Purrier, Leissner Receive Jim Urquhart Awards at Annual Senior Banquet

DURHAM, N.H. – Elinor Purrier (Montgomery, Vt.) of the women's cross country and track & field teams and Tanner Leissner (Converse, Texas) of the men's basketball team were named recipients of the Jim Urquhart Student-Athlete of the Year Award at the University of New Hampshire athletic department's annual Senior Student-Athlete Appreciation Banquet held Tuesday night at Huddleston Hall.

Five other Wildcats were major award recipients with women's ice hockey captain Kate Haslett (Rothesay, New Brunswick) receiving two awards.

Haslett and Rick Holt (Portsmouth, N.H.) of football won the Tina True Memorial Award, which has been given annually since 2007 to a pair of Wildcat seniors for their commitment to strength and conditioning.

Haslett and football's Nick Marino (Hudson, N.H.) were bestowed the Community Involvement Award, which debuted in 2011.

Casey Lauter (Northport, N.Y.) of gymnastics and Nicholas Ritzo (Rye, N.H.) of men's track & field earned the Award for Academic Excellence. It has been presented annually since 2010 to the duo with the highest cumulative grade-point average.

The Student-Athlete of the Year award began in 1999 and is named in memory of longtime UNH coach Jim Urquhart, who coached the New Hampshire men's lacrosse team for 17 years and the wrestling team for 11 seasons before taking the position of Associate Athletic Director of Event Management in 1997. He passed away after suffering a heart attack Jan. 14, 1998.

Purrier is arguably the most accomplished student-athlete in school history. She is a 10-time All-American – including an NCAA national champion – and 17-time America East champion. She was honored as 2016-17 America East Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year and has been named an America East Scholar Athlete a total of five times – three times as a junior and twice as a senior – because of excellence both in competition and the classroom, where she has compiled a 3.71 cumulative GPA as a nutrition major.

Purrier won the national title in the mile at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this past March, and she also raced to 14^th place in the 3,000-meter to earn All-America Second Team recognition in that event; not only was she the first Wildcat to compete in two events at an NCAA Track & Field Championship, she earned All-America status in both and became the first UNH track athlete to win a national title. And earlier in the season, she recorded the second-fastest indoor mile time in NCAA history with a time of 4 minutes, 26.55 seconds.

In cross country, Purrier won three consecutive America East individual titles (2014, 2016, 2017; she redshirted in 2015) and helped New Hampshire win five consecutive conference team titles spanning 2013-17. She was the NCAA Regional individual champion as a junior and senior, and went on to earn All-America recognition each of those years, including seventh place at the 2016 NCAAs.

Following that seventh-place finish, Purrier went on to finish second in the mile at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships and fourth in the steeplechase at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Purrier placed third in the steeplechase in '16 and seventh in '15.

Leissner is No. 1 in UNH men's basketball history in points (1,962), free throws made (521) and attempted (675), and minutes (4,095). He is also No. 2 in field goals made (667), No. 3 in rebounds (862), field goal attempts (1,467) and games played (121), as well as No. 9 in scoring average (16.2 ppg). Leissner is the only player in program history with 1,500+ points and 700+ rebounds.

Leissner is a three-time team MVP and three-time America East All-Conference First Team selection, as well as conference Rookie of the Year and All-Academic Team honoree. He led the team in scoring all four years.

The senior forward was the only Wildcat to start all 31 games this season and led New Hampshire in nine statistics, including scoring (18.7 ppg) and minutes per game (35.8). Leissner also ranked second in rebounding (6.9 rpg) and assists (2.0 apg). On the America East conference leaderboard, he ranked in the Top 10 in nine stats, including third in scoring and fifth in rebounding.

Leissner was UNH's top scorer in 23 of 31 games and the top rebounder six times. He scored 20+ points 12 times, including 32 against Dartmouth College, and had eight games with 10+ rebounds, including a career-high tying 15 at Holy Cross.

In 121 games (119 starts), Leissner had 37 career 20+ point games, including five 30+ point efforts. He also had 24 career double-digit rebounds games and 22 double-doubles. He helped lead UNH to its first 20-win season and back-to-back 20-win years, as well as a program-best 59 wins in any three-year span.

