Boston College Athletics
Smith, Gionta Win Eagle of the Year Honors
May 01, 2001 | Boston College Athletics
Shannon Smith
Bobby Allen accepts for Brian Gionta
May 1, 2001
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Brian Gionta (Rochester, N.Y.), who led Boston College to the 2001 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey championship, and Shannon Smith (Fairport, N.Y.), who won the NCAA title in the indoor 3,000 meters, were named the winners of the Eagle of the Year Award on Tuesday night as Boston College held its annual All-Sports Banquet.
The Nathaniel J. Hasenfus '32 Eagle of the Year Award is given annually to one male and one female student-athlete who are outstanding citizens, leaders, scholars and athletes. It is the most prestigious honor that the athletic department bestows upon a student-athlete.
Gionta led Boston College to the 2001 NCAA title and to four appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four. During his career, the team won three HOCKEY EAST tournaments and one regular season championship and a Beanpot championship.
Gionta earned first team All-America honors three times and second team as a freshman. He was the HOCKEY EAST player of the year this season and was a three-time all-conference first team pick. He led HOCKEY EAST in scoring this year with 54 points and led the country with 33 goals. He leaves Boston College as the career record holder for goals scored with 123, hat tricks with nine, shorthanded goals with nine and is second in career scoring with 231 points. He tied a HOCKEY EAST record this year with five goals in one game against Maine on Jan. 27.
Gionta was a finalist for both the Hobey Baker Award for the past two seasons and this year he was a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
A communications major, Gionta is currently representing the United States at the World Championship in Germany.
Smith became the first BC female to ever win an NCAA national championship as she won the 3,000-meter indoor run at the NCAAs this past March. She established a new school record with that performance, topping the old record by 9.33 seconds. She also earned All-America honors in cross country in 1997, finishing 17th at the NCAAs, and in 2000, when she placed sixth at the NCAAs in the 3,000 indoor.
She was named the most outstanding track performer at the 2000 BIG EAST indoor championship as she won the mile and the 3,000-meter run. She ran the fourth-fastest mile in school history at the BIG EAST event and she was also a member of BC's winning distance relay team at the BIG EAST. During the indoor season, she won her first three races of the year, the mile at Harvard, the 3,000-meters at the Dartmouth Relays and the mile at the Greater Boston Club Invitational.
Smith won the 3,000 meter indoor title at the ECACs and the 1,500 meter outdoor title at the New England Championship during her junior year. As a sophomore, she won the 3,000 meter indoor at the New England Championship. Already during the 2001 outdoor season, she was part of the fourth-place 4 x 1500 meter relay team at the prestigious Penn Relays.
Smith graduated last year with a major in geology and she is currently enrolled in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The Outstanding Scholar-Athlete Award was also presented at the banquet and this award is given to a male and female from each class for excellence in both the classroom and on the playing fields. The winners were Chuck Kobasew of men's ice hockey and Amber Jacobs of women's basketball from the freshmen class, Casey Schmidt of men's soccer and Nina Suryoutomo of women's swimming and diving from the sophomore class, Jeff Giuliano of men's ice hockey and Katie Ryan of women's track and field and cross country from the junior class, and Chris Hamblin of men's soccer and Sarah Powell of women's soccer from the senior class.
Also honored were the 344 Boston College student-athletes who earned the Athletic Director's Award for Academic Excellence. Student-athletes who have an overall grade point average of 3.0 or better earn that award. Each Boston College athletic team also awarded outstanding senior and outstanding leadership awards.
