10th Annual Jersey Blues Athletic Awards Banquet Marked A Huge Success

Lincroft, NJ - The 10th Annual Jersey Blues Athletics Banquet was held on Wednesday, June 4th, in Brookdale's own Student Life Center. It was an amazing night with a room full of outstanding student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and special award winners accepting individual and team achievements.

The banquet was kicked off with the Director of Athletics and Recreation, Katie Amundson, strutting up to the podium while her walk-up song "My House" by Flo Rida, pumped up the attendees and vibes for the night. The Coaches Milestone Award, was the first award of the night which was presented to Head Baseball Coach, Johnny Johnson, for becoming the winningest baseball coach in Brookdale's history with 859 wins, surpassing the former and Brookdale's first-ever baseball coach, Paul MacLaughlin.

Following a delicious buffet dinner, Amundson presented Rob Halsey with the Most Oustanding Brookdalian Award. His game-changing presence at our basketball and volleyball games as well as his evident love and dedication for Brookdale has earned him the appropriate, "Voice of Brookdale on the Court," label. The Unsung Hero Award was presented to announcer, Brian Goudsward, for his masterful insight, analyzation, narration of play by plays, and detailed commentary of our year-round sports.

Moving onto dessert, it was the coaches turn to provide a brief synopsis of their season and present their team MVP Award and Coaches Award. The final major awards that were issued for the night were the Female and Male Scholar Athlete awards and the Female and Male Athlete of the Year awards. The scholar athlete awards were presented to the student-athletes who maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA for the entire 2024-2025 academic year. This year, Brookdale had three female student-athletes who maintained a 4.0 GPA and they were, Jillian Fay - softball, Emily O'Keeffe - women's basketball, and Brooke Meberg - women's cross country. The Male Scholar Athlete award went to Anthony Martino - baseball. 

Each year, the Female and Male Athlete of the Year awards are always so tough to choose because of the exceptional unwavering talent of Brookdale's student-athletes. This year, the unanimous choices were softball's Jillian Fay and baseball's Declan Sheehan. At shortstop, Fay received First Team All-Region Honors, First Team All-GSAC Honor, Region 19 Player of the Year, GSAC Player of the Year, NJCAA First Team All-American, NJCAA Academic First Team All-American, 4.0 GPA for her entire career, and she earned a spot on the national leader board for her consistency at the plate, for a batting average of .538. Sheehan, a center fielder, earned First Team All-Region, First Team All-GSAC, Region 19 Player of the Year, GSAC Player of the Year, maintained a 3.3 GPA while competing, and he is in the Top 10 nationally for his batting average, runs scored, doubles, RBI's and hits.

The following are the recipients of each award: