Chris Flores, Basketball

Chris Flores led the Highlanders to a come-from-behind victory over Houston Baptist last Saturday to claim the GWC title.

Flores, the GWC Preseason Player of the Year, scored a game-high 21 points as the Highlanders overcame a 17-point, first-half deficit in the 69-58 win over the Huskies — snapping HBU’s eight-game winning streak in the process. The win avenged an earlier loss to the Huskies at Houston which set the Highlanders on their current season-high, five-game winning streak. The senior from Dorchester, Mass., also pulled down six rebounds, dished out two assists and recorded three steals as NJIT claimed its first-ever GWC men’s basketball championship.

Flores leads the GWC in scoring with 17.4 points per game — an average that ranks 67th in the nation among 1,819 qualifiers — and in steals with 2.3 per contest — which places him 20th in the nation. The three-time GWC Second-Team selection also ranks second in the GWC with 2.5 three-pointers made per game – which ranks 69th in the nation.

It’s been quite a season for the senior co-captain. On Jan. 4, Flores became NJIT’s all-time leading scorer in the Division-I era, passing Isaiah Wilkerson (1,577). He now sits fifth all-time overall with 1,703 points and needs just 39 points to pass Wilkerson (517; 2011-12) for NJIT’s D-I single-season points record. He’s also on pace to finish with the highest scoring average in NJIT’s D-I era (Isaiah Wilkerson, 16.2; 2011-12).

In addition to his scoring accolades, Flores became NJIT’s all-time D-I assist leader (329) this season, passing Jheryl Wilson ‘11 (250). He also set NJIT’s D-I single-season record for steals (62) passing Wilkerson (56; 2011-12) and is the only GWC player to record six steals in a game this season — a feat he’s accomplished three times (Nov. 13, Jan. 17, Feb. 2).

Flores was also named Great West Conference Player of the Week for the fourth time the senior co-captain earned GWC Player of the Week honors this season (Nov. 14, Nov. 28, Feb. 4). Additionally, he was named conference Player of the Week by College Sports Madness.

Julia Aronov, Fencing

Sophomore Julia Aronov finished 5th place out of 51 fencers on the epee strip at the 85th Annual National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association (NIWFA) Championships hosted by Swarthmore College.

After the pools competition, Julia was ranked #1 after going 14-2.

In the top 16 direct elimination, Julia defeated Brittany Henly from USNA to advance to the top 8, where she fell to Jessica Hall from Temple.

2012-13: 33-15 record (69%) on the epee strip.

Prior to NJIT: NSFC team won third place at two national tournaments. Played for the North Shore fencers club.

Courtesy of NJIT Athletics