QUEENS, N.Y. – On Thursday, May 16, the City University of New York Athletic Conference celebrated the 2012-13 academic and athletic year with the 27th Annual Michael Steuerman Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner, held on the campus of Queens College.  Presented by Pepsi, the night was a tribute to the outstanding student-athletes, coaches, administrators and supporters in the NCAA Division III conference. The honorees represented the very best the City University of New York has to offer in quality scholarship, athleticism, and pride in our community at CUNY.   

Four Lehman College student-athletes were among the 47 Honorable Mention Scholar-Athletes of the Year that were recognized for their place amongst the best and brightest in the conference with stellar academic and athletic accomplishments. Only seniors were eligible for this prestigious honor. They are Ravnit Bhatia (Yonkers, N.Y./Clarkstown South) of the women's tennis team, Janet Ortiz (Shady Hills, Fla./River Ridge) of softball, and Chris Mammano (Flushing, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) and Ivan Srdanovic (Roosevelt Island, N.Y./NYC Lab) of the men's swimming and diving team.

Finally, in honor of the first commissioner of CUNYAC, the Michael Steuerman Awards are CUNYAC's platform to highlight the top four graduating scholar-athletes. Annually, just one male and one female student-athlete from both the community and four-year colleges are honored as the best in the CUNY Athletic Conference. These men and women show us the true meaning of “student-athlete” with their ability to balance commitments in the classroom and on the field of play beyond any ordinary standard. 

Punjabi by birth, Bhatia came to the United States in 2006. At Lehman, she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa academic Honor Society as a junior in 2012, and has won numerous science awards. She is a Biochemistry major with a GPA of 3.732. As a student-athlete, Bhatia was 4-7 in singles play in her senior year. Bhatia was named the CUNYAC/HSS Scholar Athlete of the Month Honorable Mention for the month of October, 2012.

The starting shortstop on the softball team, Ortiz was a CUNY Athletic Conference First Team All-Star in 2012, as she led the Lightning in every major offensive category, hitting .490 with 12 doubles, five home runs, 30 RBI, 16 steals and 45 runs scored while slugging .786 and getting on base at a .549 clip. She also posted 14 multi-hit games, and is ranked 11^th in the country in batting average. Academically, Ortiz will graduate this spring with a B.S. in Nutrition and has an overall GPA of 3.665. Ortiz was named the team's Most Valuable Player at Lehman's 61^st Annual Athletics Awards Dinner.

A member of the men's swimming team, Mammano is a Russian Studies major with a minor in Spanish. He posts a staggering 3.990 cumulative GPA. The Flushing, N.Y., native is a member of the Macaulay Honors College and was named a Presidential Scholar recipient every semester. At Lehman's 61^st Annual Athletics Awards Dinner earlier this month, Mammano was named the 2013 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. On the athletic side, during the 2013 CUNYAC Swimming and Diving Championships, Mammano placed fourth in the 400-yard individual medley, 400-yard freestyle relay, and 800-yard freestyle relay. His finishes helped the Lightning capture the fifth CUNYAC Championship in school history. By recording stellar times throughout the season, he qualified for the Metro Conference Swimming Championships.

Srdanovich studied across Europe in the fall of his senior year, and carries an overall GPA of 3.752. He rejoined the team at the semester break, and resumed his dominance of the CUYAC. One of the better swimmers in the Conference, he was tied for Swimmer of the Meet honors at the 2013 CUNYAC Championships, and was integral in Lehman winning its fifth conference championship. He leaves Lehman as the all-time record holder in the 1,650-freestyle, and is part of four different relay records.