney Leitner and sophomore men's cross country runner Nick Thomas have been named the SUNY Chancellor's Scholar Athletes in their respective sports for the 2025-26 academic year.

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.

Leitner is the women's cross country SUNY Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete for the second year in a row. She placed a career-best fourth overall at the America East Championships back on Oct. 31. In the process, she earned first-team all-conference honors for the fourth year in a row. In the classroom, Leitner has been named to the America East All-Academic Team twice during her career and this past April, she was inducted into the National College Athlete Honor Society.

Thomas, meanwhile, was the men's cross country SUNY Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete for the first time in his career. He placed sixth overall at the aforementioned America East Championships, earning first-team all-conference honors in the process. In the classroom, he too was named to the America East All-Academic Team. 

More than 14,000 student-athletes compete at SUNY institutions representing 53 different colleges and universities at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III/USCAA and NJCAA levels and are eligible for the awards. The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognize outstanding academic and athletic success in 29 different sports and are presented three times a year to coincide with the specific sports contested in the fall, winter and spring seasons. The Scholar Athletes of the Year in each sport will then be nominated for an overall Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's sports and women's sports in each category that will be announced in mid-July.

Since the 2003-04 academic year, 97 Binghamton student-athletes across all sports have been named SUNY Chancellor's Scholar Athletes. 

 
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