Moravian Honors Senior Athletes; O'Rourke & Joint Named Athletes of the Year
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College honored its 2014 senior student-athletes at the annual Senior Athletics Awards Banquet Wednesday night in Johnston Hall. Women’s basketball standout Katie O’Rourke was named the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete while men’s track & field All-American Kristopher Joint was honored with the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award. The Blue & Grey Scholar Athlete awards were presented to women’s basketball student-athlete Laura Jordan and football player Julian DiGiacomo. The H.T.D. Gillespie Award for outstanding service to Moravian’s athletics program was presented to Tom Keim ’49.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College honored its 2014 senior student-athletes at the annual Senior Athletics Awards Banquet Wednesday night in Johnston Hall. Women's basketball standout Katie O'Rourke was named the Outstanding Senior Female Athlete while men's track & field All-American Kristopher Joint was honored with the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete award. The Blue & Grey Scholar Athlete awards were presented to women's basketball student-athlete Laura Jordan and football player Julian DiGiacomo. The H.T.D. Gillespie Award for outstanding service to Moravian's athletics program was presented to Tom Keim '49.
O'Rourke was honored as the Lehigh Valley Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Outstanding Field Athlete in women's basketball and was also Moravian's LVAIAW Outstanding Athlete for the school on Tuesday. She helped lead Moravian to the 2014 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament as an at-large selection as the Greyhounds finished the season with a 20-8 overall record. O'Rourke averaged 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest to go with 103 assists versus 91 turnovers in a team-leading 814 minutes of action. She was selected as a Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division III Honorable Mention All-America and Women's DIII News Honorable Mention All-America, and O'Rourke also garnered places on the D3hoops.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Third Team and the Landmark All-Conference First Team, earning the honor for a second straight year, while also being named the Landmark Conference Senior Scholar-Athlete for women's basketball.
O'Rourke completed her career as the first player in school history to hit 1,000 point, 500 rebound, 300 assist, and 200 steal milestones. She had 1,019 points (23rd in the Moravian record book), 561 rebounds (14th all-time), 355 assists (third in school history) and 202 steals (seventh). She played in 109 career games, starting 100, and was on the court for 3,074 minutes in her career.
"It is a huge honor," O'Rourke stated. "We have such a great class of athletes, and I think we've done so much for Moravian's athletic tradition. It is a great honor to be singled out individually for this award. It is all thanks to the great program that I chose to be a part of. I couldn't have asked for a better basketball program."
Joint is a three-time All-American at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships. He was the runner-up in the triple jump this past March, and Joint has placed sixth in the nation the last two seasons in the long jump. Heading into the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championships beginning on May 23, Joint is currently first in the country in the triple jump with a school record mark of 15.10 meters (49 feet, 6.5 inches), and he is tied for 19th in the long jump at 7.13 meters (23 feet, 4.75 inches). The top 20 in each event will head to the NCAA meet. Before the indoor championships in early March, Joint was selected as the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Mideast Region Field Athlete of the Year after he had won the triple jump and long jump and placed second in the high jump at the Landmark Conference Indoor Championships while earning Landmark Indoor Field Athlete of the Year accolades for the second straight season as Moravian won its fifth straight Landmark indoor title.
This past weekend, Joint garnered the Field Athlete of the Year honor at the Landmark Outdoor Championship as he both the long and triple jumps again and was third in the high jump. During his career, Joint won 10 Landmark individual titles including the triple jump all four years indoors, and he has been on the All-Conference teams 17 times including 10 on the First Team. He also owns both the indoor and outdoor school records with the indoor mark at 15.09 meters (49 feet, 6.25 inches).
"This means everything to me, and it is something that I've been working towards for four years," said Joint. "This is a dream come true. I've always dreamt in, and I saw my best friend (Travis King) win it last year. This is reality now and it feels great."
Jordan teamed up with O'Rourke to lead the women's basketball squad to the NCAA Tournament this season. She was a four-year letterwinner that has been a starter the last two seasons. She had a career high 98 blocked shots this year as the Greyhounds led the nation in blocked shots per game at 8.54 per contest. In her 112 game career, Jordan contributed 728 points, 528 rebounds, 198 blocked shots, 96 assists and 76 steals for the Greyhounds, missing just one game over four years this past November to complete her student teaching assignment instead of traveling to Texas for the season opener. Jordan was named to the Landmark All-Conference Second Team this past winter, and she is a three-time member of the Landmark Conference Winter Academic Honor Roll and was on the 2013 Landmark Winter All-Academic Team. Jordan has a 3.74 grade point average, and majoring in psychology and early childhood education.
"It is awesome to win this award, and it shows that hard work does pay off," Jordan explained. "Freshman year I did okay but then I realized how important grades and your GPA were so I started to work really hard to get where I am today."
DiGiacomo was a four-year letterwinner and the starting left tackle for the Greyhounds' football team for three years. He played in 31 games during his career and earned a spot on the Centennial Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll in each of the last three seasons. DiGiacomo was recently named to the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society after serving as a team captain this past fall. DiGiacomo has a 3.67 grade point average and majoring in accounting with minors in economics and management.
"It is a great feeling to win the award," commented DiGiacomo. "Everyone in the classroom and everyone on the field helped me out. It feels awesome that all the hard work paid off."
Kiem have attended many of Moravian's home athletic events over the years after graduating from the school in 1949. While an undergraduate, Keim earned three varsity letters as a member of the men's tennis team from 1947 to 1949.
