REDLANDS, Calif. – The 2023-24 Frank Serrao Male and Female Senior Student-Athletes of the Year were announced this week by the University of Redlands Athletic Department, with Andrew Higginson (San Diego, CA) of men's water polo and Sydney Patterson (Hilo, HI) of swimming and diving receiving the awards.
The Frank Serrao Award is named in honor of longtime football coach and educator Frank Serrao. It acknowledges the top male and female senior student-athletes who best exemplify academic achievement, athletic success, and community involvement. The head coaches and various directors within Bulldog Athletics nominate and vote upon this prestigious accolade.
Higginson is completing his classes in the School of Business & Society and plans to graduate with his MBA this semester.
In the pool, he helped lead the program to its first USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate National Championship during the Fall of 2022. For his performance in the tournament, he was named to the All-Tournament team after recording five assists and eight points.
While playing in 32 games during the 2022 season, he tallied 47 goals, 23 assists, 11 drawn exclusions, a team-high 40 steals, and 12 field blocks. His 12 field blocks ranked sixth among Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) players and the 40 steals were sixth. As a result of his success in the pool, he was named an Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) First Team All-American.
In addition, Higginson garnered ACWPC All-Academic honors as an 'Outstanding' recipient, which is the highest award with a GPA requirement above 3.71.
During the recent season, Higginson led the team as a captain to the program's first regular-season conference championship since 2009. The Bulldogs finished ranked second in the nation after making it to the USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate National Championship game for the second straight year.
The accolades continued to roll in, as Higginson was named the 2023 SCIAC Offensive Athlete of the Year and First Team All-SCIAC. He became an ACWPC First-Team All-American again and received another ACWPC All-Academic 'Outstanding' honor.
Higginson played in another 32 games in his final season, helping the Bulldogs to win 22 games for their most since 2008. He scored a team-high 66 goals, assisted on another 14, drew 19 exclusions, recorded 31 steals, and posted six field blocks. His 32 goals against SCIAC teams were also fourth most and his 37 points were sixth among the conference contenders.
Out of the pool, Higginson also captained the University of Redlands' Esports team.
As a whole, in two seasons he helped the program go from winning five games in 2021 to appearing in two national championship games and becoming a two-time First-Team All-American.
Head Men's Water Polo Coach Ryan Hall offered high praise for Higginsons' contributions by saying:
"There's a lot you can say about Higgie in the pool – he has great awareness, he's a playmaker, he can play any position at a very high level, but I think more than anything, he is a winner. He's won at every level, and he brought that winning mentality into our program and changed our team culture in a positive way. What's been equally impressive is his performance in the classroom. He maintained an above 3.7 GPA, he's an academic All-American, and on top of that he worked full-time when he wasn't in-season and was captain of the Esports team. He's a great example of someone who got the most out of his time here."
For the women, Patterson receives the Frank Serrao Award as a Business Management major, with a writing concentration.
She is a five-time CAS Dean's List recipient: Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Spring 2023. In her first three academic years, she was named a Redlands Scholar-Athlete and is on track to earn it again in 2023-24.
Her academic achievements as a diver include being named a College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Second Team Scholar All-American in 2022, 2023, and 2024. She was also a member of Redlands seven CSCAA School All-American Teams.
Patterson also made the SCIAC All-Academic team in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and is on track for the honor in 2024.
As a diver, she saw great success, going undefeated on the 1-Meter and 3-Meter boards in 2020-21. That success led to her All-SCIAC nod in 2022 as she was the runner-up on the 1-Meter (424.00 final score) and the 3-Meter (441.90) at the SCIAC Championships. The scores she posted on both boards were good enough to qualify her for the NCAA Division III Region 2 Championships. There she took 15th on the 1-Meter (350.20) and 17th on the 3-Meter (322.50).
In 2023, Patterson finished fourth on the 1-Meter (430.55) and sixth on the 3-Meter (369.15) as she once again qualified for the regional diving championships. Patterson improved her finish at both events, taking 13th on the 1-Meter (336.00) and 10th on the 3-Meter (349.60).
The 2023-24 season was her most successful as a Bulldog. At the SCIAC Championships, she won the 1-Meter (446.35) and finished fourth on the 3-Meter (416.15) before being named SCIAC Women's Diver of the Year, along with earning All-SCIAC recognition.
She ended her career with the Thompson Aquatic Center (TAC) Record on the 1-Meter (6 Dives) with a score of 295.85, which she set on January 6, 2024.
In addition to making the All-SCIAC team twice, she was also the SCIAC Women's Diver of the Week four times: January 25, 2022, February 1, 2022, Feb. 7, 2022, and November 21, 2023.
Outside of the pool, Patterson was involved at the University of Redlands and inside the Redlands community. Some of those contributions included becoming the President of Hui Hawaii, which won the 2022 ASUR New Student Organization of the Year. She served as the Booth Leader for the ASA Night Market in 2023 and 2024 by helping to coordinate the organization's fundraising which yielded more than $9,000 in donations for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
As a study abroad ambassador, she helped to develop a housing chart to assist students in determining their ideal housing type while studying abroad. She also coordinated a post-graduate opportunities presentation and discussion panel with six alumni to assist 30 graduating students.
She spent more than 80 hours volunteering to represent the university to enhance alumni and community relations as a Maroon and Gray Student Ambassador.
Throughout two and a half years she had around 200 tutoring appointments for courses in Japanese, Statistics, and Accounting. In addition to her Japanese tutoring, Patterson was a teaching assistant, aiding the Asian Studies and Japanese Language program by leading weekly tutoring sessions for 20 students and coordinating activities and booths for the multicultural festival in 2022 and 2023.
In her free time, she was a consultant for Hoji Tea, working with four University of Redlands students to develop a marketing plan, while also life-guarding at the TAC.
Head Swimming and Diving Coach Craig Mallery shared the following on Patterson's impact on Redlands:
"Sydney is an exemplary student-athlete, teammate, and leader. She has great respect from the coaching staff and her teammates as she figured out very early on that extraordinary success can happen in multiple areas. Her teammates view her as a leader in and out of the pool. Her pursuit of excellence as a diver is evidenced in an undefeated 20/21 season, three regional championship appearances, and a SCIAC championship on the 1-meter board her senior year. Sydney epitomizes balanced success and has enriched Redlands swim and dive profoundly."
