Colby-Sawyer College Announces 2010 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees
NEW LONDON, N.H. – Colby-Sawyer College will induct five student athletes and its first full-time sports information director as new members of its Athletic Hall of Fame this fall. This year's honorees include basketball player James Durrell '94, professional golfer Pamela Kerrigan '87, lacrosse player Amy Liner Field '93, track and field athlete Scott Macdonald '05, alpine ski racer Penny M. MacDonald Sirjane '86 and former sports information director, Adam Kamras.
Established in 2006, the Colby-Sawyer Athletic Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of Colby-Sawyer athletes, coaches, teams and supporters who have advanced the college's commitment to excellence. Colby-Sawyer will host an induction ceremony for the 2010 Athletic Hall of Fame athletes on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m. in Wheeler Hall at the Ware Campus Center. The event is open to the college community, alumni and friends, and area residents.
James Durrell of Bedford, N.H., made a lasting impression as a member of the men's basketball team. A smooth and accurate jump shot shooter, Durrell was also a nothing-but-net free throw shooter. He was the first Colby-Sawyer men's basketball player to score 1,000 points and still ranks first in three-pointers (308) and sixth in total career points (1,548) and field goals (543). Durrell also holds single-game school records for points (51), field goal percentage (16 for 16), three-point field goal percentage (9 for 9), and three-point field goals made (9, twice). In his junior year, Durrell was the NCAA Free Throw Percentage Champion with a record of 93.1 percent. As a sophomore, Durrell was named Colby-Sawyer Male Athlete of the Year and as a junior was the team's Most Valuable Player.
Durrell works for Fidelity Investments and is the assistant girls' lacrosse coach at Nashua High School South in Nashua, N.H. In addition to pick up basketball games and shooting around, he finds time for golf, running and flag football.
Appointed the college's first ever, full-time sports information director in 1994, Adam Kamras undertook the task of organizing the college's long athletic history, including records and statistics. In his decade at the college, Kamras was instrumental in conveying the Colby-Sawyer athletic story and helped many Chargers gain recognition for their accomplishments, including five Academic All-Americans, 19 District I All-Academic selections, five NCAA Women of the Year for New Hampshire, and three Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Award of Valor recipients.
Kamras was promoted to assistant athletic director in 2001 and was a five-time nominee for the college's Employee of the Year award. He received the 1995-96 ECAC Certificate of Appreciation for loyal support and contributions to the advancement of ECAC services and programs. Kamras, who holds a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, is currently the public relations and marketing manager at Cecil College in Maryland.
One of Colby-Sawyer's most notable alumni, Pamela Kerrigan '87 earned a degree in exercise physiology. Although she did not begin playing golf until after she graduated, Kerrigan followed her passion and played through injuries to compete in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). With hard work, dedication and innate talent, she completed the Ladies Professional Golf Association Qualifying School in 1999 and went on to play in more than 130 LPGA events over the next eight years. She also competed in the SBC Futures Tour, Golden Bear Tour, Asian Golf Circuit, Gold Coast Pro Golf Tour and the Central Florida Challenge Tour.
In 2002, Kerrigan posted a career-best finish at the LPGA Corning Classic, where she tied her career-low 67 in the final round and tied for sixth place. She finished that year ranked a career-best of 104 in the LPGA. In 2003, at the Wachovia Classic in Kutztown, Pa., Kerrigan recorded her first LPGA hole-in-one when she aced the 159-yard 15th hole. From the perspective of her late-blooming but stellar career as a professional golfer, Kerrigan advises, “Do not let anyone dissuade you from your dream.”
Kerrigan and her husband, Chip Johnson, live in Hingham, Mass., with their four-year old daughter. Johnson is the head professional at the Hatherly Golf Club in Scituate, Mass., one of the locations where Kerrigan teaches golf. She maintains her LPGA tour status but has played on a part-time basis since the birth of her daughter. She splits her time between Massachusetts and the PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Amy Liner Field '93 is one of the best Colby-Sawyer women's lacrosse players of all-time. The career goals mark she set in 1993 stood as the all-time highest total until 2008. At the time of her induction, 17 years after graduating, Liner Field's all-time Chargers ranking is still fourth in points (197) and second in goals scored (178), and she still holds the college record for most goals in a single-season with 67. In her senior year, Liner Field was named to the Brine All-Regional Team by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association, as well as to the All-New England Select Second Team. She was the 1993 Colby-Sawyer Female Athlete of the Year, led the team in scoring all four of her years as a Charger, and was a two-time team Most Valuable Player.
Scott Macdonald '05 of Beverly, Mass., is one of the best track and field athletes ever to compete for Colby-Sawyer. He still holds six school records, including the 400-meter dash (50.00 seconds), 110 meter hurdles (15.07 seconds), 400 meter hurdles (55.04 seconds), high jump (1.93 meters), pole vault (3.82 meters), and points scored in the decathlon (6,508). Macdonald was recognized regionally and nationally when he qualified for the NCAA Championships and was named an All-American in the decathlon in 2004.
Over the course of his athletic career, Macdonald garnered All-Eastern College Athletic Conference honors in the decathlon three times and was All-New England in the decathlon twice, in the 110 meter hurdles twice, and one time each in the high jump and 400 meter hurdles. He also was named Colby-Sawyer Male Athlete of the Year in 2004 and 2005. MacDonald currently works for a real estate development company and manages a real estate investment portfolio for a Massachusetts-based medical company.
Penny M. MacDonald Sirjane '86, a resident of Vermont, spent four years as a member of the Colby-Sawyer Alpine Ski Team and earned the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association All-East Ski Team Award three years in a row. She then took over as a coach for three years after her graduation before going on to serve as a ski coach at many levels in many countries.
In 1990 MacDonald Sirjane and her sister became co-owners of World Cup Supply, Inc., one of the largest distributors of event and ski-area supplies in North America, as well as the second largest distributor of SPM products world-wide. She was chosen to head on-hill officials for the Alpine events at the 2001 Special Olympic World Winter Games and was an on-site technical advisor to the International Ski Federation and International Olympic Committee at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. World Cup Supply supplied the Salt Lake games with all of the alpine and snowboarding gates and panels, as well as miles of fencing, fence poles, and several other products required to host the event. The company currently has eight employees and is based in Fairlee, Vt.