Haslett never missed an opportunity to volunteer when the opportunity presented itself – either with the women's hockey team or SAAC. She volunteered at Try Hockey for a Day, the Portsmouth 5K Breast Cancer run, Best Buddies events on campus, St. Thomas More parish yard sale, and read to elementary school students. Haslett also participated in food drives, toiletry collection for Pease Military Base Airport and the You Can Play initiative. She was also a student leader for the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group and volunteered at various conferences, including the NH STEM Seacoast Conference and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Conference.

Haslett came to the UNH women's ice hockey program as a defenseman but transitioned to forward midway through her Wildcat career, played in all 36 games as a senior in the 2017-18 season and recorded seven points on three goals and four assists. Haslett is a two-time inductee into Chi Alpha Sigma, the National Collegiate Honor Society. She has made the Hockey East All-Academic Team every year and also made the league's All-Academic All-Star Team last year. Haslett overcame a season-ending injury just three games into her first year at UNH (2013-14) to become a two-time captain.

Holt had a breakout senior season as a defensive tackle on the football team. This past fall, he started all 14 games and led UNH in sacks with nine to help the Wildcats advance to the NCAA playoffs for the 14^th consecutive year. Holt also ranked second on the squad in both total tackles (74) and tackles for loss (12). He made a team-high nine tackles in UNH's second-round victory at Central Arkansas. Holt was named to both the All-New England Division I Football Team and CAA Football Second Team.

Marino has been outstanding with regards to out-reach and community service. With the football team, he was involved with Read Across America and Be the Match bone marrow drive. Marino has also been involved with SAAC and Intervarsity initiatives, including spring break trips to southern states to help build/rebuild homes. He also organized and ran the team's Hoops for Hunger fundraiser for Cornucopia Food Pantry as well as the monthly food collection benefitting the St. Thomas More food pantry and Soles 4 Souls shoe collection. Furthermore, Marino was a proponent of the YOU CAN PLAY and Spread Respect events, as well as the White Ribbon/Antiviolence campaigns.

Lauter has a 3.92 cumulative GPA while studying exercise science, and she is a two-time inductee to Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society. She has been named to the NACGC/W Scholastic Team and EAGL All-Scholastic Team every year. As a senior on the gymnastics team, Lauter was the EAGL regular-season champion in balance beam and went on to earn EAGL All-Tournament First Team on that apparatus. In her last home meet, Lauter recorded a perfect 10 on the beam. Lauter was also an All-EAGL First Team on beam and tied for the individual beam title at the conference championship in 2017.

Ritzo is a genetics major with a 3.94 cumulative GPA. He is a two-time inductee to Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society, and has been named to the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll three times. At the 2018 America East Outdoor Track & Field Championships, he tallied points for the Wildcats in three events with sixth place in the shot put, seventh in discus and eighth in javelin. Last year as a junior at the conference meet, Ritzo was runner-up in the shot put and placed third in the discus. At the America East indoor meet, he was fifth in the shot put as a senior after placing fourth in that event as a junior.

In addition to Purrier, the women's Jim Urquhart Student-Athlete of the Year finalists were Liza Baykova (Moscow, Russia; swim & dive), Gianna Bensaia (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.; field hockey), Kat Fogarty (Westminster, Mass.; basketball), Haslett (ice hockey), Lauter (gymnastics), Mia Neas (Old Saybrook, Conn.; soccer), Lizzie Suschana (Somers, Conn.; lacrosse) and Lisa Wedsjö (Saltsjöbaden, Sweden; skiing).

The men's finalists were Leissner, Peter Holmes (Tahoe City, Calif.; skiing), Mike Shanahan (Dover, N.H.; track & field) and Danny Tirone (Trumbull, Conn.; ice hockey).

True was a co-captain and coxswain of the women's crew team from 2000 to 2002; her commitment to training and her passion for her sport greatly contributed to the success of the team; in January of her junior year, Tina's life was tragically cut short in a car accident.

The Community Involvement Award recognizes student-athletes who have demonstrated a commitment to serving the University, UNH athletic department and the larger community with involvement in campus organizations, volunteer work, SAAC, University or other athletic department committees, and other service-oriented activities.

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