Witman Hernandez honored by SUNY Oneonta Athletics Department

2017 May 4

The SUNY Oneonta athletics department held its 28th annual awards ceremony on Tuesday, May 2 and honored 16 student athletes as major award recipients.

Witman Hernandez of Huntington , NY was one of the major award winners for the 2016-17 year.

Hernandez was selected as one of the male recipients of the Fred Puritz First-Year Athlete of the Year awards. Hernandez had an immediate impact as a starting forward for the men's soccer team last fall leading the team in scoring with 29 points on 12 goals and five assists. Selected as the Rookie of the Year in the SUNYAC, Hernandez also earned honors as a Second Team All-Region player by the NSCAA.

The Fred Puritz Award is given annually to the male and female athletes who have excelled as first-year members of a team and who have had no prior collegiate playing experience.

A liberal arts institution with a strong focus on undergraduate research and service learning, SUNY Oneonta consistently gains recognition for delivering excellence and value. The college has been named to Kiplinger's list of "100 Best Values in Public Colleges" for 10 years running and sits at No. 9 on the 2016 U.S. News and World Report list of the best public institutions in the region. SUNY Oneonta enrolls 6,000 students in its 70 undergraduate majors and 14 graduate programs.

The College boasts 21 NCAA Division III varsity sports and competes in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference (ECWC).