NEW YORK—For the first time ever Villanova had five student-athletes recognized with BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards in a single year when the conference announced its 2020-21 honorees on Thursday afternoon. The award is presented to one student-athlete from each of the 22 sports sponsored by the BIG EAST. This year's winners from the Wildcats include Collin Gillespie (men's basketball); Lydia Olivere (women's cross country); Katie Comerford (women's lacrosse); Ryan Henry (softball); and Jadyn Anczarski (men's outdoor track & field).
 
Villanova has had 22 winners of BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards in the last eight years. The prestigious honor recognizes academic credentials, athletic accolades or performances and volunteer service to the community. Student-athletes are eligible for the award by having reached junior academic standing and having a minimum GPA of 3.0. The winners are chosen by the BIG EAST Faculty Athletics Representative Council. Leading the way among the 2020-21 honorees were five student-athletes each from the Wildcats and DePaul.
 
While the format of the awards allows for only one declared winner in each sport category, the selection of the recipients proves each year to be a challenge for the FAR Council, as candidate nominees represent exceptional student-athletes who excel in academics, service and athletics, and are outstanding representatives of their schools and the Conference. Of the 22 winners this year, seven competed in the NCAAs in their respective sports and six were BIG EAST Players of the Year of BIG EAST Championship winners.
 
For more on the five Villanova award winners, read the profiles of each student-athlete below.
 
Jadyn Anczarski, Outdoor Track & Field
Anczarski put a fitting cap on his impressive collegiate career by winning his first career individual conference title this season. In his final meet in a Villanova jersey, Anczarski won the BIG EAST title in the discus at the conference championships held in Geneva, Ohio on May 15. He threw for a distance of 49.52 meters at the BIG EAST meet after recording a personal best mark of 50.11 meters earlier in the season at the Philadelphia Big 5 Invite. Anczarski ranks fifth in school history in the discus and is also sixth in the hammer with a PR of 53.16 meters which was also set this spring during competition at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational. In addition to his outdoor track & field accomplishments, Anczarski has been an All-BIG EAST performer indoors in the weight throw and ranks fourth in school history in the weight throw with a personal best mark of 16.71 meters which was set on February 23, 2020 at the BIG EAST Championships.
 
Outside of his athletic endeavors Anczarski has consistently earned recognition for his academic achievement. He was awarded the James C. Curvey Scholarship and Fellowship which allowed him to attend Villanova along with providing the opportunity to travel the world. Anczarski earned a Villanova undergraduate research fellowship and a graduate tuition scholarship in the Education Department. He was a Physics major and Mathematics minor as an undergraduate, and was the winner of the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for capturing the first image of a black hole. Anczarski was named a winner of the William G. Driscoll medallion for Excellence in Physics and was a Fulbright ETA semifinalist in 2020. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and the Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society. Anczarski has been a five-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team and a 10-time member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
 
Katie Comerford, Women's Lacrosse
The all-time Villanova record holder in goals, assists and points, Comerford wrapped up a stellar collegiate career in 2021 with team-highs of 38 goals, 29 assists and 67 points. She was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST first team after she totaled 46 points on 29 goals and 17 assists during 10 regular season conference games. Comerford broke the Wildcats all-time points record during the abbreviated 2020 season and added to her list of accolades by setting the all-time records for career goals and assists this year. Her career totals from 75 games played – all starts – include 153 goals, 111 assists and 264 points to go along with 338 shots, 82 ground balls, 29 caused turnovers and three game-winning goals.
 
During her career Comerford was the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year in 2017 and went on to be named an All-BIG EAST selection three times (2017, 2018, 2021). She is enrolled in graduate school in the Villanova School of Business and has been a five-time selection to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team as well as an eight-time member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
 
Collin Gillespie, Men's Basketball
Gillespie helped lead the nationally-ranked men's basketball team to an 18-7 record in 2020-21 and at least a share of the BIG EAST regular season title for the seventh time since 2013. He started all 20 games he played in before sustaining a season-ending injury and averaged 14.0 points per game while dishing out 4.6 assists per contest with an impressive ratio of 92 assists and just 32 turnovers. Gillespie averaged better than two three-pointers per contest in his 20 games played and finished the year shooting 42.8 percent from the field, 37.6 percent from three-point range and 83.3 percent from the foul line. He was selected as a USBWA third team All-American and a NABC Division I third team All-American while finishing in a three-way tie for BIG EAST Player of the Year and being chosen as the Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Year.
 
Additional accolades for Gillespie during the 2020-21 season include being a first team NABC Division I All-District 5 performer, a first team All-BIG EAST selection, a first team All-Big 5 honoree and a second team Senior CLASS Award All-American. Gillespie has been named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team in each of the last two academic years and is a three-time member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll. He announced in April that he would return to the Wildcats in 2021-22 for his final season of collegiate eligibility.
 
Ryan Henry, Softball
Henry broke out as one of the top power threats on a Villanova team which set a single-season program record with 59 home runs. She hit 13 of those long balls and batted .295 with a .343 on-base percentage and a .583 slugging percentage while being one of three players on the team to start in all 52 games the Wildcats played. Henry led the team with her 13 home runs and finished second on the squad with 38 runs batted in. During regular season BIG EAST play, she hit four home runs in 17 games and posted a .411 on-base percentage. Villanova went a program-best 15-2 in conference games and went on to win its first-ever BIG EAST title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Henry earned first team All-BIG EAST recognition and was a third team NFCA Mideast All-Region selection.
 
Academic honors for Henry include being a four-time selection to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll and a three-time member of the BIG EAST All-Academic Team. She is a Communication major and a Theater minor who will enter her senior year in 2021-22.
 
Lydia Olivere, Women's Cross Country
Olivere excelled during a frenetic spring which saw the indoor track & field, cross country and outdoor track & field seasons all contested in a span of just a few short months. She is the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Award winner for women's cross country and continued to be a standout performer for the Wildcats during two meets in the abbreviated spring season. Olivere came in third at the BIG EAST Championships on March 5 and earned first team All-BIG EAST honors for the third straight season. She was an individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships and raced at the national meet just 10 days later. Her career accolades in cross country include being the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year in 2019 when she won the BIG EAST and NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region individual titles en route to a 29^th place finish and All-America honors at the NCAA Championships.
 
In addition to her cross country honors, Olivere had a breakthrough outdoor season on the track where she lowered the school record in the 3000 meter steeplechase on multiple occasions and made her career debut at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June. Olivere holds the current school record of 9:49.88 in the steeplechase and was the BIG EAST champion in that event along with the 5000 meters this season at the outdoor conference championships. Olivere is a two-time qualifier of the NCAA East Preliminary meet where she has competed in the national quarterfinal round of the steeplechase. She is a rising senior Psychology major who has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll all six semesters of her career and is a three-time honoree on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team.