NJIT Athletics Honors Student-Athlete Achievements at Awards Banquet
NJIT Athletics celebrated the accomplishments of its student-athletes across its 19 varsity sports with the 2024-25 Athletic Award Banquet on Thursday evening inside the Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center.
The festivities got underway with the Red Carpet entrance at 3:30 p.m. before the formal festivities began at 4:15 p.m. Remarks were made by NJIT President, Dr. Teik C. Lim, Associate Vice President Vice President/Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan, senior student-athlete speaker Trinity Williams from women's basketball, and SAAC President Mikayla Balio.
The awards presented over the course of the evening included Most Outstanding Player honors for each sport, a team Community Service award, Highlander Academic awards for each program, Chi Alpha Sigma recognition, special awards presented by the NJIT Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Leadership Academy honors and Senior awards.
NJIT's four major awards were presented to baseball's Ray Ortiz (Male Athlete of the Year), women's basketball's Alejandra Zuniga (Female Athlete of the Year), men's swimming and diving's Borys Endlé (Male Newcomer of the Year) and women's basketball's Olivia Kulyk (Female Newcomer of the Year).
Ray Ortiz – Baseball | Male Athlete of the Year
As of the date of the banquet, Ortiz leads the team in several offensive categories. The graduate student is tops on the team in home runs (13), doubles (16), triples (3), hits (61), runs scored (53), total bases (122), slugging percentage (.693), on-base percentage (.445), OPS (1.138). He also paces the America East in home runs, hits, runs scored and slugging percentage. Ortiz became the eighth Highlander to reach 200 career hits earlier this season and currently sits tied for the most career home runs in program history with 39.
Alejandra Zuniga – Women's Basketball | Female Athlete of the Year
Zuniga is a three-time America East All-Conference selection, earning first-team honors in 2025 and is a two-time College Sports Communicators All-District team selection. She ranked in the top five in four different categories in the America East, guiding the Highlanders to its fifth consecutive America East Conference postseason tournament appearance. She became the 13th player in program history to score over 1,000 career points and concludes her junior campaign ranked fifth all-time with 1,278 career points.
Borys Endlé – Men's Swimming and Diving | Male Newcomer of the Year
Endlé won a gold and silver medal in his respective events at the America East Conference Championships. He placed in the top 16 in two events at the end of the season National Invitational.
A one-time Rookie of the Week selection, he broke two school records in the breaststroke and 400 IM and was one of two in the America East to record a time below two minutes in the 200 breaststroke.
Olivia Kulyk – Women's Basketball | Female Newcomer of the Year
This Female Newcomer of the Year was selected as the America East Rookie of the Year, America East All-Third Team and earned All-Rookie Team honors. She tied the America East Program record, earning Rookie of the Week 10 times this season. Guiding the Highlanders to the America East quarterfinals, she ranked second in the league in 3PT Field Goals Per Game and 3PT Field Goal Percentage.