Burns Named 2023-24 C.L.A.W. Award Recipient

4/30/2024 9:30:00 AM

AMHERST, N.Y. -- Maggie Burns (Louisville, Ky.) has been named the recipient of the Daemen University C.L.A.W. Award for the 2023-24 academic year. This prestigious award is given annually to the graduating student-athlete who best exemplifies the traits of character, leadership, academic achievement and work ethic. The announcement of this year's recipient was made at the 2024 Wildcat Night of Honors on Saturday, an annual event held on campus to recognize the achievements of the university's intercollegiate teams and student-athletes.

We will be featuring each of the major award winners throughout this week on www.daemenwildcats.com.

Burns is a four-year member of the Daemen women's volleyball team. Over the course of her career, she helped Daemen to 74 wins, three straight trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament, three consecutive East Coast Conference regular season and tournament championship titles. Burns helped the Wildcats earn two appearances in the East Region Championship games as well as the program's first ever NCAA Tournament regional championship and "Elite Eight" berth as a junior in 2021. An All-ECC honoree for the past three seasons, Burns earned First Team all conference in 2022 and 2023 and was named the ECC Player of the Year in 2022. She served as the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for the 2023-24 school year. She is set to earn her bachelor of science degree in adolescence education with a specialization in students with disabilities/special education.

Burns was nominated for the award by senior associate athletics director for internal operations Stephanie Albano as well as head women's volleyball coach Eli Irizarry and assistant athletic director for compliance and student success Suzie Yormick-DeNillo. Highlights of her nominations include:

Demonstration of good character (Albano): Maggie is constantly thinking about others and how best to serve the community that she is in. She recognizes how her actions may impact others and is someone you can count on to do the right thing. She is honest, trustworthy, and a positive leader for all.
Demonstration of good character (Irizarry): Throughout Maggie's years at Daemen, she has grown in multiple aspects including her leadership within the women's volleyball program and within the school community. Maggie is someone that others can look up to. When she was faced with obstacles, she always found a way to get through them and find solutions. She led by example and has the ability to communicate efficiently and in an empathetic way towards others.
Demonstration of good character (Yormick-DeNillo): Maggie exhibits good character through consistent displays of integrity, honesty, respect, responsibility, empathy and compassion in her interactions and decisions. She upholds moral principles even when faced with challenges, demonstrating resilience and accountability. Her actions are guided by a genuine concern for the well-being of others and team.
Leadership roles (Albano): Team Impact Fellow (2022-24), Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) President (2023-24), SAAC Member (2022-23), Night of Honors Committee (2023, 2024), nominated for and attended 2023 NCAA Student Leadership Forum, Graduate of Wildcats Will Lead, Women's Volleyball Captain
Academic Achievement (Yormick-DeNillo): Maggie has always carried over a 3.0 GPA throughout her time at Daemen. She earned CSC Academic All-District (2022, 2023) and was named to the Dean's List.
Championship Mindset and Work Ethic (Irizarry): Maggie helped the women's volleyball program accomplish a three-peat in the conference tournament championship, an Elite Eight appearance, two Sweet 16 appearances, and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. She was named the 2022 ECC Player of the Year and 2023 conference tournament Most Outstanding Player. She worked extremely hard outside of the practice gym, was the team's anchor during the Strength and Conditioning sessions and has always looked for ways to take care of her body to help elevate her game.
Championship Mindset and Work Ethic (Yormick-DeNillo): Maggie demonstrates the epitome of student-athlete in her unwavering dedication, relentless work ethic and championship mindset. Both on and off the court, she consistently goes above and beyond, demonstrating a relentless pursuit of excellence. She has high determination and focus, constantly striving to improve and push her limits. Her positive attitude, perseverance and ability to inspire and uplift teammates makes her a natural leader both on the court and in the classroom.
Additional Information (Albano): Maggie truly embodies the NCAA Division II motto "Make It Yours." She chose to make the most of her experience of a student-athlete and was heavily involved in all ways for our athletics division. In my opinion, she has earned this award in every way.

Burns is the fourth women's basketball student-athlete to receive the C.L.A.W. Award. Past award recipients are:

2013 - Joanna Fretthold, women's volleyball
2014 - Mark Coppola, men's basketball
2015 - Sam Rugg, men's soccer/track and field
2016 - Gregory Lowe, men's tennis
2017 - Rachel Pawlak, women's basketball
2018 - Giambattista Davis, men's basketball & Katie McKrell, women's volleyball
2019 - Erin Egan, women's basketball
2020 - Courtney Bernard, women's volleyball
2021 - Maddie Flores, women's soccer & Ziv Basden, men's basketball
2022 - Alex Hasiotis, women's bowling
2023 - Marina Maerkl, women's basketball

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

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