SDSU Scholar Athletes Reach New Heights

April 11, 2002

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State Athletics may be on the brink of a record-setting spring when it comes to conference championships, but in the classroom new heights have already been achieved.

The eighth annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Program was held Wednesday night at the Wyndham San Diego at Emerald Plaza with 188 awards presented to San Diego State's student-athlete population.

A total of 147 student-athletes garnered the honors, which included 93 Big Red Awards presented for semester grade-point averages of 3.2 to 3.49. Another 95 Aztecs earned the Monty Award for grade-point averages of 3.5 and above. The fall semester of 2001 saw a new record of 109 student-athletes named as Scholar-Athletes.

The prestigious Malik Awards, presented to the male and female student athletes who have achieved the highest grade-point average during each fall and spring semester, were also honored. They included two-time winner Reilly Embrey from baseball, Frida Englund of women's golf, Katja Karrento from women's tennis, Ashley Pailo of the crew team, Heather DeFelice from swimming and men's soccer players Brian Barnes and Kevin Sapanli.

Sapanli and Brian Simnjanovski of the Aztec football team have both been honored as Verizon Academic All-Americans.

"This was a record year for student-athlete achievement," said Mark Gumble, SDSU's director of academics. "We have a program in place that is working and we have quality student-athletes that are here for the right reasons."