Wilde and Ordain Named LIU Athletes of the Year
5/4/05 -- Senior Shauna Wilde (Mississauga, Ontario) of the golf team and graduate student Ricardo Ordain (Costa Rica) of the soccer and track and field squads were named LIU Athletes of the Year at the school ’s annual awards banquet at Grand Prospect Hall.
Wilde punctuated her remarkable four-year career by capturing the Northeast Conference individual title as well as being named NEC Women’s Golfer of the Year. That effort helped the Blackbirds claim their first NEC crown and first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The four-year standout captured the conference title by shooting a two-round total of 149, smashing her own record by seven shots from 2002 when she lost a sudden-death playoff. Wilde, who has an 80.6 average over her last seven rounds, opened the tournament with a career-best and tournament-record 73 before closing with 76. It was her second individual title.
Ordain made an immediate impact for the soccer squad in helping them capture the NEC title and advance to the NCAA College Cup. His 12 points, along with four assists were tied for eighth in the conference and helped place him on the first team all-league squad.
Always giving the Blackbirds a gutsy effort at forward game-in and game-out with passion and enthusiasm, Ordain made his impact in just one season after transferring from league-rival St. Francis (NY). He is pictured below with track and field coach Julia Sandiford and soccer coach TJ Kostecky.
Junior Krystal Mejia (Sylmar, Calif.) of the softball team won the Michelle Hamdan Memorial Award and senior Jonas Stigh (Trollhattan, Sweden) from the soccer squad received the Leonard Ching International Student Award.
Senior Shaun Johnson (Ontario, Canada) of the track and field team won the Dolly King Award, given to the student-athlete who best typifies the ideals of leadership, sportsmanship and achievement. Senior Veronica Lopes (Mississauga, Ontario) from the golf squad received the Claire Isicson-Merle Award, name in honor of LIU's first female athlete.
David Ledet (Houma, La.) of the soccer team and fellow senior Veronica Apostu-Efremov (Bucharest, Romania) of the tennis squad were named Scholar-Athletes of the Year. The two are pictured to the right.