Kelly McNamee '14

Kelly McNamee capped a four-year career as a multi-sport student-athlete by being named as the inaugural recipient of the SJC (Brooklyn) Female Student-Athlete of the Year just a few weeks ago. McNamee excelled at multiple sports for St. Joseph's competing on the women's cross country, tennis and basketball teams.

McNamee achieved her best seasons in all three sports during her senior campaign, and was recognized as a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) All-Conference Team selection in each sport, the only student-athlete to receive All-Conference honors in three different sports in the same year.

Playing as the team's No. 1 singles player, McNamee helped the women's tennis team finish third in the season-ending HVIAC Championships, their best finish since 2009.

McNamee ran in all four meets for the women's cross country team, crossing the finish line first for the Lady Bears in each race ending her career with a personal-best 22:00 5-kilometer time.

But McNamee's primary sport was basketball and as a sophomore, she was the third-leading scorer of a squad that won 10 straight and qualified for the NCAA Tournament – the only team in Brooklyn Athletics history in any sport to have qualified for the NCAA Championships.

She ended her junior year earning a spot in the starting lineup and led the Lady Bears to the Hudson Valley Conference championship where she scored 13 second-half points and garnered Tournament MVP honors.

But McNamee truly reaped the benefits of her hard work in her senior season. Despite being the shortest member of the squad at 5-foot-2, McNamee started in all 28 games and led the team in scoring with a career-best 12.8 points per game – entering her final season as just a career 7.1 point scorer. An efficient sniper, McNamee shot 37.9 percent overall during her final campaign, 33.0 percent from three-point land and an outstanding 90.9 percent from the free-throw line – a statistic that would have placed her in the top five in Division III had she not fallen shy of the minimum number of attempts.

In addition to receiving All-HVIAC Team honors for the second time in her career, McNamee was recognized as an AD3I First Team All-Independent selection and a USCAA All-American honorable mention.

Although her playing career ended in March, her athletic pursuits did not as she continued to train for her first half marathon, and completed the Long Island Half Marathon in May with a time of 1:44:55.

McNamee received her bachelors in business administration a few weeks ago, but plans to return to St. Joseph's to receive her masters in management concentrating in human resources and plans to pursue a career in banking.

Ms. McNamee lives in Glendale, New York with her parents, Susan and Norm, and has an older brother Patrick, 27.