April 29, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Senior Tommy Orr (Medford, Mass./Malden Catholic), a long-stick defensive midfielder on Bucknell's nationally ranked men's lacrosse team, received a special award at the University's annual Senior Athletic Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Bison Club and held in Sojka Pavilion on Apr. 29.

Orr won the Robert A. Latour Service Award, presented for extraordinary service to Bucknell and the local communities. Orr shared the award with Brittany Kaplan of the women's rowing team.

In addition to Orr and Kaplan, several other student-athletes were honored at the banquet, including the winners of the Christy Mathewson Award, given to the most outstanding athletes in the senior class. All-America rower Katherine Brewster-Duffy and record-setting baseball player Jason Buursma won the Mathewson Awards.

A valuable member of Bucknell's vaunted defensive unit, Orr never missed a game in four years. He was a regular contributor since day one, and his 64 career ground balls rank among the active team leaders. During his four-year career, the Bison defense allowed only 7.4 goals per game.

Orr is part of the winningest senior class in Bucknell men's lacrosse history. The team won 35 games over the last four years, including 11 in 2007 and 10 in 2008. That marked the first time in program annals that the Bison achieved 10 or more wins in back-to-back seasons.

This past weekend, Bucknell knocked off top-seeded Army 8-7 in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, but the Bison fell to Colgate 13-9 in the championship game. Bucknell could still get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Those bids will be announced Sunday night.

Orr was also recognized for his mentorship of a physically and mentally handicapped person named J.J. Thanks to Orr's friendship, the Lewisburg resident has become the Bucknell lacrosse team's biggest fan.

Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,400 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 13 of 17 years.

Bucknell annually ranks among the national leaders in graduation rates, and recently 17 Bison programs - the fourth-most in Division I - earned NCAA Public Recognition for having Academic Performance Rates in the top 10 percent nationally in their respective sport. In addition, Bucknell ranks fifth in Division I in the total number of CoSIDA Academic All-America selections, with 114 national Academic All-Americans since 1970.