UTICA, NY (5/17/11) - The Utica College athletic department announced its 2011 Richard “Dick” Miller Most Inspirational Award Winners at the Hall of Fame reception on Wednesday. Seniors' Jessica Berry (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) of the women's basketball team, Tammy Kohanski (Syracuse, NY/Corcoran) of the women's lacrosse team and James Patterson (Poughkeepsie, NY/Poughkeepsie) of the men's basketball team were the recipients of the award that has been presented to a deserving UC male and female student-athletes every year since 1987.

A panel of coaches and administrators voted for the best suitable athletes based on character, community involvement and athletic accomplishments. The UC senior student-athletes also had to best represent what Miller stood for: courage, perseverance, integrity, and the spirit of competition.

Berry garnered six post-season awards including the 2011 Division III Upstate Player of the Year, D3hoops.com East Region Player of the Year, Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year, and was named to the WBCA Coaches' All-America Team, Empire 8 All-Conference First Team and D3hoops.com 2nd Team All-American. Berry finished her career at Utica with a school-record 2,111 points and she brought down 1,065 rebounds. Jessica is the 11th player in NCAA Division III history to score more than 2,000 points and grab over 1,000 rebounds. Berry helped Utica to four straight Empire 8 Conference Tournament appearances, two Empire 8 Conference Titles and two NCAA Division III Championship Tournament appearances over the course of her four years.

Kohanski is the college's all-time leading scorer and holds 15 records for the Pioneers. She finished her career first in points (263), goals (206), assists (57), and caused turnovers (112). She also leads the record books in game-winning (12) and free-position goals (58). In 58 career games started, she averaged 4.53 points per game on 3.55 goals and .98 assists per game. The former Rookie of the Year led UC in almost every offensive category since her inaugural season and has been a member of the all-conference team in each of her four seasons.

Patterson was named to the Empire 8 All-Conference First Team as well as the D3hoops.com Division III Men's All-East Region Second Team this past season. Patterson became the 13th player in school-history to score over 1,000 points in his career. In his four-year career he was a two-time all-confernce selection and he totaled 1,227 points, which ranks fifth on the College's all-time scoring list.