Corti, Petersen, Hall Named Athletes of the Year at Golden Knight Awards

ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon University athletic department held its 16th Annual Golden Knight Awards on Tuesday night at the Bayfront Convention Center. The event honored Gannon’s student-athletes while also handing out season-ending awards. Coaches from each of Gannon’s sports gave a brief wrap-up of their season.
 
The highlight of the evening was the announcement by Director of Athletics Lisa Goddard McGuirk of the 2024-25 Senior Female and Male Student-Athletes of the Year. Bautista Corti was named Male Student-Athlete of the Year, while Co-Female Student-Athletes of the Year going to Ditte Petersen and Emma Hall. 

Corti essentially never came off the field for the men’s soccer team and was part of a squad that advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. He was named to the All-PSAC West four times, was the PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, a first team All-Atlantic Region selection, and was a cornerstone piece of other deep postseason runs.

Hall has been a part of a program that has secured three PSAC titles, three NCAA Regional titles and a NCAA Final Four appearance in 2021. She was recognized as a two time All-American, three-time Atlantic Regional All-tournament team, two time AVCA Atlantic Region first team, three-time D2CCA All-Region, and a three- time All-PSAC West selection. Hall was also the 2022 & 2024 PSAC Defensive Athlete of the Year and this season set a program record for the most digs, eclipsing the 2000 mark, with 2,468 career digs. That eclipsed the previous school record by 465 digs.  She became the first GU player to have four consecutive 500-dig seasons and is also the first Gannon player with three 600-dig seasons.

Petersen has helped the women’s golf team dominate the PSAC for the last four years as Gannon won its sixth straight PSAC Championship this past weekend. She has been named to the All-Region team, was the 2022-23 and 2023-24 PSAC Women’s Golf Athlete of the Year, a member of four PSAC team championships, and just this past weekend captured her third consecutive PSAC individual championship, becoming the first women’s golfer ever to do so. The win over the weekend also tied her for most individual wins in program history with seven. She will be known as one of the greatest golfers in program history.  

The ceremony also recognized student-athletes for a variety of accomplishments, including the Doc Beyer Award, presented to a male and female student-athlete for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship and Athletics, along with the Team MVPs and the Play of the Year, which was voted on through social media.

 

Jillian Sullivan was selected the female recipient of the Doc Beyer Award, while Ryan Barclay received the award for the men’s sports. Sullivan is a four-year member of the competitive dance team. She is an outstanding student in the classroom, carrying a 3.941 GPA in biochemistry and pre-med. Sullivan has also proven to be a standout leader on the dance team during her time at GU and has served as the Competitive Cheer & Dance Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative for the past two years. 

Barclay is a four-year member of the men’s swimming team and a leader both in and out of the pool. Boasting a cumulative GPA of 4.0 in mechanical engineering, he was named the PSAC Men’s Swimming Champion Scholar both in 2024 and 2025. Barclay is also a PSAC Scholar-Athlete. 

 

2024-25 TEAM MVPS

Acrobatics & Tumbling – Peyton Oliver

Baseball – Alex Bemis

Men’s Basketball – Tasman Goodrick

Women’s Basketball – Bri Claxon

Cheer – Kiera Donnelly

Dance – Jillian Sullivan

Men’s Cross Country – Ely Personius

Women’s Cross Country – Emily Bowers

Football – Trey Baker

Men’s Golf – Mattia Parrini

Women’s Golf – Ditte Petersen

Women’s Lacrosse – Charlie Hunter

Men’s Soccer – Sverre Orten

Women’s Soccer – Brooklyn Respecki

Softball – Katie Armstrong

Men’s Swimming – Will Retsch

Women’s Swimming – Emily Hedges

Men’s Water Polo – Alvaro Marco

Women’s Water Polo – Jade Strickland

Men’s Wrestling – Dorian Crosby

Women’s Wrestling – Nyla Burgess

Ali Sorenson – Volleyball

 2024-25 PLAY OF THE YEAR WINNER: … Women’s Soccer: Paige Taylor scores with 28 seconds left in regulation to lift Gannon to the regional title game.