Isaiah Wright, Temple University football
The former Holy Cross High School and Kingswood-Oxford standout has been a thorn in the side of the special teams of Owl opponents all year long, and he earned a top honor for his efforts. Wright, a senior, was named American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year.
He has three kick returns for touchdowns this season, which leads the nation. Wright leads the AAC in punt return average at 13.9 yards. He has returned 18 kicks for 251 yards and two touchdowns, including a long of 73 yards that went for a touchdown against South Florida. Wright is third in the AAC in kickoff return average at 27.9 yards. He has returned 28 kickoffs for 725 yards and a touchdown, including a long of 99 yards for a touchdown in the regular season finale against UConn.
Wright’s other punt return for a touchdown came against East Carolina and went for 59 yards. He has 976 kick return yards and is the only player in the country to score a rushing, receiving, kickoff return and punt return this season. Wright has done that in each of the past two seasons, and he’s the only player to do it nationally in over a decade.
Cole Phelps, Central Connecticut State University football
The junior offensive lineman helped the Blue Devils rush for 2,460 yards, including an average of 289.3 per game in the Northeast Conference. For his efforts, the former Wolcott standout was named Second Team All-NEC.
Phelps started all 11 games on the offensive line for CCSU. Ten of the starts came at right guard and one was at right tackle. Phelps was part of two record-breaking performances during the 2018 season.
In a 56-35 win over Robert Morris on Oct. 6, Phelps helped the CCSU offense put up 699 yards of total offense. The Blue Devils ran for 358 yards and threw for 341 yards. CCSU had six rushing touchdowns that game, and two running backs had over 100 yards.
Three weeks later, the Blue Devils defeated Wagner 49-24, and Andre Dawson ran for an NCAA Division I record of 308 yards on the way to 361 total. Phelps helped pave the way for Dawson’s awesome performance.
Maddie Sturm, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute cross country
The senior captain and former multi-sport athlete at St. Paul finished in the Top 15 in her final Liberty League championship race. That finish earned her Second Team All-Liberty League honors. Sturm finished 12th overall in a time of 22:39. The Top 7 runners make First Team, followed by runners 8-14 on the Second Team. Third Team All-Liberty League runners finished 15-21 in the championship race.
Sturm improved on her 14th place finish from a year ago. She has earned All-Liberty League honors in each of the last three seasons. Sturm earned All-Atlantic Regional honors in her junior and senior seasons. She helped RPI to a second place finish in the region in 2017 and third in 2016. Sturm also ran in the NCAA national championship meet in 2017 and 2018.
Nick DiNicola, Fitchburg State University ice hockey
The Wolcott native and senior Falcon made his way onto the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll after a pair of strong efforts. DiNicola scored two goals and passed out four assists in victories over Becker College on Nov. 24 and Franklin Pierce University on Nov. 25.
DiNicola had a goal and two assists in the 5-2 win over Becker, then tallied another goal and two more assists in a 9-1 rout of Franklin Pierce. He was a First Team All-MASCAC honoree as a junior, and he was named to the New England DII/III Men’s Ice Hockey All-Star Team. That team is chosen by the New England Hockey Writers Association.
DiNicola graduated from the South Kent School in 2013. He has been an offensive leader for Fitchburg State since his freshman season.
Sean Harnish, Springfield College men’s swimming and diving
This former Holy Cross standout had a terrific day on Nov. 17, and he helped lead the Pride to their first win of the season.
Harnish finished in first place in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races. He was also second in the 100 freestyle, and he helped the 200 freestyle relay team to a second place finish in that race. Springfield lost 168-130 to Wheaton College, but it beat Keene State College 198-101.
Those weren’t the only wins Harnish has been a part of this season. The 200 freestyle relay finished first in two previous meets, and Harnish was on both teams. Harnish was also on the winning 400 freestyle relay team in a 180-101 loss to Williams College on Nov. 16. He finished in first place in the 100 backstroke during a 164-130 loss to Babson College on Nov. 11.
Statistics and information compiled from the team website of each athlete/coach.