Harding Named Male Senior Scholar Athlete of the Year
TOWSON, Md. - Connor Harding of The University of Scranton was selected as the Landmark Conference Male Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
This is a new honor given by the Landmark Conference as the winner of the Senior Scholar Athlete from each sport is considered for the overall award which is given to one male and one female recipient. Harding will now be considered for the Division III Commissioners Association National Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Harding hit .396 over the past four seasons for Scranton with five home runs, 88 RBI, 124 runs scored, 172 hits, 24 doubles, 12 triples and 51 stolen bases. Playing centerfield for the Royals, he also did not make an error during the last two seasons of his career and finished with a .977 fielding percentage and eight outfield assists.
He is the program's all-time leader in triples (12) and ranks second in stolen bases (51) as well as fifth in both batting average (.396) and hits (172) and tied for sixth in runs scored (106). As a sophomore in 2019, Harding set a pair of single-season records with 70 hits and nine triples.
During Harding's career, the Royals captured the program's first Landmark Conference title in 2021 and competed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Scranton won the Landmark with a thrilling three-game series victory over Etown and put forth a valiant effort against perennial powerhouses St. Thomas (Minn.) and Chapman in NCAA Regionals.
The Vestal, N.Y., native is a two-time All-Landmark Conference honoree and earned Landmark Player of the Year honors in 2019. That same season, Harding also garnered All-American and All-Region accolades from D3baseball.com.
As a student, Harding was a four-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and the University's Emerging Leaders Program. He earned a degree from Scranton as a Business Administration major with an impressive 3.96 grade point average, made the Dean's List every semester, was a three-time Landmark Academic Honor Roll selection, and was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and All-District honoree. He gained experience as a Commercial Underwriting Intern with Liberty Mutual Insurance Group in 2019, and has spent the last five years as a Commercial Lines Support Technician at Harding Brooks Insurance Agency.
Additionally, Harding volunteered with local organizations. He assisted Dick's Sporting Goods Outreach Program by unloading sneakers and apparel for those in need, and spent time as a Broome County Special Olympics volunteer for five years. Harding also spent time as a Volunteer Youth Basketball Referee in his hometown of Vestal.