Athletic department to honor student-athletes at annual banquet
Pioneer student-athletes Stephen Gatehouse, Lauren Massa and John Volk. (Photo: Lee Stidham)
- May 26, 2010
Following a successful first season competing at the NCAA Division II level, the Cal State East Bay Athletic Department will celebrate its student-athletes and their triumphs at the Student-Athlete Awards Banquet on June 4. Hosted by the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), the event will honor outstanding Pioneer athletes for their efforts in 2009-10, both on the field and in the classroom.
The banquet serves as a year-end awards ceremony, as well as a time to recognize the accomplishments of the athletic teams throughout the year and to honor and thank the Pioneer seniors for their contributions to the program. Student-athletes and coaches from all of the Cal State East Bay teams, athletic training staff members, athletic administrators and university administrators will be in attendance at the affair.
Among the honors being presented at the banquet are the Pioneer Spirit, Student-Athlete of the Year and Scholar-Athlete Awards. The Pioneer Spirit Award is bestowed upon the student-athlete who best exhibits Pioneer Pride and supports the ideals of the entire athletic department and is voted upon by the student-athletes themselves.
The male and female Student-Athletes of the Year are nominated by their coaches and selected by the coaches and athletic department staff based on their athletic performance during the current school year, while the Scholar-Athlete Awards are given to the student-athletes on each team, as well as a student athletic trainer, who display excellence both on the field and in the classroom.
In addition to the Athletic Department awards, two student-athletes will be honored with the California Collegiate Athletic Association's (CCAA) Dr. Hal Charnofsky Memorial Award which recognizes the male and female student-athletes from each conference institution who have distinguished themselves both in the classroom and in their sport. Student-athletes who have earned Dean's List and Honors recognition during the 2009-10 school year will also be recognized, while the banquet will also serve as a farewell for the Pioneer seniors.
The SAAC, their fellow Pioneers and the Athletic Department as a whole have much to celebrate as their first year competing in Division II and the CCAA comes to a close. Both baseball player Charlie Sharrer and women's basketball player Lauren Lucchesi garnered CCAA Freshman of the Year honors in their respective sports, while freshman water polo player Claire Pierce collected Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Newcomer of the Year honors, as well as a spot on the WWPA All-Freshman Team.
Three of Sharrer's teammates, seniors Stephen Gatehouse and Devin Grigg and junior Nick McManus, were named All-CCAA selections after helping the CSUEB to 23 wins and an eighth-place conference finish in 2010.
Guided by Pierce and senior Jenna Casady, both second-team All-WWPA honorees, along with All-WWPA Honorable Mention selection Liz Warren, the Pioneer water polo team notched its best-ever finish at WWPA Championships, taking fifth, and posted wins over nationally-ranked and Division I opponents this spring. The team's success also translated into a WWPA Coach of the Year award for Head Coach Lisa Cooper.
Pierce and junior Tristan Kennedy-Donohue also earned nods as WWPA Player of the Week this season, while Casady was named NCAA Honorable Mention National Player of the Week after guiding the Pioneers to their first win over a top-20 opponent to open the season at the NorCal Tournament in Berkeley. McManus and junior pitcher Paul Jinkens joined the weekly honorees, garnering CCAA Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, during the campaign.
Junior point guard Claudia Nelson was the first Pioneer to collect CCAA accolades, earning Player of the Week honors for the final week of the basketball season after leading Cal State East Bay to their first win of the season - an upset of eventual CCAA Tournament Champion Humboldt State.
Several other teams enjoyed dramatic wins in 2009-10, including men's basketball's Senior Night overtime win over Sonoma State, the women's volleyball team's upset of No. 23 Chico State, softball's two wins on the final day of the Mizuno Tournament of Champions to finish as the Bronze Bracket runner up, and water polo's come-from-behind upset of No. 19 Santa Clara, the program's first-ever win over a ranked team.
The 2010 Student-Athlete Banquet will be held at 6 p.m. on June 4 in the New University Union Multipurpose Room.