‘Eaters honor their own

The UC Irvine athletic department recently honored many of its student-athletes at a banquet.

Men’s basketball player Ross Schraeder was chosen as the Lauds & Laurels Senior Athlete of the Year by the UCI Alumni Assn. Schraeder led the team in scoring for the second year, ending his career as the school’s all-time three-point leader. The 16th leading scorer in school history, he was fourth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 47.4%.

Swimmer Megan Baker and field athlete Mike Beerer were named the school’s Big West Scholar Athletes of the Year. Baker, a psychology and social behavior major with a minor in biological sciences, was fourth at the Big West Conference championships in the 400-yard individual medley and ninth in the 1,650 freestyle. Beerer won his second conference title in the hammer throw and has the No. 2 mark in school history. The senior mechanical and aerospace engineering major will compete in the NCAA West Regional this week.

The women’s swimming and diving team received the Faculty Athletic Representative Award for having the highest team grade-point average. Women’s basketball player Kimberly Martin was given the University’s Academic Achievement Award by the admissions office. Distance runner Kelli Vanderburg accepted the UCI Athletics Leadership Award. Women’s water polo player Robyn Kaake received the Robert Chichester Award.

In addition, the Anteaters announced their list of 152 scholar-athletes at the banquet. All 152 lettered in their sports and maintained at least a 3.0 grade-point average for three quarters, or 3.2 for two quarters for freshmen. The Big West Conference sponsors the award, but the Anteaters expanded it to include non-Big West sports teams.

Following is the list of UC Irvine scholar-athletes: