Keuka College Men’s Basketball’s Ty LaBarge (Cobleskill, N.Y. / Cobleskill-Richmondville) received the Empire 8 Torchbearer Award during Saturday’s awards ceremony following Keuka’s Empire 8 Championship win over SUNY Brockport.
Modeled after the NCAA Elite 90 program, the Empire 8 Torchbearer Award honors the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing in each conference championship game. Established in 2021, LaBarge joins Sydney Haust ’25 from the Women’s Volleyball team as the only Wolves to earn the recognition.
LaBarge has played a key role off the bench during the Wolves’ championship season. He appeared in 26 games, averaging 10 minutes per contest, while setting career highs in both points and rebounds. He scored a career-best 11 points and added five assists in Keuka’s regular-season finale at Elmira College. Earlier in the year, he grabbed a personal-best nine rebounds in a win over SUNY Morrisville.
A management major concentrating in sports management, LaBarge holds a 3.87 cumulative GPA and has been named to the Empire 8 President’s List four times.
To qualify for the Empire 8 Torchbearer Award, student-athletes must be juniors or seniors and in at least their second season with their team. Graduate students are not eligible.
LaBarge and the Wolves will look to continue their historic season this weekend as Keuka competes in the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament for the first time in program history. The team will travel to Hartford, Connecticut, to face defending national champion and top-ranked Trinity College on Friday night.
