Colgate was already coming off a historical season, advancing to the NCAA elite eight for the first time in team history, but now they're celebrating another first. Junior attackman Peter Baum has been named the 2012 Tewaaraton winner, the first ever Tewaaraton award in Colgate and Patriot League history.
"You sort of start to realize how big of a deal it really is, being an athlete and being totally absorbed in what goes on on the field, it can be a little difficult to step back and look at the big picture and I have been able to do that a little and I'm so proud. I'm proud to be mentioned in the same category as the other four finalists. I'm thrilled with the experience overall and I just think that it is a great thing for Colgate."
Baum helped Colgate win 14 games this passed season, the most in school history, and had already been recognized with a number of honors. He was named to the 2012 USILA All-America first team and the Laxpower All-America team. He also won the 2012 Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award, USILA's Most Outstanding Player Award, among other achievements. But winning the Tewaaraton Award is the ultimate achievement, especially for a junior who has one more season to play with a team on the up and up.
"Yeah, we have a lot of talent coming back and we are very excited about that moving forward," reflects Baum, "right now I have to really step into a leadership role and try to take this team back to the tournament and hopefully improve on our quarterfinals appearance this year, but our Senior Class this year really left their legacy with this new coaching staff. We just hope that next season will be another step forward and we'll just keep going from there."
In the meantime, Baum is looking forward to his summer internship in Boston, and soaking in the fact that he possesses College lacrosse's most prestigious award, something that can never be taken away from him.
"To be in the same sentence as the guys who have won this award, guys that I grew up admiring.It's just unbelievable to think that I can be in that category , I'm very excited about that, it's something that will last forever. It's not as good as a National Championship, but I suppose for me personally it's a great honor".
