West Babylon, N.Y. - Four recipients of the East Coast Conference's annual John Smillie, Jr. Award were announced on Thursday morning. This year's honorees include Olivia Cerbo of the St. Thomas Aquinas Women's Lacrosse team.
The award, named in honor of Athletic Trainer at former ECC member NYIT, John Smillie, Jr., who passed away after battling cancer, is given annually to a student-athlete or student-athletes who have overcome personal or physical challenges and hardships to pursue their intercollegiate athletic careers.
Cerbo (Middletown, N.J.) suffered a back injury from her neck to mid-back caused by degeneration and narrowing of her spinal canal. As a result, she deals with numbness, tingling, and pain in her upper extremities.
In order to compete in Field Hockey this past year, she received two sports epidurals. However, she was unable to take the field for the lacrosse season due to her injury.
She is currently in the process of rehabbing her back so that she will be able to compete in her senior season in 2023-2024. Despite her injury, Cerbo has remained in good spirits and has found other ways to contribute to her team.