May 14, 2003
BERKELEY -
Recognizing its student-athletes for their athletic and academic achievements during the past year, the Cal Athletic Department held its annual Honors Celebration Luncheon Wednesday in Haas Pavilion. Among the awards presented were postgraduate scholarships, the Pac-10 Medal and the Walter A. Haas Jr. Community Service Award. The ceremony was sponsored by the Big C Society.
More than 220 student-athletes, all with GPAs over 3.25 were invited to the ceremony. Included in that group were 160 student-athletes with GPAs of 3.50 or higher.
Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen also presented the Honda Award for swimming to junior Natalie Coughlin as the outstanding women's collegiate swimmer in the country. It is the second Honda Award for Coughlin, who is now a finalst for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which is awarded to the NCAA's top female student-athlete.
Below is a list of the other prizewinners and their accomplishments during their Cal careers.
Oscar Geballe Postgraduate Scholarship
Now in its 21st year, this award was created through the generosity of Dr. Theodore Geballe to honor his father, Oscar Geballe. The award recognizes Oscar Geballe's devotion to Cal and his strong belief in the value of combining scholarship with intercollegiate competition. Since 1981, the Geballe scholarships have helped more than 50 Golden Bears continue their education at the postgraduate level with a $5,000 stipend going to each recipient.
Brooke Baires-Irvin, Track & Field: Baires-Irvin came to Cal from Union City and specializes in the 400-meter hurdles on the track. During her time in Berkeley, she worked in local elementary schools as a classroom assistant and mentor and is very aware of the difference she can make as a role model for African-American children growing up in a single-parent home. She is a political science major and has a goal of becoming a contracting attorney for professional athletes.
Ryan Jones, Football: Jones, who is finishing a double major in English and religious studies, is proud to be the first member of his family to get a college degree. He walked on to the football team from Castro Valley, and this year as the starting center, he won the Frank J. Schlessinger Award for outstanding athletic ability, academic success and community service. Before a career as an educator, Jones plans to earn an advanced degree in English literature.
Elyse Lerum, Crew: Lerum came to Cal from Madison, Wis., and is majoring in molecular and cell biology with a minor in Spanish. She serves as a crew team captain, rows 7 seat in the second varsity 8 boat and looks to lead Cal to its first ever NCAA championship later this month. Lerum was heavily involved in research at Cal through the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program, investigating the chemopreventative properties of a soy peptide in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology. Rather than continue in research, however, she has decided to pursue a teaching career. She will soon enter the DC Teaching Fellows program in Washington to teach high school science and simultaneously earn her master's degree and teaching certification.
Pacific-10 Conference Postgraduate Scholarship
This marks the fourth year of the Pac-10 Conference postgraduate scholarship program, created to honor outstanding student-athletes who are also outstanding scholars. Each institution selects four graduating scholar-athletes who will receive a $3,000 stipend for graduate work.
Brittany Kirk, Soccer: Kirk is political science and mass communications double major from Claremont. She served three years as team captain and was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic team three times and to the academic all-district squad twice. Kirk plans to enroll in law school in 2004 and wants to specialize in criminal and constitutional law.
Janik Gasiorowski, Crew: Gasiorowski is originally from Stamford, Conn., and is an integrative biology major at Cal. Last year, he rowed in the Pac-10 and national champion varsity 4 and this year, is undefeated in racing in the second varsity 8 boat. He is graduating this spring and will enroll in the fall at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine to specialize in large animal medicine.
Aaron Floyd, Gymnastics: Floyd, from Mt Airy, Md., twice served as team captain. He led twice led the Bears to third-place NCAA finishes and twice to second-place conference finishes. He was named to the conference all-academic team four times and this fall, will graduate with a degree in applied mathematics. Floyd wants to earn his Ph.D. in mathematics, studying signal processing and wavelet theory after first serving an internship at the National Security Agency.
Courtney Scott, Softball: Scott is from Clovis and is majoring in American studies with an emphasis in American business and globalism. She is softball team captain and one of the best defensive catchers in the country. Scott is one of few catchers who calls her own pitches and defensive alignments. She has earned multiple Pac-10 all-academic honors, in addition to being named to the all-district team. After graduating in the fall, she plans to pursue a master's degree in business with an emphasis in marketing.
Team Conference Champions
To date, three Cal teams have won conference championships this year, with several teams still competing. The winners so far are:
Field Hockey
Men's Water Polo
Women's Golf
Conference Coaches of the Year
So far, six Cal coaches have been honored by their peers as conference coaches of the year:
Kevin Grimes, Men's Soccer
Jeff Tedford, Football
Shellie Onstead, Field Hockey
Kirk Everist, Men's Water Polo
Cari DuBois, Women's Gymnastics
Nancy McDaniel, Women's Golf
Conference Players of the Year
The following student-athletes were selected as conference players of the year:
Josh Saunders, Men's Soccer
Nora Feddersen, Field Hockey
Natalie Coughlin, Women's Swimming
Golden Bear Team Award
The Golden Bear Team Award is given to the varsity team with the highest cumulative GPA. This year, the average GPA of Cal's 27 teams was 3.02. The top seven are as follows:
Women's Soccer 3.29
Men's Cross Country 3.26
Women's Cross Country 3.24
Women's Swimming & Diving 3.17
Lacrosse 3.14
Men's Soccer 3.11
Women's Tennis 3.11
Jake Gimbel Prize / Anna Espenschade Award
These awards were established in the 1930s and 1987, respectively, to recognize a graduating male and female student-athlete for excellence in attitude towards athletics. They were created "to encourage students ... to entertain toward athletics an attitude in keeping with the purpose of athletics in institutions of learning and the proper and just relation of athletics to scholastic activities and attainments."
