WESTFIELD, Mass. – Westfield State University athletics recently recognized senior men's basketball player Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Tech) and women's soccer and basketball player Jenn Rennich (Bedford, Mass.) with the Coach John Kurty Award, the highest award given to student-athlete at Westfield State. 

Hamilton led the Westfield State men's basketball team back to the conference championship game in 2023, while averaging 13.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.   He was named as a first team all-conference selection for the second straight year, and was the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and the rookie of the year in 2020.   Hamilton ranked second in the nation in NCAA Division III in rebounding as a junior when he grabbed 14.6 rebounds per game and helped the Owls to a conference title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.  As a freshman, he was part of a team that won the league title and also qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament.

Hamilton, who still has an additional year of athletic eligibility remaining, has career 953 points 51.1 pct., 825 rebounds, 134 blocks. He ranks third all-time in rebounds and blocks at Westfield.

Rennich enjoyed an unbelievable post-baccalaureate year with the Owls, where she finished ninth in the nation in goals scored (23), was named the MASCAC's offensive player of the year, United Soccer Coaches' All-Region and was the College Sports Communicators Division III Women's Soccer Academic All-American of the Year, as she earned Academic All-America honors for the second time. 

Rennich finished the year with 23 goals and seven assists for 53 points. She graduates as the Owls career leader in assists (45) and points (135), and ranks second in goals (50).  (Note: Rennich would have surpassed the career goals record were it not for a suspended game against Springfield that could not be finished.  Rennich tallied two goals early in that game; which did not reach the time standard for a full game and therefore remain unofficial.).

Rennich led the Owls to a 16-4-1 overall record, a perfect 7-0 record in conference play, the MASCAC tournament title and into the NCAA Division III tournament where the Owls won a first round match against Emerson before falling at the University of Scranton in the second round.

The Coach John Kurty Award for Contributions to Athletics is presented annually, and bestowed upon a student-athlete who best exemplifies Coach Kurty's many outstanding qualities including; commitment, loyalty, hard work, dedication, sportsmanship, leadership and athletics ability. It is considered the highest award from the Westfield State Department of Athletics, and considers the students' four-year athletic career and contributions to the athletics program at Westfield State.

Kurty, a WSU faculty emeritus in the Department of Movement Science, was a Hall of Fame men's soccer, volleyball and golf coach at Westfield who was tragically killed in a bicycle-automobile accident in 2012.   He compiled a brilliant men's soccer coaching record of 153 wins, 36 losses and 13 ties from 1966 to 1977. Coach Kurty led the Owls to five NCAA Tournament appearances and three New England championships, and his 1974 team finished third in the nation, the best ever performance from a Westfield State team.