Anteaters recognize top student-athletes

UC Irvine athletics recognized a school-record 182 honorees as

2004-05 Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes at the program’s annual

banquet last month.

This year’s list brings UCI’s total to 2,579 conference

scholar-athletes since 1983.

Requirements for this award include maintaining a 3.0 grade-point

average over three quarters or a 3.2 GPA over two quarters for

freshmen. Student-athletes must also earn letters in their sports.

The Scholar-Athlete award was implemented by the Big West

Conference to honor those student-athletes who have maintained a high

level of scholastic excellence while participating in intercollegiate

athletics.

UCI expanded the award to include teams that do not participate in

Big West-sponsored sports.

In addition, UCI also recognized several individuals at the

banquet.

Women’s volleyball player Ashlie Hain was recognized as the Lauds

& Laurels Senior Athlete of the Year, the most prestigious award

given by the UCI Alumni Association.

Hain is a two-time All-Big West Conference setter who ended her

career as UCI’s all-time assist leader. She ranks second in career

assists among Big West players (5,698) and holds the Big West record

for set-assist average (13.07).

A two-time Big West scholar-athlete, she guided UCI to two

consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

UCI’s Big West Scholar-Athletes of the Year were senior Anna

Bentzer (tennis) and junior Ross Schraeder (basketball). Each

conference school honors one male and one female athlete each year.

Bentzer has been named the Big West Player of the Year for women’s

tennis the last two years. She finished her UCI career with a 92-25

record in singles play and 64-48 in doubles. She was named first-team

All-Big West in singles as both a junior and senior.

The senior was second-team all-conference in singles in 2003. She

was named second-team all-conference in doubles three times.

The psychology major was also a 2004 Academic All-Big West

honoree.

She was named Big West Women’s Tennis Player of the Week eight

times in her career, the most in conference history. Most recently,

she won the ITA/Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and

Sportsmanship for the West Region. The award is given to a player who

has exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and leadership as well as

scholastic, extracurricular and tennis achievements.

Schraeder received honorable mention for all-conference honors

this past season as a junior, when he led the Anteaters with 79

three-pointers.

He ranks fourth in career three-pointers at UCI (159). He finished

the season ranked No. 11 nationally in three-point field-goal

accuracy (43.9%).

Schraeder led UCI with a 12.9 scoring average this season. He hit

a career-high eight three-pointers in a Dec. 17 win at San Jose State

and pulled down a career-high nine rebounds against UC Davis Feb. 19.

He was also named to the Big West Academic All-Conference team for

winter sports.

Women’s volleyball player Kelly Wing, a two-time All-American,

received the University’s Academic Challenge Award from the UCI

Admissions Office.

Women’s volleyball player Dana Kurzbard and men’s soccer player

Chris Klotz received the UCI Athletics Leadership Award, while the

women’s crew team accepted the Faculty Athletic Representative Award

for the highest team GPA.

Swimmer Megan Baker garnered the third annual Robert and Phyllis

Chichester Award.

The 2004-05 UCI scholar athletes follow:

* Baseball: Jimmy Alstot, Erik Johnson, Michael Koehler, Chad

Lundahl, Chris Nicoll, Steve Schroer, Gregg Wallis and Tim Wojcik.

* Men’s basketball: Jeff Gloger and Ross Schraeder.

* Men’s crew: Albert Almada, Brock Beard, Arash Calafi, Ryan

Farrell, Stephen Kelly, Ernest Lai, Maxim Lazarov, Nathan Lober,

Stephen Nelson, Joseph Russo, Neil Saigal, Artur Sarkisyan, John

Segui, Thomas Speakes, Robert Stone, Wilfred Tam, Vaya Wendy Tanamai,

Vahe Tchoukadarian and Brian Watkins.

* Men’s cross country: Ricky Barnes, Dan Driscoll, Andrew Garratt,

Matt Grilli, John Kluve and David Santos.

* Men’s golf: Chris Balster, Neno Boonyaplanun, Jay Choe, Brian

Edick, Will Park, Ryne Rindfleisch and Nathan Yates.

* Sailing: Michael Brown, Kelsey Cochran, Emily Hemberger, Donya

LaHaye, Juliana Long, Whitney Loufek, Austin Rogers and Frank Tybor.

* Men’s soccer: Maxwell Haymer, Chris Klotz, Damon Manak, Ryan

Mathy, Rudy Mondragon and Christopher Vitagliano.

* Men’s swimming and diving: Kareem Adnan, Justin Aida, Anders

Bollingmo, Jeff Bonenfant, Michael Cohee, Steven Egge, Eddie Erazo,

Saul Fields, Eric Reilly, Sean Snowden and David Wharton.

* Men’s tennis: Arash Bormand, Ryusuke Kashiwabara, Victor Lamm,

Peter Surapol and Mustafa Ulukan.

* Men’s track and field: Michael Beerer, Michael Cao, Aaron

Corbett, Patrick Grilli, Steven Higa, Storm Huie, Sky Johnston, Fred

Lee, Curtis Lehmann, Philip Litwin, Michael Lucero, Aaron McAllister,

George Morris, John Peate, Greg Thompson and John Wratten.

* Men’s volleyball: Dillon Fitch, Brett Kohout, Peter Salatich,

Jon Steller and Nic Vislay.

* Men’s water polo: Matt Garcia, Curt Merlo, Ty Newland and Cole

Robinson.

* Women’s basketball: Ashley Biggins and Joanna Usher.

* Women’s crew: Kaylen Amos, Colleen Awad, Alycia Baker, Jessica

Boyer, Andria Denmon, Rebecca Estrada, Olivia Felton, Melissa

Fernandez, Casandra Higuera, Rujvi Kamat, Mary Kimball, Kristine Koo,

Nancy Ossen, Elizabeth Poston, Audra Reed, Rachel Smith, Sandy

Soltero, Rachel Sung, Shirley Tran, Elica Vafaie, Alysa Vanderweerd,

Liane Velin and Cameron Yahr.

* Women’s cross country: Kim Handel, Erinn Kim, Candice Proctor,

Kim Ramirez, Natalie St. Andre, Kelli Vanderburg and Kaleena Yee.

* Women’s golf: Carling Cho and Reana Yun.

* Women’s soccer: Lauren Baer, Brittany Del Soldato, Frances

Kelly, Gina Scachetti, Julie Scheppele, Alyson Spencer, Tara Weldon

and Lauren Wiley.

* Women’s swimming and diving: Megan Baker, Lara Bjargardottir,

Frances Brittle, Serena Butler, Kim Do, Michelle Hashemi, Jacquelyn

Jones, Michele Kumaus, Kimberly Miller, Chelsea Nagata, Alexis

Sheridan, Kimberly Wong and Chandra Zern.

* Women’s tennis: Anna Bentzer, Jessica Broadfoot, Veronica

Fermin, Hui Leow, Izabela Mijic and Jessica Ruth.

* Women’s track and field: Lauren Adams, Jacky Cuevas, Randi

Houston, Jennifer Lewis, Kirsten Loftin, Angela Lotito, Amber Nefas,

Corica Rodgers, Kristen Silverman and Danielle St. John.

* Women’s volleyball: Sami Cash, Keegan Featherstone, Stacy Gorin,

Ashlie Hain, Dana Kurzbard, Jennifer Moser, Terri Peterson, Trisha

White and Kelly Wing.

* Women’s water polo: Kelsey Haroldson, Robyn Kaake, Erica

Nicholson, Loretta Wedemeyer and Alicia Weider.