Over three dozen University of Colorado student-athletes, including 15 with perfect 4.00 grade point averages last year, were honored for a variety of outstanding academic accomplishments Tuesday morning at the 21st Annual Student-Athlete Academic Recognition Banquet.
Over 300 people attended the event, held in the Byron White Club Lounge at CU鈥檚 Folsom Field.听
The Clancy A. Herbst, Jr., Student-Athlete Achievement Award was presented to two recipients, Malcolm Creer(football) and Brian Owens (track), as the award is given to athletes who overcome personal, academic or emotional difficulties to succeed both academically and athletically.
Creer, who has overcome a learning disability and is now looking to help others by majoring in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, was redshirting his true freshman year in 2011 when he was called upon to play due to injuries. 听His first game was CU鈥檚 eighth of the season, well into the second half of the year, and in the ninth game, he suffered a torn knee ligament that sidelined him for a year.
Owens, who throws the javelin, had elbow surgery prior to coming to CU, has since had a second and is looking at a third. 听He also suffered heartbreak with the death of a younger brother in an accident, one he salutes in tribute every time before he makes a throw.
The highest award a graduating senior can receive from the Pac-12 Conference is the Tom Hansen Medal, named for the league鈥檚 longtime commissioner, and is based on the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership. 听Each school selects a male and female recipient, and these were presented to Emma Coburn (cross country and track) and Sabatino Chen (men鈥檚 basketball).
Four students were presented with the Scholar-Athlete Award, as the recipients include a member of the sophomore and junior classes and male and female members from the senior class who have accumulated the highest cumulative grade point average in their respective class (and are awarded by academic year, not eligibility class).
The winners were:
- Thea Grosvold, Soph., Skiing (3.870 GPA, Business)
- Rachel Viger, Jr., Cross Country & Track (4.00 GPA, Chemical Engineering)
- Nikki Look,Sr., Cross Country & Track (4.00 GPA, Applied Mathematics)
- Ian Mallams, Sr., Skiing (3.799 GPA, Environmental Studies and Geography)
Look also received the honor as a sophomore and junior.
Academic team winners for grade point average were the women鈥檚 soccer team for a sport with its championship in the fall semester (3.267) and the men鈥檚 ski team for those who compete in the spring semester (an astounding 3.604). 听The soccer team also won a fierce competition over the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 golf teams for the most improved honor for a team, as its aggregate GPA rose .183 over the last two semesters, edging men鈥檚 ski, volleyballand football.
In the 2012 calendar year, there were 15 student-athletes who studied to perfection, as in 4.00 grade point averages for at least one semester if not the full year, and thus were inducted into CU鈥檚 4.0 club; membership now stands at 252 members since 1994. 听Those honored included Grosvold, Look, Mallams and Viger, with that quartet joined by:
Courtney Bouchet (majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience in Psychology), Lindsy Mattson (Communication and Economics), Jessica McLaughlin (English) and Jessica Tebo(Master鈥檚 in Curriculum and Instruction), all on the women鈥檚 cross country and/or track team; 听Andreas Haug (Finance),Katie Stege (Architecture), Michael Vigers and Claire Wise (both Chemical and Biological Engineering), all members of the ski team; 听Chelsey Keoho (Integrative Physiology and Communication) and Elysse Richardson (Psychology), of the women鈥檚 volleyball team; and Alex Dohm (French and Mechanical Engineering) of the soccer team.
Out of 306 student-athletes, 151 attained a 3.0 grade point either cumulatively or for the spring and/or fall semesters through 2012, 71 of whom owned 3.5 averages or better. 听Those are impressive numbers when realized that CU鈥檚 curriculum is one of the toughest in Division I athletics, as evidenced by the roll call of majors being undertaken by many of the award winners.
Jason Burstyn, a senior on the men鈥檚 golf team, Ben Mills, a junior on the men鈥檚 basketball squad and Arnaud Du Pasquier, a sophomore on CU鈥檚 national championship ski team, were recognized as recipients of the Most Improved Student-Athlete Awards.
There were four recipients of the Buffalo Leadership and Initiative Awards, given to the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding initiative and demonstrates a strong commitment to service to the CU and Boulder communities. 听Those winners were Lauren Shaner (senior, soccer), Jessica Aschenbrenner (junior, volleyball), Kelsey Spencer (sophomore, volleyball) and Josh Scott (freshman, basketball),
The Student Support Services Academic Award was presented to Rita DiTommaso, who has worked as a student trainer for four years. 听Owner of a 3.7 grade point, she will earn her undergraduate degree in Integrative Physiology this May. 听This award is presented to a student worker who maintains a 3.0 GPA while demonstrating strong commitment and leadership to CU athletics.听
Closing comments were made by Look, who has had seven consecutive semesters with a 4.0 grade point and was guaranteed a spot in CU鈥檚 medical school her sophomore year. 听She spoke about her past challenges in overcoming two knee surgeries and the path that brought her to CU, and how she earned an academic scholarship (Boettcher) and earned a spot on the track team. 听It was centric to the theme she conveyed to the audience:
鈥淭he challenges of academics and athletics lead us to succeed in both.鈥�
Images and story courtesy of CU Athletics.
