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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) announced the winners of its academic awards for the 2022 season. The Kenyon College Owls earned the NCAA Division III Team All-Academic honor, while Mayo Amorello, Kern Byrnes and Henry Willrich earned the individual Division III Scholar All-America award.
The USILA team honor is bestowed on squads that reached a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the academic year. The Kenyon men had no issue clearing that criterion, as the 53 members of the team combined for a 3.33 grade point average for the 2021-22 academic year.
Kenyon’s three individual honorees give the program five USILA Scholar All-Americans in the past two years.
To be eligible, a student-athlete had to be nominated by his head coach and had to be in his senior year of academic standing. The nominee had to have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average and had to “behave in a manner that brought credit to himself, his institution, and to college lacrosse, both on and off the field.” Finally, the nominee had to be an All-American, a member of a North/South All-Star Team or an outstanding conference player.
Amorello, the team’s starting goalie in 2022, earned all-conference, all-region and USILA All-American recognition. Additionally, he was named the 2022 North Coast Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year after posting a 7.40 goals against average, as well as a .608 save percentage. Those marks ranked 5th and 14th, respectively, among all NCAA Division III players.
Both Byrnes and Willrich were defenders who played in front of Amorello. They were key pieces of the Kenyon unit that allowed just 7.06 goals per game, the third best defensive scoring average in Division III.
Byrnes started all 18 games for the Owls, who posted a program-best record of 14-4. He picked up 36 ground balls and racked up a team-best 25 caused turnovers. He even managed to get involved on the offensive end, serving up three assists this past season. He’s a three-time all-conference player, including being named the NCAC Newcomer of the Year following the 2018 season.
Willrich, who picked up his first career all-conference nod, played in 17 games this past season. In that time, he piled up 38 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers. He also tallied his first career collegiate goal.
