Seniors receive top athletic prizes at Class Day

Hockey player Broc Little and track & field star Kate Grace received the most prestigious prizes given to male and female Yale athletes at the Senior Class Day ceremony on May 22.

Broc Little: William Neely Mallory Award

Little, the most prolific scorer in Yale hockey’s most successful class ever, received the 2011 William Neely Mallory Award, the most prestigious athletic award given to a senior male at Yale.

Little is a two-time All-ECAC Hockey and All-Ivy League selection who led the nation in three different offensive categories three straight seasons while accumulating 72 goals and 142 points, both fifth on the school’s career charts. He also owns the school’s season (5) and career (7) record for shorthanded goals.

This past season, Little helped the Elis to the best record in school history (28-7-1), ECAC and Ivy League Championships, a No. 1 overall national tournament seed and a second straight NCAA East Regional Final appearance. Little, a first-team All-Ivy selection, was second on the team with 19 goals and third with 43 points. He was also a Hobey Baker candidate (nation’s top male hockey player) and a candidate for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award (community, leadership, academic).

Little led the Blue with 27 goals in 2009-10, a Yale record for juniors. He also led Division I players with .79 goals per game, which helped him earn Reebok Second-Team All-America honors while making first-team All-ECAC, All-Ivy and All-New England.

During his sophomore season, Little skated in all 34 games while leading the nation with five shorthanded goals. He was tied for the team lead with 35 points while ranking third with 15 goals. He was third-team All-ECAC and a member of the ECAC All-Tournament Team while also garnering ECAC Hockey All-Academic honors.

Little led all freshmen (4th overall) in Division I with six game-winning goals in 2007-08, while finishing second on the team in points (23) and goals (11). He shared (with Denny Kearney) the Martin Dwyer Award, which goes to the team’s best freshman.

The speedy forward helped Yale to 89 victories, but he also helped the Blue win fans off the ice. Little was involved in team (skate with Bulldogs, youth days) and individual (talking at local schools) outreach activities as one of the most popular Eli hockey players in modern times.

The Rindge, N.H., native, who scored so many highlight goals during his four-year collegiate career, will skate professionally in Sweden next winter. Little, who led the 2010 Detroit Red Wings Free-Agent Camp in scoring, was signed by Vasteras from the Swedish Allsvenskan League.

Kate Grace: Nellie Pratt Elliot Award

Grace, a six-time Heptagonal champion in the 800-meter run, received the 2011 Nellie Pratt Elliot Award, the most prestigious athletic award given to a senior female at Yale.

The Nellie Pratt Elliot Award goes to the senior woman whose excellence in the field of athletics and in her life at Yale best represents the ideals of sportsmanship and Yale tradition. It is awarded in memory of Nellie Pratt Elliot, who was an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Yale for 46 years.

Grace, a Santa Monica, Calif., native, won the 800 run at the Heptagonal (Ivy League) Championship both indoors and outdoors as a sophomore, junior and senior. She is only the second runner in Ivy League history to win six 800-meter run titles.

In addition, Grace is a two-time All-American indoors and earned All-America honors outdoors as a junior. She will have a chance at a fourth All-America performance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.

Grace is the Yale record holder in the 800 and one-mile indoors and the 800 and 1500 outdoors. In addition, she is part of school records in the 4x400 relays both indoors and outdoors.

Three weeks ago at the 2011 Outdoor Heps held at Yale, Grace was named the meet’s Outstanding Performer after winning the 800 by nearly one second and capturing the 1500-meter run with a school-record time of 4:20.77, which was only .02 seconds off the meet record.

In March, Grace placed 13th in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships, earning her second-team All-America recognition.
As a junior, Grace earned first-team All-America recognition after finishing eighth in the 800 run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She finished eighth in the 800 at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships to earn her first All-America honors, and as a freshman was one of only three rookies to compete in the 800 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Grace, a member of Saybrook College, majored environmental studies at Yale. She earned All-Academic honors from the USTFCCCA her junior year.