Winter Sports Accolades

Men’s Basketball

Junior forward Kai Cipalla earned MAC All-Commonwealth honors.

Cipalla, who was a second team selection as a sophomore, had an outstanding season for the Spartans. The junior averaged 20.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.4 blocked shots and 1.0 steals per game. He shot 58.4% from the field and 75.2% from the free throw line. He played a team high 838 minutes which averaged out to be 33.5 minutes per game.

Cipalla finished the year with eight double-doubles as he was in double figures in scoring in 24 of his 25 games. He recorded 20 points or more in 15 games including a career-high 33 points in the November 18 game against Gettysburg. He set a new career-high with 15 rebounds in the win over SUNY-Poly and matched that total in the January 3 game against Alvernia. Cipalla reached double figures in rebounds in eight games for the year.

Cipalla's name is all over the MAC Commonwealth statistical leaders. He led the league in scoring by 3.4 points, led the league in field goal percentage by 4.1%, was second in rebounding, second in free throws made, tenth in free throw percentage, fourth in blocked shots, 18th in steals per game and first in minutes played. No other player in the league led more than one category this year.

Cipalla was also a four-time MAC Commonwealth Player of the Week during the 2023-24 year.

Women’s Basketball

Two Spartans, Alyssa Hocker and Breana Grim, were placed on the MAC All-Commonwealth squads.  Grim was also named the MAC Commonwealth Rookie-of-the-Year. 

Hocker concluded the year ranked tenth in the league in scoring, second in rebounding, 11th in field goal percentage, 19th in free throw percentage, ninth in three-point field goals made, and 22nd in minutes played.

Hocker set a number of new career highs during the year. She scored 27 points against Stevenson on January 31. She pulled in 15 rebounds in the road game at Widener and had five assists at Lancaster Bible on November 18. She had four steals in two different games during the year. Hocker had a team-high 11 double-doubles for the year. She reached double figures in points in 17 games during the year.

Grim is the fifth Spartan in program history to earn the conference Rookie-of-the-Year award. She joins Amy Anderson (1997-98), Kristen Daly (2004-05), Keli Ward (2005-06) and Kristen Haley (2010-11) as previous Spartans to win the award. Those four Spartans were all Capital Athletic Conference Rookie-of-the-Year selections.

Grim came to the Spartan program and made an immediate impact. She finished her first campaign in the Green and White averaging 12.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and 0.8 blocked shots per game. She played in and started 24 games as she played an average of 32.7 minutes per game. She shot 40.9% from the floor, 33.0% from three and 78% from the free throw line.

Grim finished the season ranked eighth in the Commonwealth in scoring, tenth in field goal percentage, seventh in three-point field goals made per game (1.4), fourth in free throw percentage, first in assists and assists per game, second in assist to turnover ratio, second in steals and steals per game and ninth in minutes played.

Grim set career highs of 23 points in the win at Albright, six rebounds in five different games, seven assists in three different games and five steals in three different games. She reached double figures in points in 16 different games for the Spartans.

Women’s Wrestling

The York women's wrestling program continued to make history by producing a national qualifier during the team's inaugural appearance at the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships (NCWWC) Region I Championships.

Freshman Maura White will be heading to the NCWWC National Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after placing second at 136 lbs. White firmly met the criteria of placing top-four in her weight class at the regional tournament in order to advance to the national stage.

White put together one her best performances of the season as she went 3-1 on the day with back-to-back falls to begin her campaign. The Spartan freshman pulled off a dramatic comeback victory in the semifinals over Aliza Leander (Sacred Heart) as she scored nine points in the second period to erase an 8-0 deficit and win the match, 9-8. In the title bout, White scored the first points of the bout, but then fifth-ranked Grace Stem (LHU) ripped off 12 unanswered to win the match by technical superiority, 12-2.

White is now 19-7 on the year and has won nine of her last 12 matches heading to Cedar Rapids for nationals on March 8-9.