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Centennial Conference Athletics

F&M's Belfer, Gettysburg's Pickering Named Scholar-Athletes of the Year

F&M's Belfer, Gettysburg's Pickering Named Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Posted: May 27, 2022

LANCASTER, Pa. -- Franklin & Marshall softball senior Jamie Belfer and Gettysburg men's swimming senior Oliver Pickering are the recipients of the 2022 Centennial Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards. 

The Centennial recognizes a Scholar-Athlete of the Year in each of its 24 championship sports to a junior or senior member of the All-Conference team with the highest cumulative grade point average. The overall Scholar-Athletes of the Year are presented to the student with the highest GPA among the 12 men and 12 women's winners.

Belfer, an outfielder for the Diplomat softball team, is the first F&M student-athlete to receive overall Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors since the award was established during the 2015-16 academic year. She earned the Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for softball for the second season in a row this spring. A public health major with a minor in applied mathematics, Belfer held a perfect 4.0 grade point average entering her final semester. Last year, she was one of just five F&M students from her then-junior class to be inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. This honor came a year after she was elected into Pi Mu Epsilon's math honor society. She is also a two-time honoree on the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Softball Team, which recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. As a First Team Academic All-District selection this season, Belfer is now eligibile for the Academic All-America teams, which will be released in early June. 

On the field, Belfer became a two-time All-Centennial selection this spring after earning first team honors from her outfield position. In 2022, Belfer led the conference in batting average (.465), hits (59), and runs (41), and ranked second in steals (19), third in total bases (70), and fourth in on-base percentage (.481). She set new F&M single-season records for hits and runs scored this spring, and finished second in the Diplomats career record books in batting average (.407) and third in fielding percentage (.985). 

Pickering, a swimmer specializing in the butterfly and individual medley events, is the first Gettysburg student-athlete to garner overall Scholar-Athlete of the Year accolades. The Bullet senior earned Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's swimming with the highest GPA (4.060) among all-conference performers this past winter. A biochemistry and molecular biology major, Pickering became the first men's swimmer in Gettysburg history to earn Academic All-District laurels from CoSIDA earlier this spring. He is now eligible for Academic All-America honors, which will be announced in mid June. He served as a Peer Learning Assistant in biology, chemistry and genetics and was named the 2021 Teaching Assistant of the Year in organic chemistry in 2021. He was a member of the Buettner Lab for bioinorganic research, radio show host on the college radio station, treasurer for the Sceptical Chemist club, a volunteer swim instructor for casa de la cultura, and a volunteer EMT with Adams County EMS. During Spring Honors Day as part of Gettysburg's Commencement Weekend, he was also named the recipient of the Charles W. Beachem Award, which goes to a male senior on the basis of character, scholarship, and athletic achievement. He graduated summa cum laude from Gettysburg on May 14.

In the pool, Pickering is a two-time All-Centennial honoree and holds Gettysburg program records in the 200 butterfly (1:51.86) and 400 IM (4:05.05). In addition to his 200 fly and 400 IM records, Pickering ranks among the program's all-time leaders in the 1,000 free (7th, 10:02.49), 1,650 free (9th, 16:36.69), 200 IM (4th, 1:53.61), and 100 fly (6th, 51.08).

Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award Recipients