Patrick Fisher, Soccer (Jake Gimbel Prize): Fisher has been an inspiration to his teammates for his dedication and fighting spirit in games and in training. His positive attitude and style of play is contagious. Fisher sustained a serious concussion his sophomore year, which nearly ended his career. He worked his way back to become Cal's starting midfielder and team captain during his final two years. An American studies major, he loves speaking to kids and has been a regular and popular presenter with the Cal Athletics Speakers Bureau. He will begin work this summer in Washington, D.C., with the Senate Mall Business Committee and perhaps play a little minor league soccer.
Ria Quiazon, Golf (Anna Espenschade Award): As co-captain, Quiazon is leading the charge as Cal's golf team drives towards a national championship. This year, the team has earned its best national ranking ever (currently No. 2) and has won a school-record and national-leading seven tournaments, including the Pac-10 championship. Quiazon came to Cal on a book scholarship after turning down full ride offers from other Pac-10 schools. Winner of the golf team's Founder Award, she has been recognized as the golfer who best represents "Pure Golden Bear Spirit." She is an American studies major and has twice won the team's most improved golfer award.
Neufeld Scholar-Athletes
These scholastic achievement awards are given to the graduating varsity student-athletes, one man and one woman, with the highest cumulative grade point averages. The award was established by Cal Hall of Famer William Neufeld Sr. in honor and memory of his son William Jr., who also ran track at Cal before his untimely death in a boating accident.
Jesse Bauman, Crew: Bauman came to Cal from tiny Quintar, Kan., by way of Kansas State, where he learned to row. He already is two-time national champion, winning in the varsity 4 his sophomore year and the JV 8 last year. This year, he again rows in the second varsity 8, heading for another national title. Bauman is in one of the toughest majors on campus - mechanical engineering. He plans to attend graduate school, and most impressively, he is carrying a 3.79 GPA.
Shelle Orem, Crew: Orem is originally from Whittier, but came to Cal by way of Humboldt State. She also came into rowing late after a career as a Junior National cycling champion. She has made a name for herself as a rower, and last summer, was on the under-23 world championship rowing team. At Cal, Orem was on the varsity crew that finished third at the 2002 NCAA championships, and this year, she is rowing in the 3 seat in the varsity boat. She is carrying a 3.90 GPA in her sociology major and is delaying graduation to concentrate on her honors thesis next year.
Pac-10 Medal
A conference medal is awarded annually at each member institution to that university's outstanding senior male and female student-athletes. This determination is based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership.
John Paul Fruttero, Tennis: Team captain Fruttero has played No. 1 singles each of his four years at Cal, earning All-American and All-Pac-10 honors in both singles and doubles. He competed on the professional circuit (as an amateur) each of the last two fall semesters to prepare his game for his pro career. Head coach Peter Wright has described Fruttero as the consummate team player. Fruttero is majoring in American studies with an emphasis in business.
Brittany Kirk, Soccer: Kirk has been a key member of the soccer team the last four years as the program improved to a championship contender, and she herself emerged as the team's top scholar-athlete. Kirk was elected by her peers as team captain three years in a row and played in every game of her four-year career, starting all but the very first game her freshman season. Kirk has earned the following team honors: Freshman of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and the Golden Bear Award for the athlete who most exemplifies the superior character and spirit of a Cal women's soccer player. She was named to the All-Pac-10 and Pac-10 All-Academic teams three years straight. A midfielder, Kirk is ranked second all-time in career assists and shares the record for most goals in a game with four. She has a 3.76 GPA as a double major in political science and mass communications and plans to attend law school in 2004.
Walter A. Haas, Jr. Community Service Award
The Haas Award was created to honor Walter A Haas Jr. and to use his example of commitment and service to the University to recognize and inspire others. This award is given annually to a student-athlete for outstanding contribution through community service.
April Holliverse, Track & Field: Holliverse is from Los Angeles and is a top 100 and 400 hurdler on the track team. She has been an active Americorps member for three years and is finishing her second year as a Stiles Hall Mentoring/Tutoring coordinator. She is passionate about working with the youth and families in the community, which is precisely why she chose to major in sociology. Holliverse is very aware how her participation in the Upward Bound program and in track & field opened her door to Cal. She plans on attending graduate school to prepare for a career as a family/child counselor. Her ultimate dream is to build a community center, which not only would offer a safe place where children could come and play, but a place where they could get academic support, take art courses and extra classes to prepare for college.
