BANGOR, Maine — Presque Isle’s Chandler Guerrette will be honored as the Clara Swan Athlete of the Year at Husson University during the 2016-17 school year.
Director of Athletics Frank Pergolizzi made the announcement Sept. 19. Guerrette will join the male honoree, Del Merrill Athlete of the Year John Smith, in receiving the recognition at the Husson Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony Dec. 1.
“We are thrilled to be able to recognize Chandler and John,” said Pergolizzi. “In addition to being great athletes and leaders of their teams, they are both outstanding human beings. They join an outstanding group of previous award recipients.”
Guerrette, a 2013 graduate of Presque Isle High School, was a four-year letter winner in basketball for the Eagles as a guard from 2014-17, helping guide the team to a 76-33 overall record with two North Atlantic Conference (NAC) regular season titles (2016 and 2017), two NAC championships and berths into the NCAA Div. III National Championship Tournament both years.
She helped last year’s team tie the program’s NCAA era school single-season record for wins with 23 en route to the program’s first ever NCAA tourney victory over DeSales University, 74-72, on March 3, That was the program’s first national tournament win in 25 years.
In her final season on the hardwood, Guerrette was tabbed as the NAC Player of the Year, the NAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England DIII Player of the Year, while earning her fourth career All-NAC and All-NAC Tournament selections.
She became the first player in program history to earn all-conference and conference all-tournament honors all fours years of their career, in addition to being selected to the Maine Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (MWBCA) All-State First Team, the ECAC All-New England First Team and to the D3hoops.com All-Northeast Region Third Team.
She also was chosen to play in the New England Women’s Basketball Association (NEWBA) Senior All-Star Game.
This past season, she led the team in free throws made (97) and attempts (121), assists (102), steals (98), assists per game (3.6), steals per game (3.5) and ranked second in points (403), points per game (14.4), 3-point field goals made (44) and attempts (140), field goals made (131) and attempts (331), defensive rebounds (86), and defensive rebounds per game (3.1).
The guard finished the season ranked in the top-10 in 11 different conference statistical categories, including leading the league in steals and steals per game.
In 105 career games played with 99 starts, Guerrette tallied 1,333 points, 294 assists, 410 rebounds, 255 steals, and 18 blocks, while shooting 39.1 percent (435-1112) from the floor, 32 percent (134-421) from behind the arc and 76 percent (329-435) from the free throw line. She averaged 12.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.4 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in her career.
She finished her career ranked among the program’s career leaders in points (third), scoring average (11th), field goals made (10th), field goals attempted (sixth), 3-point field goals made (sixth), 3-point field goals attempted (third), 3-point FG percentage (17th), free throws made (fourth), free throws attempted (fifth), free throw percentage (14th), rebounds (23rd), assists (ninth), steals (fifth), steals average (tied for sixth) and games played (tied for 18th).
Guerrette earned All-NAC Sportsmanship honors in 2016 and was chosen as the MWBCA and NAC Rookie of the Years in 2014, while being selected to the MWBCA All-Rookie Team as well.
Off the court, Guerrette earned All-NAC Academic Team honors in 2016 and 2017. She became the 15th Eagle captain to record 1,000 career points.
Guerrette is the only player in NAC history to be named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in same season and the only player to earn Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year honors in the conference’s and Husson women’s basketball history. She became the second player in program history to achieve both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors.
Guerrette is pursuing a master’s degree in occupational therapy and will graduate from Husson in 2018.
