May 13, 2008

IRVINE, CA --- UC Irvine Athletics honored a school-record 188 student-athletes as 2007-08 Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes at the program's annual banquet Monday night (May 12) at the Radisson Hotel in Newport Beach.

This year's list brings UCI's total to 3,082 conference scholar-athletes since 1983.

Requirements for this award include maintaining a 3.0 grade-point average (GPA) 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 that 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 to the 188 scholar-athletes, UCI also recognized several individuals. Men's water polo player Tim Hutten was recognized as the Lauds & Laurels Senior Athlete of the Year, the most prestigious award given by the UCI Alumni Association. Hutten was a two-time All-America who is one of three finalists for the 2007-08 Peter J. Cutino Award as the nation's top male collegiate water polo player. He was also named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year in 2007 as well as the Most Valuable Player of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, helping UCI to the championship game, for the first time in school history. Hutten led UCI with 75 goals in 2007 and topped the nation and MPSF with an average of 3.75 goals per game. The political science major is a member of the U.S. National Team with hopes of earning a spot on the 2008 Olympic team.

UCI's Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year were senior Chelsea Nagata (swimming) and senior Eddie Erazo (swimming). Each conference school honors one male and one female athlete each year.

Nagata, UCI's female Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year, was a two-time All-American in the 100 fly, qualifying for the NCAA Championships all four years at UCI and becoming the first women's All-American in swimming in UCI history. She is an 11-time Big West Champion earning All-Big West distinction in 14 events during her career. She was named Mid-Major All-American by collegeswimming.com three times and was the Big West Female Athlete of the Year in 2006. Nagata ends her career holding UCI records in 50 free 100 back, 100 fly and is a member of all five relay record setting teams. The senior will graduate with a degree in psychology and social behavior.

Erazo earned All-American honors by finishing eighth in the 200 fly at the 2008 NCAA Championships. He is an 11-time Big West Champion and was named Big West Athlete of the Year in 2008. Erazo, who was twice named a Mid-Major All-American by collegeswimming.com, was named Big West Athlete of the Week four times in his career and garnered All-Big West accolades in 15 events. He holds school records in three individual events and is a member of two record-holding relay teams. Erazo, a psychology major, won a silver medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this past summer and is currently preparing for the U.S. Olympic trails.

Women's golfer Selaneé Henderson received the University's Academic Achievement Award from the UCI Admissions Office, while women's water polo players Angela Briggs and Megan Braun along with men's soccer player Greg Larson received the UCI Athletics Leadership Award.

Men's tennis received the Faculty Athletic Representative Award for highest team grade-point average.

2007-08 UC IRVINE SCHOLAR-ATHLETES

BASEBALL Tony Asaro, Jeff Cusick, Sammy Donabedian, Matt Dufour, Scott Gorgen, Francis Larson, Chris Lopez, Eric Pettis, Mike Pugliese

MEN'S BASKETBALL Kevin Bland, Chad DeCasas, Patrick Sanders

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Kelly Cochran, Stephanie Duda, Kirian Ishizaki, Rebecca Maessen, Christina Zdenek

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Adrian Doty, Colin Hacker, Tim Hearst, Sky Johnston, George Morris, Nick Mosey, Greg Thompson, Rusty Whisman

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Kendall Bruton, Lauren Chramosta, Samantha Costantini, Tracy Dantema, Megan Fairley, Elaine Gillespie, Amber Gordon, Erinn Kim, Sara Mickelson, Katherine Nielsen, Candice Proctor, Jamie Schwab, Stephanie Sconberg, Jessica Vaughan

MEN'S GOLF Max Greil, Derek Uyesaka

WOMEN'S GOLF Selaneé Henderson, Kim Lorenzana, Mariko Makabe

MEN'S ROWING Matthew Anderson, Lewis Baloian, Nicholas Denny, Richard Denny, Benjamin Hise, Mitchell Hsing, Kiavash Koko, Shyuan Liu, Alexander Louie, Andrew Miskela, Steven Nava, Andre Paredes, Satoshi Suga, Anthony Trebbin

WOMEN'S ROWING Carlee Ardis, Janetta Arellano, Allison Baker, Gloria Barajas, Allison Deane, Emily Folick, Charleen Gately, Stacey Giles, Lauren Henry, Alixandra Howard, Nathalie Madrigal, Bridgette Manspeaker, Jamila Moucharrafie, Tabitha Schnose, Christina Seabaugh, Emma Seemann, Rachael Thomassen, Bailey Wilson

SAILING Frank O'Brien, Monica Orphan, William Pochevera, Jack Porter, Ashley Simpson

MEN'S SOCCER Corey Attaway, Joel Baker, Brandon Foster, Greg Larson, Steve Ruiz, Eric Shuffle, David Sias, Cory Taylor, Spencer Thompson, Navid Torabian, Lucas Van Patten, Amani Walker, Shane Westbrook

WOMEN'S SOCCER Makenzie Beahm, Kate Berrini, Brittany Del Soldato, Nina Ferrigno, Christina Gorospe, Erin Henry, Frankee Kelly, Kathleen Lemieux, Kelly Murphy

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING Eddie Erazo, Blaine Fletcher, Daniel Giometti, Brian Johnson, David Lefstein, Joe Lounsbury, Cina Moheimani, Eric Nugent, Patrick Nugent, Nathan Rogers, Chris Rosales, Walid Wasfy, Will Wollam

WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING Denise Dabu, Sarah De Yoreo, Kelly Janicki, Avi Johns, Jackie Jones, Michele Kumaus, Chelsea Nagata, Tanya Nielsen, Rachel Pearson, Jessica Schlitz, Marlena Tonelli

MEN'S TENNIS Ajay Ahluwalia, Andrew Bertolina, Victor Lamm, Ryan Mayer, Doug Taylor, Zac Tsai, Gautam Vaidyanathan

WOMEN'S TENNIS Inna Agababian, Becky Bernhard, Ali Borowicz, Jessica Broadfoot, Heidi Kaloi, Ali Murphy, Lisa Shih

MEN'S TRACK & FIELD Scott Bogdanoff, Kelley Hall, Ryan Hershey, Jimmy Kearney, James Lehigh, Eric Nyberg, Hermes Ongsansoy

WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD Nicole Alai, Lauren Collins, Angeliza Fontillas, Kristi Fryer, Madeline Leduc, Jennifer Lee, Fritzie Mercado, Vanessa Vaughan, Natasha Wardley, Sharitie Williams, Lauren Wilson

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL Brent Asuka, Brett Kohout, Mike Ortiz, Jon Steller, Mac Waite, Kevin Wynne

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Alexandra Bubica, Lauren Kellerman, Caroline Kim, Taryn Robertson

MEN'S WATER POLO Dave Bar-Gadda, Kyle Baxter, Andrew Dunn, Greg Enloe, Jamie Frank, Matt Garcia, Tim Hutten, Griffin Lerman, Harvey Newland, Kelly Noecker, Adam Thomas

WOMEN'S WATER POLO Megan Braun, Trudy Chancellor, Cortney Collyer, Julia Fancher, Sarah Frost, Jessica Lewis, Gianna Rossi, Alli Russell