WALTHAM, Mass. – Caitlin Burmester was named the Northeast 10 Female Scholar Athlete of the Year to highlight Bentley's night at the NE10 Awards Banquet on Tuesday.

Bentley won the Pioneers Cup for overall excellence in women's sports during the 2024-25 season.

Overall, Bentley finished second in the NE10 Presidents' Cup Standings, which combines men's and women's teams performances in the regular season standings throughout the year.

Eric Gaynor was presented with the Faculty Mentor Award.

Burmester's award caps a standout senior year for the cross country and track and field teams.

The fall cross country season saw her lead the Falcons to the first NE10 championship in program history and she qualified individually for the NCAA Championship. She was the NCAA East Region champion, the USTFCCCA East Region Runner of the Year and the NE10 Sport Excellence Award winner for women's cross country.

In track and field she won four individual gold medals, the 800 meter and the one mile indoors and the 800 and 1500 meter outdoors.

Burmester, who was Bentley's Edward J. Powers Scholar-Athlete Award winner, majored in both accounting and liberal studies and maintained a 3.95 GPA. She's earned eight NE10 Academic All-Conference team selections in her career for both cross country and track.

The last Falcon female athlete to win this award was women's basketball standout and Bentley Hall of Famer Lauren Battista in 2014.
 
The Pioneers Cup for women's sports is awarded to the institution that compiles the most cumulative points based on finishes in the regular season standings from all of its programs competing in league championships.

Women's basketball won the NE10 regular season championship and volleyball finished in second. Women's soccer, field hockey, women's lacrosse and softball all had top-four finishes.

Success continued into the postseason.

Basketball won the NE10 Championship for the fourth straight season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Volleyball advanced to the Final Four for the first time in program history. Cross country won the first NE10 Championship in program history.

Softball and soccer both advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Swimming and diving were runners-up at the NE10 Championship.

Gaynor is a Lecturer in Bentley's Department of Accounting. A Certified Public Accountant, his work is primarily with health & human service agencies, with an emphasis on child welfare. He advises several state agencies as Senior Consultant for Sivic Solutions Group and was a Project Manager with Maximus specializing in revenue maximization.

Professor Gaynor's nomination was submitted by Bentley volleyball players Elizabeth Blinn and Sofia Zingariello, who noted "Professor Gaynor is one of Bentley's most prominent mentors. He makes himself available for many hours of the day outside of class time, so that students can ask him questions about class material, their careers, or anything else that they may need to be successful."

They added, "above all, Professor Gaynor is committed to building meaningful relationships with his students and staying in touch with them after they have taken his class. He is always sending out networking events and other career-growing opportunities to his current and former students, in an effort to help prepare them for a career after graduating. No professor has prepared us for the real-world like Professor Gaynor has."