May 15, 2007

Irvine, CA --- UC Irvine Athletics honored 163 student-athletes as 2006-07 Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes at the program's annual banquet Monday night (May 14) at the Irvine Radisson.

This year's list brings UCI's total to 2,894 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.

The keynote speaker was Aras Baskauskas, a UCI basketball player from 2001-04, who won Survivor Panama Exile Island.

In addition to the 163 scholar-athletes, UCI also recognized several individuals. Men's volleyball player Jayson Jablonsky was recognized as the Lauds & Laurels Senior Athlete of the Year, the most prestigious award given by the UCI Alumni Association. Jablonsky was a two-time All-America who was a member of UCI's 2007 national championship team.

Jablonsky, a senior outside hitter, is the only Anteater player to earn All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honors three times and was named the 2006 AVCA National Player of the Year. He ends his career as the all-time leader in aces (128) and second in kills (1,528) and attack attempts (3,081).

UCI's Big West Scholar-Athletes of the Year were junior Chelsea Nagata (swimming) and senior Ricky Barnes (cross country & track). Each conference school honors one male and one female athlete each year.

Nagata earned All-American honors for the second straight season as she finished eighth in the 100-yard butterfly at the 2007 NCAA Championships. Nagata also finished 24th in the 100-yard backstroke and 48th in the 50-yard freestyle at the NCAAs. Nagata, who was named to the CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major All-American team, won the 100-yard butterfly (53.35) and the 100-yard backstroke (54.80) at the Big West Championships. She was also a member of the winning 200-yard medley relay team. The junior is a biological sciences major.

Barnes has qualified in the 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters for the NCAA Track & Field West Regional May 25-26 in Eugene, Ore. He finished second in the 1,500 meters at the 2007 Big West Championships last weekend with a time of 3:42.57, the second-fastest in UCI history. He also was runner-up in the 800 meters in 1:50.93. In the fall, Barnes earned All-Big West distinction after finishing sixth at the 2006 Big West Cross Country Championships. He won the UCI Invitational and placed sixth at the Stanford Invitational as well as 29th at the Pre-National meet. Barnes, a senior, will be graduating in June with a degree in civil engineering.

Women's basketball player Angie Ned received the University's Academic Achievement Award from the UCI Admissions Office, while women's water polo player Angela Briggs and men's soccer player Greg Larson received the UCI Athletics Leadership Award. Women's basketball player Christina Zdenek garnered the fifth annual Robert Chichester Award.

The sailing team received the Faculty Athletic Representative Award for the highest team GPA.

2006-07 BIG WEST SCHOLAR-ATHLETES FROM UC IRVINE BASEBALL Dylan Axelrod Taylor Holiday Francis Larson Gary Nakashima Bryan Petersen

MEN'S BASKETBALL Nic Campbell Chad McDaniel

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

WOMEN'S ROWING Kathryn Albo Allison Baker Denise French Nia Hunt Carolyn Keister Marissa Romero Rachael Thomassen Rachel Wong

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Ricky Barnes Adrian Doty Matt Grilli Tim Hearst Bryan Lopez George Morris Nick Mosey Solomon Tesfaye Greg Thompson Tom Whelan Rusty Whisman

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Kendall Bruton Lauren Chramosta Samantha Costantini Tracy Dantema Megan Fairley Elaine Gillespie Amber Gordon Erinn Kim Sara Mickelson Lauren Morten Marie Nguyen Emily Romo Jamie Schwab

MEN'S GOLF Brian Edick

WOMEN'S GOLF Mariko Makabe

MEN'S SOCCER Joel Baker Doug Franco Brandon Foster Max Haymer Greg Larson Matt Murphy Steve Ruiz Kenny Schoeni Cory Taylor Shane Westbrook

WOMEN'S SOCCER Makenzie Beahm Brittany Coffin Brittany Del Soldato Alex Fries Nina Ferrigno Christina Gorospe Erin Henry Frankee Kelly Kathleen Lemieux Jackie Tomblin

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING Eddie Erazo Blaine Fletcher Danny Giometti Brian Johnson David Lefstein Cina Moheimani Eric Reilly Nate Rogers Dan Simonsen Walid Wasfy

SAILING Whitney Loufek Emma Nilsson Frank O' Brien Monica Orphan Megan Pluth Jack Porter Caitlin Robinson Austin Rogers Ashley Simpson Chris Trezzo Frank Tybor

WOMEN'S TENNIS Inna Agababian Katie Barth Becky Bernhard Ali Borowicz Jessica Broadfoot Jayme Hu

MEN'S TENNIS Andrew Bertolina Victor Lamm Alex Sundling Douglas Taylor Zac Tsai Mustafa Ulukan Aaron Yovan

MEN'S ROWING Lewis Baloian Rowan Cannaday Mark Caswell Joshua Cohen Gavin Daly Richard Denny Kia Koko Stephen Nelson Anthony O'Toole Edwin Ohanian Nicolas Papajohn Andre Paredes Arthur Sarkisyan John Segui

MEN'S TRACK & FIELD Matt Berg Napoleon Greene Kelley Hall Storm Huie Shawn Maghzi Eric Nyberg Jon Wratten

WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING Serena Butler Sarah De Yoreo Kelly Janicki Avi Johns Michele Kumaus Chelsea Nagata Tanya Nielsen Jessica Schlitz Melissa Wong

WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD Lauren Collins Lauren Curtis Tayler Cusick Alexis Dawkins Angeliza Fontillas Kristina Fryar Corica Rodgers Christina Sando Kristen Silverman Vanessa Vaughan Erricka Williams Sharitie Williams Lauren Wilson

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL Aaron Harrell Jayson Jablonsky Brett Kohout David Smith Jon Steller Mac Waite Matt Webber

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Lauren Kellerman Caroline Kim Trisha WHite

MEN'S WATER POLO Kyle Baxter Greg Enloe Jaime Frank Curt Merlo Harvey Newland Ty Newland

WOMEN'S WATER POLO Angela Briggs Sarah Frost Robyn Kaake Jessica Lewis Alli Russell