Outstanding UCSD student-athletes were honored at a banquet at the Faculty Club on April 22, National Student-Athlete Day. The 11 athletes chosen are juniors and seniors selected for their accomplishments on and off the field. The banquet featured remarks by Director of Athletics Earl W. Edwards, the presentation of awards by Academic Senate chair Jan Talbot and a speech by honoree Jonathan Shum.
“As far as academic success, UCSD’s student-athletes are a reflection of UCSD’s overall commitment to excellence in higher education,” Edwards said. “UCSD’s student-athletes’ excellence in the classroom, as well as on the field, consistently earns recognition with teams and individuals being named academic All-Americans.”
The student-athletes recognized include baseball co-captain Rafael Bergstron; women’s volleyball co-captain and Division II All-American Teresa Ohta; men’s tennis player Amir Nejad; women’s volleyball player and first-team All-Conference member Bonnie Wilson; women’s basketball player and all-time scoring leader Ali Ginn; men’s soccer player and co-captain Jonathan Shum; women’s water polo co-captain and 11-time Provost Honors student Rachael Kleidon; men’s crew co-captain Eric Hardeman; women’s fencing team member and seven-time Provost Honors student Lauren Muir; men’s golf team member Jan Godoski; and Triton Athletes Council chair and women’s track captain Hillary Mills.
“I’m honored that I was asked to be here,” Wilson said. “Especially listening to all the people, all the accomplishments of the students here, it’s amazing how intelligent they are and how much they’ve accomplished. So I’m excited that I’m considered one of them.”
Several of the student-athletes honored attributed their success to time-management skills.
“I think it’s all about making sure you don’t waste time,” Hardeman said. “You always have to make sure you’re always doing something, whether it’s conditioning or practice or studying. You just want to make sure you’re not wasting time watching TV or hanging out too much. You have to have your fun, but always do something.”
Edwards believes that UCSD derives its academic and athletic success from having a winning tradition and strong academic reputation. UCSD is the only school in Division II not to offer scholarships, but is currently second in the Director’s Cup standings.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we have a winning tradition; when you look at our academic standards as well, it’s a very attractive package for an athlete who is looking for both,” Edwards said. “Especially since we’ve moved to Division II, we’re starting to recruit those athletes that we would lose before, who would go to the Ivy Leagues, or the Naval Academy.”
Women’s volleyball coach Duncan McFarland, who had two players honored, also believes that the combination of strong academics and successful athletics allows UCSD to recruit top players despite the lack of scholarships.
“Because the school attracts kids who are looking for that academic challenge, the ones that also have a lot of athletic ability see that as a bonus that they can do both things here,” McFarland said. “The fact that we have the good athletes that we’ve been able to get, I think that’s attractive. It’s like our success in the past is something that we’ve been able to build on to bring in more good athletes in the future.”
Since the school’s establishment in 1960, 126 UCSD student-athletes have been named academic All-American and been awarded 19 NCAA postgraduate scholarships. Edwards predicted that two UCSD students would win postgraduate scholarships this year. Only 174 scholarships are awarded each year to student-athletes from 1,025 institutions.
