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IMMACULATA, Pa. – Basketball standouts Dominique Murray and Kyle Finklea were among 50 graduating seniors honored at Immaculata University's annual end of the year senior athletics banquet held inside The Great Hall on the campus of Immaculata University Sunday evening.
Highlighting the evening's festivities were the presentations of the most outstanding male and female senior athlete awards and the most outstanding scholar-athlete awards. Dominique Murray (Wilmington, Del./Padua Academy) and Kyle Finklea (Sharon Hill, Pa./Penn Wood) were the respective senior athlete honorees while Melissa Hopely (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and Eric Royar (Enola, Pa./East Pennsboro) were the senior scholar-athlete winners.
Murray was a 1,000-point scorer on the hardwood for Immaculata's women's basketball team. She was named second team All-CSAC this past winter while also a two-time conference player of the week and once on the weekly honor roll during 2008-09. Murray missed 2007-08 with an injury after gaining first team all-conference plaudits in 2006-07. She was also a 2007 D3Hoops.com All-Mid Atlantic Region third team honoree and earned honorable mention all-league accolades as a freshman. Murray led the team in rebounding during all three seasons, and led the squad in scoring her senior year with 344 points (13.8 ppg) while finishing second in scoring during her freshman and sophomore campaigns. For her career, she amassed exactly 1,000 points, collected 679 rebounds and registered 92 blocked shots in 73 games. She also posted a career field goal percentage of 44.6 percent on 362 of 811 shooting.
Finklea became the school's first 1,000-point scorer in men's basketball program history as a junior and was a two-time first team all-conference selection in each of the past two winters. He was also a two-time CSAC player of the week and twice named on the weekly honor roll during the 2008-09 campaign. Finklea tied the school record for points in a game with 34 against Cabrini this year. He graduates as Immaculata's single-season points leader with 463, which he accumulated this past season. He is also Immaculata's all-time leader in career points (1,544), rebounds (471), assists (236) and blocked shots (67), and sits second in assists (148). He helped lead Immaculata to the PAC championship title and school's first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in 2008.
Academically, Hopely maintained a 3.86 grade-point average during her four-year career while majoring in Psychology with a minor in History and Public Relations. She was a member of the Immaculata University Undergraduate Honor Society, Psi Chi, Lambda Pi Eta, Kappa Gamma Pi, Delta Epsilon Sigma and Who's Who in America. She is a six-time all-league academic team selection. She also founded and served as President of Active Minds while serving as a member of the Psychology Club, New Student Orientation (NSO) and Mac Mentors. She serves as the director of “Stomp Out Stigma” 5K and 1 ½-mile walk event for mental health, which has raised over $3,000 in each of the last two years.
More importantly, she serves as the face for the “Minding Your Mind” organization and blog for its web site, www.mindingyourmind.org. She has won the 2008 Chester County “Recovery Star” Advocacy Award for her work in the mental health field. Athletically, she was a four-year member of the women's soccer team, playing in 63 career games and started 36. She also spent three years as a member of the softball team, starting 62 of 67 games she appeared with a .313 batting average (56 hits) and drove in 19 runs before missing her senior year due to injury.
Royar posted a 3.59 GPA in his college career, majoring in Exercise Science with a concentration in Sport Management. He was a member of the Exercise Science National Honor Society, and served as the Secretary/Treasurer in 2007-08. He is a five-time All-PAC academic team, member of the exercise science club, and Vice President during this past year, member of the American College of Sports Medicine and helped set up for the IU Dance Company during the past four years. He as also worked volunteered his time doing community service at Camilla Hall. The men's lacrosse star won the PAC Sportsmanship Award in 2006 as a member of the cross country squad while repeating the award for men's lacrosse in 2008. He is a three-year member of the men's lacrosse team as a long-stick defenseman and served as captain during his senior.
The criteria for most outstanding scholar-athlete was for each nominee to have at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA, be an active member of the team in good standing at the conclusion of the season, have demonstrated community service and been involved in campus activities outside athletics.
Others honored Sunday were All-CSAC selections from their respective sports, CSAC weekly award winners, Mighty Mac of the Week honorees, the CSAC Sportsmanship award winners and the fall all-academic team members.
