ELMHURST, Ill. – Elmhurst University Athletics has announced the award winners for Male and Female Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2022-23 academic year.

Trey Romay of baseball and Ava David of women's track and field took home the Athlete of the Year awards after both earning All-American honors and top awards within the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) in their respective seasons.

Jonathan Zapinski of men's basketball and Alyssa Rafuse of women's track and field & cross country took home Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors after excelling both in the classroom and on the field of competition, standing out as the most well-rounded student-athletes of the 2022-23 academic year.

"These individuals are some of the best to ever represent Bluejay Athletics. Between the athletic and the academic accomplishments, Trey, Ava, Jonathan, and Alyssa embody what being a Bluejay student-athlete is all about," Elmhurst University Director of Athletics Glen Brittich said. "They are highly successful athletes, but also highly successful students. We are so very proud of all they have accomplished."

TREY ROMAY | MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Trey Romay earned Elmhurst's Male Athlete of the Year honors after putting together a stellar final season in a Bluejay uniform. Romay earned third team and fifth team All-American honors from the ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com, respectively, and first team All-Region honors from each of the two professional organizations. Romay ranked fourth in the CCIW in batting average with a career-high .407 average, leading the conference in OPS (1.315), home runs (ten), and total bases (97) after knocking 50 hits, 13 doubles, two triples, and ten home runs to earn CCIW Student-Athlete of the Year honors.

Romay wraps up his career at Elmhurst as a three-time First Team All-CCIW honoree, earning All-Region honors for three-straight years, and ranking in the top ten in multiple career records for Elmhurst. Romay was also named the Bluejays' Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the 2021-22 academic year.

AVA DAVID | FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Ava David earned Elmhurst's Female Athlete of the Year honors after putting together one of the greatest individual seasons by a Bluejay women's track and field athlete in the program's history. David consistently ranked in the top-ten in multiple sprinting events throughout the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons, earning five CCIW Athlete of the Week honors during the 2022-23 indoor and outdoor seasons.

Indoors, David won CCIW titles in the 60-meter and 400-meter dashes and qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 60 and 200 meter events. Outdoors, David qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 4x100 relay, 100, and 200 meter races, earning All-American honors in all three events.

David wraps up her career at Elmhurst as a five-time All-American, holding school records in multiple events both indoors and outdoors. David also earned Female Athlete of the Year honors in the 2021-22 academic year. 

"It has been such an honor to get to work with Ava over the last four years, and what a perfect way for her to finish her outstanding career by bringing home three All-American awards at this year's outdoor national championship! Ava has always been talented, but this year she made a commitment to be her very best" Elmhurst University Director of Track and Field & Cross Country Jordan Bartolazzi said. "She set some really big goals and gave everything she could to chase them. Her name is all over our record book and will be for a very long time. As her career comes to a close, I feel so grateful that Ava chose Elmhurst and committed fully to our team over the last four years."

JONATHAN ZAPINSKI | MALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Jonathan Zapinski earned Elmhurst's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors after earning top academic honors in both the CCIW and nationally. Zapinski earned his second-straight CCIW Elite 26 award, and earned a spot on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-American team after recording a 3.96 grade-point-average studying Accounting and Finance. 

Zapinski averaged 10.3 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game for the Bluejays last season. Zapinski led Elmhurst in field goal percentage (.560), rebounds (271), and blocks (85) while ranking fourth in field goals made (112) and tied for second in assists (69). The man in the middle for Elmhurst, Zapinski owns career (165) and season (85) records in blocks. He also ranked first in the CCIW in blocks and rebounds.

"From an academic, athletic, and leadership perspective, Jonathan is as high-level a performer as any coach could desire. He has been a rock for our program and continues to model what being a superior student-athlete means at Elmhurst," Elmhurst University Head Men's Basketball coach John Baines said. "I consider myself extremely lucky to have mentored him these past years and feel fortunate that he's made such an impression on me in my own personal coaching journey."

ALYSSA RAFUSE | FEMALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Alyssa Rafuse earned Elmhurst's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors after performing in the classroom and on the track this past academic year. Rafuse earned CCIW titles indoors in the mile run, and earned outdoor CCIW championships in the 800 and 1500 meter runs. The senior runner qualified for the NCAA Championships both indoors and outdoors, qualifying indoors in the mile run and outdoors in the 1500m.

Also a star member of the cross country team, Rafuse earned All-CCIW honors in cross country thanks to an eighth-place finish at the 2022 CCIW Cross Country Championships. Rafuse owns a 3.759 grade-point-average studying Marketing and Sociology, also serving Elmhurst University as a Head Resident Advisor for the past two years.

"Coaching Alyssa for the last four years is a privilege I feel so grateful for. She embodies so many of the values I have tried to instill in our program: she runs for her teammates, she gives her very best each day, and she knows that her worth and her value are not tied to her success" Bartolazzi said. "Watching Alyssa grow as a runner and as person through a number of challenges during her career has been such a joy for me as her coach. She is a wonderful representation of the full student-athlete experience at Elmhurst!"

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