Lutete, Barkevich Named Man, Woman of the Year 6/30/2020 10:00:00 AM BOSTON – Two of America East’s top student-athletes, UMass Lowell’s Christian Lutete and UAlbany’s Kelly Barkevich, have earned the conference’s highest honors as the duo was named 2019-20 America East Man and Woman of the Year, respectively on Tuesday morning. The winners were selected by the conference's Senior Woman Administrators. These Man and Woman of the Year awards honor the conference's top male and female senior student-athletes who have best distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service and leadership. 2019-20 America East Man of the Year Christian Lutete, UMass Lowell – Basketball First basketball student-athlete and first River Hawk to be named Man of Year. Graduated with a 3.79 GPA in economics and has a perfect 4.0 graduate GPA in peace & conflict studies. First-team Academic All-American, just the second in conference history. Two-time second-team All-Conference honoree and two-time All-Academic choice. Volunteered time to several causes including the Lowell Boys & Girls Club, Team Impact and UMass Lowell's Peace & Conflicts Club. 2019-20 America East Woman of the Year Kelly Barkevich, UAlbany - Softball Second-straight Great Dane and fourth overall to be named Woman of the Year. Graduated with a 3.95 GPA in business administration and has a perfect 4.0 graduate GPA in special education & literacy. America East Presidential Scholar Athlete. Two-time America East All-Academic honoree. All-Championship team member. Member of SAAC. Named an America East Helping Hands Team honoree in 2019 for all her work in the community. The winners were chosen from the three finalists who were announced on June 25 along with all the nominees. Binghamton's Jack Fitzgerald and UMBC's Ilia Rattsev were the other men's finalists while UMBC's Lucrezia Costa and Stony Brook's Clodagh O'Reilly were the women's finalists. Finalist & Nominee Release To be nominated, student-athletes must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in their primary sport by the end of the 2020 spring season, with the exception of spring sport athletes, and have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.50 (4.00 scale). America East began honoring a Woman of the Year in 2006 and introduced the Man of the Year award in 2015. Barkevich will be forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee, which will identify the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. The Committee on Women’s Athletics then selects the winner from the nine finalists. All 30 Woman of the Year honorees will be recognized and the 2020 Woman of the Year will be announced at an awards dinner on Sunday, Nov. 1. In 2017, Stony Brook’s Christina Melian and New Hampshire’s Laura Rose Donegan were each among the Top 10 Division I honorees and Melian was among the top three Division finalists. All-Time America East Man & Woman of the Year Award Listing About America East: The America East provides its member schools and their athletic programs a platform upon which student-athletes can achieve both collegiate and life success through the promotion and nurturing of athletic excellence, academic achievement and leadership, on and off the field. - #3Pillars – Building the Complete Student-Athlete -