BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Austin College Director of Athletics Communications Jeff Kelly is the 2018-19 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Women's Division III Sports Information Director of the Year, the organization has announced.

Selected by the CWPA Director of Communications, the SID of the Year award is presented to individuals who "have achieved notable excellence in the field of water polo communications during the past academic year."

He promoted the Kangaroos' women's water polo team during a 2019 season in which Austin finished 8-9 and advanced to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship title game during the inaugural year of varsity water polo at the institution.

A 2003 graduate of Syracuse University, Kelly was named the Director of Athletics Communications at Austin in 2016 after having served as the Sports Information Coordinator for the 'Roos since 2005.

Prior to coming to Austin College he worked as a Sports Information Assistant at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, following a tenure as a Sports Information Intern at the national office of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in Kansas City. 

A member of the 2018-19 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) U national committee, which works with college students who aspire to enter the sports information profession, he a published writer, including having had some of his work appear in a New York Times bestseller nonfiction comedy book in 2010. 

The award marks the ninth Women's Division III SID of the Year award presented by the league office and the first to an SID at a first-year varsity institution.  Former Washington & Jefferson College Sports Information Director and current Director of Athletics Scott McGuinness claimed accolades during the 2010-11 and 2013-14 academic years, Grove City College SID Ryan Briggs took back-to-back honors in 2011-12 and 2012-13 prior to former W&J SID Sean King three-peating with laurels in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.  Macalester College's Matt McLagan became the first SID from outside Pennsylvania to garner the honor last season by taking the 2017-18 award.