139 Honored At Annual Hanzad Scholar-Athlete Celebration

San Jose, Calif.-----139 San Jose State University student-athletes were recognized for academic success and excellence at the 2008 Arm & Pat Hanzad Scholar-Athlete celebration held at The Event Center. The celebration was sponsored by the Office of the President and Ditech Networks.

    Student-athletes who earned a cumulative grade-point average of 3.00 or higher on a 4.00 scale for the 2007-08 academic year were eligible for recognition from the University’s athletics department.

    “Today is one of my favorite days of the school year. It is a day to recognize the great academic success and performance of our student-athletes and you are to be congratulated,” said director of athletics Tom Bowen to the hundreds in attendance.

    “The big list of of successful student-athletes is thrilling to me,” added University President Jon Whitmore. “The good news is you’ve achieved academic excellence. Our goal is for you to be successful graduates of the university.”

    Of the 127 Scholar-Athletes, 99 also received academic All-Conference honors from the Western Athletic Conference or the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. These Scholar-Athletes maintained a 3.00 or better cumulative grade-point average and participated in at least 50 percent of their team’s contests during the academic year.

    Shanice Howard of the gymnastics team; Bridget McKee, water polo; Kanika Minocha, golf; and Lisa Worsham and Marlene Elizalde, women’s cross country, were cited as the five female student-athletes with the highest grade-point average. Baseball players Karson Klauer and Danny Stienstra; Sam Shore and Hiroki Akiyama, soccer and Liam Smith, football, registered the top-five grade-point averages among the six men’s sports teams.

    Water polo player Beth Harberts and Justin Paysinger of the football team were cited for exemplary success as graduate students who participated in intercollegiate athletics last year.

    Gymnasts Leah Bigelow, Casey Jay, Greta Leach and Michelle Minotti; women’s cross country runners Lindsay Bryant and Marlene Elizalde; swimmer Amanda Carr; football player David Giesen; Lance Holloway of men’s basketball; Kasey Igarta of softball; Erica Ng-Pinkerton, women’s soccer; Ashley Tavita of women’s tennis; men’s golfer Jon Tringale were named recipients of the Arm & Pat Hanzad Awards for earning scholar-athlete status in each of their four or five years as San Jose State University students.

     The gymnastics team received the Order of Sparta Team GPA Award for the highest combined team grade-point average for the fall and spring semesters. Gymnastics and baseball were cited as the best academic women’s and men’s teams academically and received the Athletics Board’s Best Academic Performance Awards. The women’s golf, women’s tennis, water polo, women’s cross country and women’s swimming teams received honorable mention recognition for team grade-point averages above 3.00 each semester.

     Men’s basketball received the Athletics Board’s Most Improved Academic Performance Award.

     The Athletics Board named gymnastics head coach Wayne Wright and baseball assistant coach Jeff Pritchard Head Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year, respectively.