ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon University athletic department held its 13th Annual Student-Athlete End of the Year Celebration in the Grand Ballroom of the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. The event honored Gannon’s over 700 student-athletes while also handing out season-ending awards. Coaches from each of Gannon’s 26 sports gave a brief wrap-up of their season.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement by Director of Athletics Lisa Goddard McGuirk of the 2021-22 Senior Female and Male Student-Athletes of the Year. Robert Bolmanski (Fairview, Pa./McDowell) of the men’s water polo team took home the Male Student-Athlete of the Year award.
Finalists included baseball student-athletes Deven Judy and Eric Sapp of baseball, wrestling’s Freddie Nixon and Bolmanski.
Bolmanski became just the third Golden Knight to earn first team Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America honors. Zarko Sadikovic received the award in 2017 and 2018, while Drago Marjanovic (Sr., Belgrade, Serbia/North Allegheny) was a first-team honoree in 2019.
The Golden Knights reached the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship for the third time in team history after winning the MAWPC-West Region Championship courtesy of a 15-13 victory over McKendree University.
Seeded seventh in the MAWPC Conference Championships, Gannon’s sixth-place showing was its best ever at the MAWPC Championship as the Golden Knights ended the year with a 14-10 record. Gannon had earlier won the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division II Championship thanks to a 14-9 triumph over Salem University as Bolmanski contributed three goals and an assist.
A former standout at nearby McDowell High School, Bolmanski enjoyed an outstanding senior campaign. He would finish as Gannon’s fourth-leading scorer with 32 goals, but it was his all-around play and ability to facilitate the attack that earned him a spot on the first team All-America unit.
He was named the MAWPC West Region Most Valuable Player in addition to earning first team all-conference honors and was also selected the Most Valuable Player of the CWPA Division II Championship. He contributed five goals and two assists as Gannon handed McKendree a 13-11 defeat in the first game of the Division II Championship and totaled 10 goals and four assists in the three wins. He is a two-time all-conference selection. He topped the career 100-goal plateau at the MAWPC Conference Championships, finishing with 101 goals. That is good for 18th all-time.
As a freshman, Bolmanski totaled 30 goals and 34 assists for 64 points in 2018. That was followed by a 23-goal, 8-assist campaign in 2019. In an abbreviated 2020 campaign that featured a nine-game schedule, he had 16 goals and eight assists.
Release courtesy Gannon University Athletics Communications
