Albany, NY—The Sage College’s department of athletics gathered to recognize and honor the outstanding performances of the 2017-2018 year with the naming of the athletic award winners for the 15 varsity athletic teams. In addition to awarding the Gator Award, for the Most Outstanding Player, the department also named the 2017-2018 Female and Male Athletes of the Year as well as the Dean Sharon Robinson Senior Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year, which is given to the senior student-athlete with the highest overall grade point average, as well as the Aggie Stillman Perseverance Award.
Sage also awarded the Gator of the Year to members of the varsity teams, often awarded to the team’s most valuable player. Named the Gator of the Year in women’s cross country this year was junior Sagan Leggett (Valatie, NY/Ichabod Crane). Over the course of the 2017 season, Leggett had a banner season, which also translated into much success as a member of Sage’s 2018 Outdoor Women’s Track and Field Team.
Head women’s cross country and track and field coach Zachary Williams noted of Sagan, “Sagan was put in a tough position as the only upperclassman member on the team for the majority of the season," noted Williams. He continued, "Yet she eagerly seized the leadership role was thrust upon her. In doing so, she greatly helped ease my transition of a new coach, which brought many changes and challenges to the team, and eased the transitions of the incoming first year student-athletes. She would give encouragement and praise whenever she felt a teammate, or the team as a whole, needed it."
In the fall, she was named to the 2017 Empire 8 Women’s Cross Country Sportsmanship Team for her efforts. She added a 29th place individual finish at the Empire 8 Championship with her time of 27:23.8. She also finished sixth overall at the Green Mountain College Invitational and helped the Gators to a third place team finish. This spring in track, she earned Empire 8 Track Athlete of the Week honors after setting the school record in the 3,000 meter run with her time of 11:47.22 and added a sixth place finish in the race at the Vassar Invitational. The following week, while competing at the Capital District Championship at RPI, she broke Sage’s 5,000 meter run mark with her time of 20:27.12 to take sixth place in the race. She closed the season while competing at the 2018 Empire 8 Championship and helped the Gators to another school record with her part of as a member of the 4 x 800 relay with their time of 11:29.47.
Also an exceptional student-athlete, Leggett was named to the 2017 Sage Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, and was inducted into Sage’s Athletic Honor Society at the 2018 Athletic Awards Banquet. She was also named to the 2017 Empire 8 President’s Fall List for her accomplishments.