SAGE HONORS BARANIUK AS ROOKIE MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AND GATOR OF THE YEAR IN MEN'S LACROSSE

Albany, NY —The Sage Colleges' Department of Athletics recently honored a number of Sage student-athletes in conjunction with the annual Athletic Award Banquet.  New this year, Sage created a Female and a Male Rookie of the Year, while also handing out Gator of the Year awards in all 17 sports as well as a Male and Female Athlete of the Year.

Honored for his outstanding rookie season as a member of the Sage inaugural men's lacrosse team was rookie midfielder and team quad-captain David Baraniuk (Budd Lake, NJ/Mount Olive). Baraniuk was bestowed two honors at the athletic award banquet. He was selected as the first Sage Male Rookie of the Year, while also being tapped as the men's lacrosse team's Gator of the Year.

Despite missing the team's last four games of the year with an injury, he added 51 points on 33 goals with 18 assists. He had eight multiple-goal games along the way and was also selected as the Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week once. Among his single-game highlights was a 12 point effort as Sage defeated Wells and Baraniuk tallied seven goals with five assists. Along the way, he had two game-winning goals and added 37 ground ball pickups with nine man-up goals in 13 starts.

The Sage Colleges' men's lacrosse team wrapped their first varsity season in 2019 under the direction of Head Coach Ryan Lanigan, as the Gators produced a mark of 8-9 overall and 2-6 in the league. In addition to the honors bestowed by Sage, Baraniuk was also named to the 2019 Empire 8 Men's Lacrosse All-Star Honorable Mention Team.

Lanigan noted of Baraniuk, "Fortunately for the Gators had a freshman that could do all of the things you need in a player in DJ." He added, "he took the wings on faceoffs, led the team in man-up goals, played great individual and team defense, and led the team in points per game despite always drawing the opposing team's best defenders. Great things happened for Sage when the ball was in his stick. On top of being extremely talented, this young man always played hard in practice and worked at his craft when no one was watching. He set an extremely high bar going forward for all future men's lacrosse players at Sage!"