Syracuse, NY - Onondaga's Paul Clark was titled SUNY Student Athlete of the Year representing NJCAA Men's Cross Country for the second year running.

Paul Clark was titled NJCAA Division III National Champion for 2025. He took first place in the snowy meet taking place in Fort Dodge, Iowa with a time of 26.50.0 in the 8k race (5.23.8 mile pace). Paul was the front runner all season long taking first at the Mid-State Athletic Conference Championship as well as the Region 3 Championship, making him the first 2x Champion in 17 years in all of Region 3. Not only was he the standout athlete on the course, but Paul finished the Fall 2025 semester with a 3.68 GPA studying Business Administration. His cumulative GPA is a 3.576.

https://www.suny.edu/attend/athletics/scholar-athletes/

The Sophomore also competes in Track & Field having broke numerous school records and is chasing another National Championship title. He plans to further his education and athletic career at Lemoyne College in the Fall of 2026.

Student-athletes are being honored with the SUNY Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards for combining academic achievement with success in the arena of athletic competition.

The SUNY Fall Scholar Athlete Awards recognizes 22 student-athletes from SUNY colleges and universities sponsoring intercollegiate athletics at the four- and two-year levels who were nominated and voted upon by representatives of their respective institutions.

Nominating information includes cumulative grade point average, current and career statistics, and athletic and academic honors.

More than 14,000 student-athletes compete at SUNY institutions representing 53 different colleges and universities at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division III/USCAA and NJCAA levels and are eligible for the awards.

The four NCAA Division I member institutions that comprise the NCAA Division I Category for the SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards include University at Albany, Binghamton, University at Buffalo and Stony Brook, while 19 institutions make up the NCAA Division III/USCAA Category and include Alfred State, Brockport, Buffalo State, Canton, Cobleskill, Cortland, Delhi, Farmingdale, Fredonia, Geneseo, Maritime, Morrisville, New Paltz, Old Westbury, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam and SUNY Poly.

ESF, the lone four-year SUNY institution sponsoring intercollegiate athletics that is a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) instead of the NCAA, participates in the program with the 19 NCAA Division III members for a total of 20 colleges and universities.

The NJCAA Category features the 29 two-year community colleges spread out across the state of New York: Adirondack, Broome, Cayuga, Clinton, Columbia Greene, Corning, Dutchess, Erie, FIT, Finger Lakes, Fulton Montgomery, Genesee, Herkimer, Hudson Valley, Jamestown, Jefferson, Mohawk Valley, Monroe, Nassau, Niagara, North Country, Onondaga, Orange, Rockland, Schenectady, Suffolk, Sullivan, Tompkins and Ulster.

The SUNY Scholar Athlete Awards recognize outstanding academic and athletic success in 29 different sports and are presented three times a year to coincide with the specific sports contested in the fall, winter and spring seasons. The Scholar Athletes of the Year in each sport will then be nominated for an overall Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's sports and women's sports in each category that will be announced in mid-July.

Because sport sponsorship varies among institutions, a minimum sponsorship formula has been developed for award selections. At least three (3) institutions must sponsor the sport in the Division I category, while at least five (5) institutions must sponsor the sport in the SUNY Division III/USCAA and SUNY NJCAA categories. For sports that do not meet the minimum threshold to be a viable award, an at-large category has been developed for each level and each season.