Delhi, NY - A total of seven recent graduates from North Atlantic Conference (NAC) institutions have been nominated for the conference's 2022 Man of the Year award, including Delhi's cross country and track senior Seth Bywater.
The NAC Man of the Year award is modeled after the NCAA Man of the Year program which honors graduating student-athletes who distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in both athletics and education.
The award is judged in three categories; academic achievement, athletic excellence and service and leadership. Bywater is no stranger to any of these aspects at Delhi, being the first student-athlete to be an NCAA national qualifier and receiving the SUNY Chancellor Award for Student Excellence.
Through his four years, he has cemented his legacy at Delhi, being a champion and a model student. Bywater recently finished off his career as a four-year member of the SUNY Delhi cross-country team and a three-year member of the track & field teams. He played key roles in the program’s 2022 men’s track & field conference championship and the 2022 NAC men’s cross-country title. He earned All-NAC honors in cross country in both 2021 and 2022, while being recognized as All-NAC in both the 1500 meter and the 5000m race at the 2022 NAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Bywater graduated with a 3.96 overall GPA in the Mechatronics program at SUNY Delhi. He also was most recently recognized as the Men's Cross-Country SUNY Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Bywater was active in SUNY Delhi’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee during all four academic years he competed for the Broncos, serving as SAAC president from 2020 to 2022. He also participated in several SUNY Delhi SAAC initiatives including a conference on voluntarism and social responsibility (2021), community clean-up days (2019, 2021, 2022), and a One Love exhibit (2021).
The NAC Man of the Year will be announced in early July and will be honored as the NAC nominee for the NCAA Man of the Year award. Member schools nominate student-athletes from their own institution, then NAC Athletic Directors and Senior Woman Administrators vote to select the Man of the Year. Scoring for the academic achievement section is based on the undergraduate cumulative grade-point average of the nominee. Scoring for athletic excellence is based on the nominee's honors and accomplishments including awards and championships, and scoring for service and leadership is based on their involvement in campus and community activities and organizations over the course of their collegiate career. Administrators also consider a short personal statement written by each nominee.
The NAC Man of the Year will be announced in early July.
