SAN DIEGO–University record 246 Scholar-Athletes were honored May 11 at the 6th annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet on the San Diego State campus.
The 246 student-athletes possessing a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average or recording a 3.5 semester grade-point average, eclipsed the previous record of 229 set in the 2008-09 academic year. This is the fifth consecutive year in which the student-athlete total has increased.
“This banquet started 16 years ago with 33 scholar-athletes and has now grown to 246,” SDSU athletic director Jim Sterk said. “That growth is a great testament to the quality of our student-athletes and the coaches and staff that are dedicated to their success.”
Kyla Power, a senior swimmer from San Jose, Calif., and Matt Parker, a junior catcher on the baseball team from San Diego, were named Student-Athletes of the Year.
Power is a team captain and member of the Mountain West Conference All-Academic team as well as a member of both the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and the Associated Students Council. She finished third or better in 11 races this past season and has recorded times in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly that rank among SDSU’s all-time top 10 marks. Power is a psychology major with a minor in political science.
Parker, who attended Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, has started 41 times this season and come off the bench twice as the Aztecs primary catcher. He has been solid behind the late, throwing out 24 base runners and picking off four others while compiling a .992 fielding percentage. At the plate he ranks sixth in the conference in walks and has had a pair of six-game hitting streak this season. Parker was also a member of the 2009 MWC All-Academic team.
The Malik Award, named after Dr. James Malik who is a San Diego State professor emeritus of Chemistry, for highest semester grade-point average, was presented to 11 student-athletes who achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA. This year’s Malik Award recipients were Catharina Aasheim, a freshman on the women’s golf team, Darien Buc, a senior on the cross country and track teams, Marisa Fraticelli, a freshman on the women’s soccer team, Jaime Hinton, a senior on the crew team, Josefine Koskinen, a sophomore on the cross country and track teams, Christina Mattos, a senior on crew, Kayla McKenna, a freshman on crew, Leigh Rutherford, a sophomore on the track and cross country teams, Bianca Saad, a junior on the track and field team, Tim Schulz van Endert, a junior on the men’s tennis steam and Matthew Tosches, a junior on the men’s tennis team.
The Montezuma Cup, presented annually to the team that develops life skills and competencies while enhancing collective team unity by working together to achieve the maximum possible points, was won by the baseball team.
