Sullivan Selected as the 2020 Female AAA Award Recipient
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Prior to graduation each year, the Army Athletic Association (AAA) awards a male and female cadet-athlete who displayed the “most valuable service to intercollegiate athletics during a career as a cadet.” The AAA trophy is highly regarded as the United States Military Academy’s most prestigious athletic award. Being that the 2019-20 school year looked a bit different than years past, this year’s award winners were announced during the first-ever virtual Black Knight Awards.
After an outstanding record-breaking career with the Army West Point women’s rugby program, senior Sam Sullivan was chosen as the 2019-2020 female recipient of the AAA Award.
In the 116th year of the award, Sullivan was recognized alongside senior men’s basketball captain, Tommy Funk, who was the male honoree.
Sullivan becomes the first women’s rugby player in program history to receive the award after accumulating a laundry list of accomplishments. In her four-year career, Sullivan has been named a three-time National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) 15s All-American.
Her grit and relentlessness on the field of play also allowed her be recognized for a number of awards, including being named the 2019 College Rugby Championships Tournament MVP, the winner of the first-ever Prusmack Award, awarded to the top female and male collegiate 7s player in the country, and a top-20 finalist for the MA Sorensen Award, presented to the best 15s player in the country.
In addition to her leadership role on the team, Sullivan found her niche as a leader in the West Point community as well. She is a member of the Hawk Eye ID Program and became the first-ever West Point Military Academy Brigade Trust Captain. In that role, she played a pivotal role in creating a committee of cadets to highlight sexual assault, sexual harassment and create a culture in which every cadet is empowered to protect their teammates.
Prior to arriving on the West Point campus, Sullivan had never played a day of rugby in her life. As a plebe, she walked on to the team and quickly found her place as a starter for the Black Knights. In her career, she has amassed 118 tries, two conversions and 594 total points to make her the program's all-time leader in points and tries in both the 15s and 7s category.
“Sam was recruited unseen, no evaluations and very limited conversations. Her AMS file was incredibly impressive in all the West Point Pillars,” head coach Bill Leclerc said. “My thought was why not reach out, it can’t hurt, hoping that she will find something in a sport that she had never played or heard of before would be interesting to say the least.
In the end I feel it was the perfect intersection of NEED & WANT.
Rugby Wanted her.
Sam Needed Rugby.
I have no doubt that Sam would not have been the person she is today, without rugby.”
Sullivan has been a part of Company G-4 and is one of only three females in the Computer Science major for the class of 2020. She recently commissioned as a 2nd LT in the United States Army and will officially graduate from the Academy this upcoming Saturday.