Pioneer student-athletes earn academic honors
The CCAA, WWPA and ACWPC honored 32 Cal State East Bay student-athletes for their academic achievements.
- July 27, 2010
After completing its first season competing in NCAA Division II, Cal State East Bay Athletics saw 26 student-athletes collect California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Academic honors and another six women's water polo players take home Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) and Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (AWPC) All-Academic honors. Pioneers representing all 12 of CSUEB's CCAA-sponsored sports were among the 453 total student-athletes honored by the CCAA for the 2009-10 school year, while the women's water polo team was one of just 25 teams from across all three divisions who recorded a combined team grade point average above 3.0 to collect a Team All-Academic award.
Freshman Leta Pickett, sophomore Sukhjit Athwal and juniors Amanda Limeberger and Ariel Ajagu represented Pioneer women's volleyball, while freshmen Ashlee Coronado, Emily Montanez and Sara Holdridge, juniors Nikki Freiberg and Sarah Hasenfus and senior Rachelle Boone were CSUEB's softball representatives. Cross country/track seniors Andrew Welch and Nastassia Hamor and freshmen Erik Rodriguez and Megan McDaniel also collected honors, joining women's basketball freshmen Lauren Lucchesi and Emily Valenziano and junior Marie Colon on the list.
Sophomore Tenaya Davis and freshmen Shianna Falk and Rachel Alvarez represented women's soccer and were joined by their men's counterparts, freshman Dustin Stevens and sophomore Manny Cardenas. Juniors Adam Green and Jared Waters represented men's basketball, while baseball senior Stephen Gatehouse rounded out the group.
Meanwhile, water polo's freshmen Claire Pierce, Alex Gudenau and Chelsie Bryan, juniors Danielle Comforti and Liz Warren and senior Jenna Casady each garnered All-Academic selections from both the WWPA and the ACWPC. Pierce led all honorees with a 4.0 grade point average to go along with her WWPA Newcomer of the Year award and NCAA-leading 90 goals this season.
In its second year of the transition to NCAA Division II, Cal State East Bay saw many successes in its first season in the CCAA. Women's basketball player Lucchesi and baseball player Charlie Sharrer each earned conference Freshman of the Year honors in their respective sports, while Claudia Nelson of women's basketball and Nick McManus and Paul Jinkens of baseball, became the Pioneers' first CCAA Athlete of the Week honorees in program history.
Men's basketball head coach Will Biggs notched his first conference victory and 200th career win on the same night and baseball finished the season with its first CCAA series sweep and earned three All-CCAA selections. In the pool, women's water polo earned the No. 3 seed and finished fifth at the WWPA Tournament, both program bests, while collecting 24 wins on the year. Head Coach Lisa Cooper was named WWPA Coach of the Year after CSUEB posted its first victory in program history over a nationally ranked opponent and notched five wins over Division I programs.
To be eligible for CCAA All-Academic honors, student-athletes must have earned a varsity letter, have competed in one of the CCAA's 13 sponsored sports and have a GPA of 3.4 or higher while completing a minimum of 24 semester or 36 quarter units during the current academic year.
The WWPA All-Academic Team consists of student-athletes who carried a 3.0 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale), played in at least 50 percent of the team's contests in that season and was classified as a full-time student who has completed a minimum of one semester or two quarters at their institution. ACWPC All-Academic honorees must maintain a GPA of 3.2 or higher to be eligible.
Cal State East Bay will kick off its second year in Division II and the CCAA this fall when men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball all open the conference season at home on Sept. 10. The CSUEB soccer teams will play their first CCAA games in the newly renovated Pioneer Stadium against Cal State Dominguez Hills, while volleyball will play host to Sonoma State at Pioneer Gym.