EDISON, New Jersey – Marist graduates J.J. Allen, Keith Detelj, Mackenzie Stephens and Michelle Gaye have been named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference's 35th anniversary team for fall sports.
The conference honored 48 male and female individuals on their first and second teams. Allen, Detelj and Stephens were named to the first team, and Gaye earned second team honors.
Here is a closer look at each Marist honoree:
Men's First Team
J.J. Allen, Football
J.J. Allen was a standout running back for the Marist football team in its days in the MAAC Football League. Allen played his freshman season at Howard University before transferring to Marist. He ran for 3,015 yards and scored 41 touchdowns in his three season as a Red Fox. He remains the only player in program history to average 100 rushing yards per game, and his career touchdown total stood as a program record for 10 years. In 1998, his totals for carries (278), rushing yards (1,623), touchdowns (21) and points (126) remain single-season records. Marist amassed a 20-10 record in his three seasons.
After a valiant battle with cancer, Allen passed away on New Year's Eve of 2003 at the age of 28. He was referred to by head coach Jim Parady as “the best we ever had, as a person and a player.”
Keith Detelj, Soccer
Keith Detelj is perhaps the finest two-sport athlete in Marist history. In soccer, he holds the program's records for goals and points since it went Division I in 1981. Detelj was a two-time MAAC Tournament Most Valuable Player who led the Red Foxes to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances in program 2004 and 2005. In those two seasons, Detelj was also named First Team All-MAAC. He earned All-MAAC honors all four years of his career, as he was named Second Team All-MAAC and to the MAAC All-Rookie Team in 2003, and was a Second Team All-MAAC selection in 2006. At the 2007 Marist Athletics Department Senior Awards Banquet, Detelj shared Male Sportsperson of the Year honors with men's basketball standout Jared Jordan, who led the nation in assists as a junior and senior.
Detelj was also a lacrosse standout who was named MAAC Tournament MVP when Marist made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005.
Women's First Team
Mackenzie Stephens, Volleyball
Mackenzie Stephens helped lift Marist volleyball to its highest level to date in program history. The 2013 MAAC Player of the Year, Stephens helped the Red Foxes earn a share of their first MAAC regular-season championship that season, and then lifted Marist to its first outright MAAC regular-season title in 2014. In both seasons, the Red Foxes advanced to the final of the MAAC Championships. A two-time First Team All-MAAC selection, Stephens earned four weekly awards from the MAAC and two from the ECAC in her career. She also earned three All-Tournament Team honors (two in-season tournaments and the 2013 MAAC Championships), and earned MVP honors in the 2013 Volley in the Valley Tournament. Despite missing the last 17 matches of her freshman year due to injury, Stephens ranks second in program history in career blocks, and seventh in career kills. She also has three of the top nine highest single-season block totals in program history.
Women's Second Team
Michelle Gaye, Cross Country
Michelle Gaye is the most decorated runner in school history. She became the first runner in school history to earn four top-10 finishes at the MAAC Championships, with finishes of sixth, seventh, seventh and seventh. In 2014, she became the first female runner in school history to claim an individual ECAC Championship. That was one of three years she claimed All-ECAC honors, which she previously accomplished in 2011 and 2012. Gaye was also named MAAC Runner of the Week twice in her career.
Gaye also enjoyed success in both indoor and outdoor track & field. In addition to being a multiple school record holder, she became the first female athlete in school history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Regional Championships (5,000 meters).
Here is the complete list of MAAC honorees:
Men's First Team
Alan McGreal, Canisius, Soccer
Michael O'Keeffe, Fairfield, Soccer
Richard Kiplagat, Iona, XC
Sean Lynch, Manhattan, XC
J.J. Allen, Marist, Football Keith Detelj, Marist, Soccer Carl Haworth, Niagara, Soccer
Craig Wicken, Rider, Soccer
Juan Gaviria, Saint Peter's, Soccer
James Beeston, Siena, Soccer
Milos Kocic, Loyola, Soccer
Tennant McVea, Loyola, Soccer
Women's First Team
Kelly Reinwald, Canisius, Soccer
Joanne Saunders, Fairfield, Volleyball
Kate Avery, Iona, XC
Luka Van Cauteren, Manhattan, Volleyball
Mackenzie Stephens, Marist, Volleyball Trish O'Dwyer, Monmouth, Field Hockey
Hannah Hedrick, Niagara, Volleyball
Nichole Schiro, Loyola, Women's Soccer
Tami Coyle, Rider, Soccer
Valentina Zaharieva, Saint Peter's, Volleyball
Burgandy McCurty, Siena, Volleyball
Theresa Sobiesk, Army XC
Men's Second Team
Frank Zabawa, Canisius, Football
Jim McElderry, Fairfield, Soccer
Mitch Goose, Iona, XC
Eric Klenofsky, Monmouth, Soccer
Matt Spring, Manhattan, XC
Matt Jeffery, Monmouth, Soccer
John Fiutowski, Niagara, Soccer
Keith Richardson, Rider, Soccer
Rinaldo Chambers, Saint Peter's, Soccer
Sindre Ek, Siena, Soccer
Zach Thornton, Loyola, Men's Soccer
John Shannon, Fordham, Men's Soccer
Women's Second Team
Heather Whalen, Canisius, XC
Ahna Johnson, Fairfield, Soccer
Heidi Gregson, Iona, XC
Margaret McParland, Manhattan, XC
Michelle Gaye, Marist, XC Alexis McTamney, Monmouth, Soccer
Rosie Luzak, Niagara, Soccer
Niamh Ashe, Quinnipiac, XC
Jess Rusin, Quinnipiac, Field Hockey
Sarah Artale, Rider, Soccer
Nicole Tracey, Saint Peter's, Soccer
April London, Siena, Volleyball
