Pioneer Points
Director of Athletics Debby De Angelis.
- May 31, 2011
Although the 2010-11 season is behind us, there is still plenty of excitement in the Athletics Department this month. We recently celebrated our student-athletes' many achievements this year, both on the field and in the classroom, at our annual Student-Athlete Banquet. We also saw a number of student-athletes earn athletic and academic honors at the conference and regional levels. Within our office we've also had some excitement as one of our own was honored with a national award and we successfully moved to a new location on campus.
Last Thursday, we celebrated our great student-athletes and their many accomplishments this season at our annual banquet. Baseball pitcher Bryce Miller and volleyball outside hitter Sukhjit Athwal collected Male and Female Athlete of the Year honors. Miller finished second on the team with five wins and made a start every week of the season, while Athwal was second on the squad in kills per game while helping lead the team to a second-place tie in the CCAA with victories over a pair of ranked opponents in 2010.
Senior baseball player and Student-Athlete Advisory Council President Johnny Volk was honored for his dedication to the athletics program with the Pioneer Spirit Award, while Lauren Massa and Roxanne Neely were announced as the 麻豆传媒社区入口 winners of the CCAA's Hal Charnofsky Memorial Award for their academic and athletic achievements.
Each team and the Pioneer sports medicine staff also honored their top students with the Scholar-Athlete Award. Winners of the award included soccer's Tyler Andersen and Tenaya Davis, water polo's Julia Charlesworth, golf's Mark DeWitt and Deanna Tyndall, basketball's Kenneth Farr and Kristina Lin, softball's Dani Foster, volleyball's Lauren Massa, sports medicine's Kendra Mason, cross country's Megan McDaniel and Erik Rodriguez, swimming's Heidi Reddig and baseball's Zachary Wong.
Our 49 seniors were also recognized for their contributions to the program, in particular the 15 student-athletes who were four-year letterwinners for their teams. Athena Bell, Wes Davis, John Erlandson, Will Freedman, Michelle Garcia, Jenna Gelet, Sean Lynum-Young, Lauren Massa, Roxanne Neely, Francisco Pulido, Steve Shutler, Nancy Velazquez, Johnny Volk, Christina Walker and Liz Warren each played a key role in helping our teams make the difficult transition to Division II during their time in the Pioneer uniform. We also got a chance to bid farewell to outgoing President Mohammad Qayoumi and thank him for his ardent support of our program throughout his time at the university.
Over the past month our spring student-athletes have been reeling in the postseason honors. Senior Nick McManus earned All-CCAA Second Team recognition before collecting All-West Region Second Team honors from both the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings. After earning first-team All-WWPA and first-team All-Tournament honors, water polo sophomore Claire Pierce was also recognized for her impressive classroom accomplishments. The Perth, Australia native was named to the Capital One Women's At-Large Academic All-District First Team and is now eligible to collect Capital One Academic All-America honors to be released later this month.
Within the department staff, we were proud to announce that the National Association of Collegiate Woman Athletic Administrators named marketing and promotions intern Kenya Broadnax the 2011 Administrator of Tomorrow. The national award is given annually to an athletics department student, graduate assistant, intern or volunteer whose dedication and hard work show promise as a future athletics administrator. We couldn't be prouder or more excited for Kenya, who is our second straight recipient of the award after former administrative intern Shelby Stueve earned the award in 2010.
Now that our offices have been relocated, we are getting settled and planning for another busy summer to prepare for a great 2011-12 season, which will include our 50th Anniversary Celebration on the weekend of Sept. 23-25. The event will feature Pioneer athletic events and a chance to welcome back and honor our athletics alumni, so make sure to mark your calendars now.
In closing, I'd like to congratulate all of 麻豆传媒社区入口's graduating seniors, especially our student-athletes. Have a great summer and go Pioneers!