AMHERST, N.Y. - Kevin Roginson (Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) of the men's cross country and track & field teams has been named the College's 2016-17 Male Athlete of the Year. The announcement was made tonight at the Daemen ESPY's, the Athletic Department's end of the year awards galaheld in Lumsden Gymnasium, and the award was presented by head strength and conditioning coach and Daemen alumnus Kyle Clifford.

The junior enjoyed a breakout season this past fall while leading the cross country team to a third-place showing at the East Coast Conference championship—the Wildcats' best-ever finish at the event.

He registered a top-10 finish in five of the seven races he competed in last fall. The highlight of the season came on Sept. 24 at the Harry F. Anderson Invitational in Rochester, N.Y., as he placed first out of 213 runners—making him the first Daemen runner to win an event since the program transitioned to Division II. His school-record time of 25:32.6 was a new team record for an 8K race and knocked more than 50 seconds off his previous personal-best time. Roginson finished fifth at the ECC Championship, the highest-ever finish at the event by a Daemen runner, and capped the season with a sixth-pace showing (out of 169 runners) at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) East Regional in Hopkington, N.H. For his efforts, he earned first-team All-ECC and first-team All-East Region.

Additional highlights of the fall including being named the ECC Runner of the Week, being selected as Daemen's Male Athlete of the Month for September and October and collecting All-Academic honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Roginson opened the indoor track & field season a month later by competing in the Boston University Season Opener. The lone Division II athlete to compete in the event, Roginson became the first Daemen athlete to run a sub-15-minute time in the 5,000 meters. He crossed the finish line in 14:57.20, shaving 50 seconds off the previous record (15:47.38). Roginson was sidelined for over two months after his appearance at BU, but returned with a bang by placing first in the 5,000 meters at the ECC Championships. Roginson posted a time of 15:45.21 at the event, establishing a new ECC Championship meet record. His efforts earned him first-team All-ECC and first-team All-East Region.

Success continued for Roginson at the start of the outdoor track & field season in early April, as he placed third in the 5,000 meters at the Geneseo Early Spring Invitational with a school-record time of 15:23.41—23 seconds better than his previous mark of 15:46.50, which he set at the Roc City Classic last season.

The Male Athlete of the Year award was instituted in 2012, and it had gone to a men's basketball player in each of the five previous years. Robinson joins former recipients Terrence Dyck, Gerald Beverly (2014, 2015), Casey Sheehan and Dom Mazzocchi.

Nominations for the award are made by Office of Athletic Communications and nominees are then voted on by the department's head coaches and other full-time staffers. Additional nominees this year included men's basketball seniors Supreme Hannah (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) and Arif Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y./SUNY Delhi), and men's tennis junior Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford).