Kaydian Jones Earns E.C.C. Award and Miguel Uzcategui Earns Male Scholar Athlete of the Year at ECC Awards Night
BRIDGEPORT, CT – Senior women's track & field standout Kaydian Jones was one of three student-athletes presented the Excellence in Community and Character Award at the fifth annual East Coast Conference Awards Night and senior men's tennis star Miguel Uzcategui was named the 2014 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The most prestigious award of the evening, the E.C.C. Award, recognizes student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through positive actions and behaviors that are consistent with the NCAA Division II attributes of learning, service, passion, sportsmanship, balance and resourcefulness.
Jones is a two-year captain of the cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field teams at UDC, two-time ECC Outdoor Athlete of the Year, 2014 Indoor Athlete of the ECC Championship Meet, and is about to compete in her third NCAA Championship event (2013 Outdoor, 2014 Indoor, 2014 Outdoor). Meanwhile, she has also served as President of the UDC Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, two years as Vice President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and earned USTFCCCA Academic All-American status for the 2012-13 academic year.
Jones is the third consecutive Firebird student-athlete to claim this honor in as many years, with alums Tomas Gajdusek and Mario Banegas taking home the honor in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Uzcategui became the first Firebird to earn the ECC's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award after earning the Men's Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year honor in 2013. Also in 2013, he became the school's first male Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American and only the second overall.
An Electrical Engineering major, Uzcategui helped his team to the No. 2 seed in the ECC Men's Tennis Championship and was named First Team All-ECC for a second consecutive season, finishing with a league mark of 5-1 at the No. 1 singles spot. Meanwhile, he has maintained a 3.94 grade point average over his academic career at UDC.
Over 100 administrators, coaches, student-athletes and guests from all 11 East Coast Conference institutions traveled to the John J. Cox Student Center on the campus of the University of Bridgeport on May 12th for the East Coast Conference Awards Dinner.
The event highlighted team and student-athlete accomplishments including recognizing the Players, Coaches and Scholar-Athletes of the Year from all 17 ECC sponsored sports. In addition, the conference honored student-athletes, teams, and member institutions with special awards while also handing out the 2013-14 Commissioner's Cup.