Delhi, NY - Cross country and track graduate Seth Bywater has been recently selected as the 2023 North Atlantic Conference Man of the Year, becoming the school's first-ever student-athlete to receive the prestigious award.
Bywater was selected in a vote conducted among the NAC’s athletics directors and senior woman administrators after he distinguished himself throughout his career in both athletics and education.
Seth was a three-year member of the SUNY Delhi track & field teams and a four-year member of the cross-country team, helping lead the Broncos to the 2022 NAC men’s track & field championship and the 2022 NAC men’s cross-country title. He earned All-NAC honors in cross country in both 2021 and 2022 and was an All-NAC honoree in both the 1500m and the 5000m at the 2022 NAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He most recently placed second overall in the 2022 NAC cross-country championships and then was the first Bronco to cross at NCAA Regionals.
A cross-country All-America honoree for Delhi in 2019 when the Broncos competed in the USCAA, Bywater was an NCAA qualifier in 2021, becoming the first Delhi student-athlete to compete in an NCAA championship event.
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 participated in several SUNY Delhi SAAC initiatives including a conference on volunteerism and social responsibility (2021), community clean-up days (2019, 2021, 2022), and a One Love exhibit (2021).
On the academic side, Bywater graduated from Delhi with a 3.96 overall GPA in the Mechatronics program at SUNY Delhi. He was most recently recognized as the Men's Cross-Country SUNY Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
A December 2022 graduate of SUNY Delhi, Bywater graduated with a degree in mechatronics technology in only seven semesters. He is currently working at Cornell University as a Controls Engineer at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), which is a high-intensity, high-energy X-ray light source used in multidisciplinary research under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The NAC Man of the Year and Woman of the Year awards are modeled after the NCAA Woman of the Year program which honors graduating student-athletes who distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence, service, and leadership.
Member schools nominate student-athletes from their own institution, then NAC Athletic Directors and Senior Woman Administrators vote to select the Woman 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.
