LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College Department of Athletics announced its major awards for the 2019-20 academic year on Tuesday, with Athlete of the Year honors going to women's basketball player Meghan Graff and men's basketball player Jeff Spellman, while Senior Citations, the department's highest honor for career achievement, were bestowed upon seven graduates from the Class of 2020.

ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

Graff (South Portland, Maine) was cited for her superlative sophomore season, which also earned her First Team All-State, Second Team All-NESCAC, and Fourth Team All-Northeast honors. Graff led the conference in scoring with 18.2 points per game, and tallied the fourth-highest number of points in team history (454). She set Bates' single-game scoring record by pouring in 45 points against Williams and also contributed 3.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

Spellman (Boston, Mass.) was named Second Team All-NESCAC and Second Team All-State, after scoring 15.8 points per game, the highest average by a Bobcat since 2011. In NESCAC contests, he averaged 17.6 points, the sixth-highest mark in the league, while shooting .562 from the field and .536 on three-point attempts. Spellman also contributed 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and finished his career with 1,242 points, 13th on the team's all-time scoring list.

Hear from Graff and Spellman on this week's Bates Bobcast!



PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

The department's first-ever Performance of the Year award went to Spellman's teammate men's basketball senior Nick Gilpin (Hampden, Maine), for his performance in the Bobcats' regular-season finale at Middlebury on Feb. 15. With the Bobcats possibly needing a win to advance to the postseason, Gilpin scored a career-high 28 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending Bates into the NESCAC tournament.

SENIOR CITATIONS

The Bates staff voted by a 75 percent majority to bestow Senior Citations upon seven student-athletes. Receiving the coveted plaques will be (in alphabetical order):

Jack Arend, Baseball. The cornerstone of a strong Bates baseball program over his three-plus seasons, Arend (Newfields, N.H.) was a two-time First Team All-NESCAC selection as a catcher, and a consummate leader as a two-time captain. A standout at the plate and in the field, Arend sported a lifetime .471 on-base percentage and .995 fielding percentage, and was named NESCAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. He led the league in on-base percentage in 2019, at .527.

Matt Chlastawa, Men's Lacrosse. Chlastawa (Westfield, Mass.) established himself as one of Bates' all-time great student-athletes, with or without a pandemic-shortened senior year. The three-time All-American broke the program's career points record during his junior season, having already set the team's single-season and career assists records. Chlastawa's 13 points against Amherst in the 2017 NCAA Tournament broke the all-time NCAA Tournament record for any division.

Brendan Donahue, Men's Track & Field. Even with some tremendous achievements in four years, Donahue's (Wolfeboro Falls, N.H.) is one of the most striking coulda-been athletic careers cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Donahue qualified for his first NCAA Championship meet in the decathlon in the 2019 outdoor season, but was forced to withdraw on the second day due to an injury suffered in the 110-meter hurdles. After winning the New England Division III heptathlon title in 2020, he returned to the national stage in March to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships, but the meet was canceled the day before it was to begin.

Hannah Fitts, Women's Rowing. Fitts (Richmond, R.I.) rowed on Bates' first varsity eight as the Bobcats claimed the NCAA Championship in her first three years on the women's rowing team, before her senior season was canceled due to COVID-19. She also helped propel the varsity eight to its first two gold-medal finishes in the Grand Final in 2018 and 2019.

Janika Ho, Women's Swimming. Over an illustrious career, Ho (Los Angeles, Calif.) captured 15 All-America honors for top-16 finishes at the NCAA Championships, and was a member of both First Team All-America relay teams in program history, helping the Bobcats finish sixth in the 400 freestyle relay in 2018 and eighth in the 200 medley relay in 2019. She also won 11 All-NESCAC awards for top-three performances at the conference championship meet. Ho was nominated by Bates for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Kirsten Pelletier, Softball. Pelletier's (Sidney, Maine) Bates career was cut short by a year due to COVID-19, yet she still made a case as the best pitcher in team history. She captured All-NESCAC honors in back-to-back seasons as a sophomore and junior, and broke nine Bates pitching records. Over three seasons and an abbreviated senior year, Pelletier compiled a 33-31 record with a 2.16 earned-run average, 384 strikeouts over 415 innings pitched, and 13 shutouts, including three no-hitters.

Kaelyn Woods, Women's Nordic Skiing. Woods (New Gloucester, Maine) led her team in every race on the Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association circuit for three straight seasons in a consistently outstanding career. Woods represented Bates in the NCAA National Collegiate Skiing Championships in her final three seasons with the Bobcats.