Scholar Athletes Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

Scholar Athletes Recognized for Outstanding Achievements

BY LISA NUTTING
Rice News Staff
April 2, 1998

To excel as both a scholar and an athlete, a student must be willing to go
the extra mile. And at Rice that extra mile may translate to miles and miles.

To reward student athletes who have also achieved academically, the Athletics
Department recognized these students at the Rice Scholar-Athlete Banquet on
March 15.

During the event, special recognition was given to juniors Heather Howard and
Deb Bhowmick, who each received the 1998 Hubert E. Bray Scholar-Athlete of the
Year award for achieving the highest grade point average (GPA) among all Rice
athletes.

Howard maintains a 4.0 GPA in biochemistry/managerial studies and is an athlete
on the women’s track and field and cross country teams, and Bhowmick sustains
a 3.9 GPA in biochemistry and is a swimmer on the men’s team.

"This is a time to honor people who don’t get honored a lot of the time
for the things they do in the classroom," said Julie Griswold, assistant
director of athletics. "It’s just a way for us to honor success and excellence
in athletics and academics."

In addition to the Bray awards, 15 other student athletes were honored as their
sports’ Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 1998.

Recognized in women’s athletics were: junior Suzanne Koy, basketball; senior
Cory Teague, swimming; junior Meghan Marty, swimming; senior Jane Trinh, tennis;
junior Justyna Gudzowska, tennis; senior Nicola Edwards, track and field; and
junior Laura Beth Moore, volleyball.

Acknowledged in men’s athletics were: junior Pete Terrana, baseball; sophomore
John Matthews, basketball; junior David Grenardo, football; senior Benji Wood,
football; junior C.W. Mallon, golf; senior Naisohn Arfai, tennis; senior Adam
Reiser, track and field/cross country; and senior Jamie deMahy, track and field/cross
country.

Student trainer Dan Martin, a senior, was honored as the trainer with the best
GPA.

Bhowmick, who before the announcement had forgotten about the special Bray
award, said, "I was pleasantly surprised [when he heard his named called].
It was quite an honor to receive that award."

Bhowmick added that men’s swimming maintained the highest GPA of all U.S. universities
during the last school year.

These 54 athletes were named Rice Honor Athletes based upon their academic
performance (maintaining a 3.0 or better GPA):

Joel Allen, Chase Allen, Jacob Baker, Jeremy Bates, Andy Beard, Thomas Benford,
Julie Birch, Brent Bishop, Kevin Brabham, James Bridenstine, Dan Brooks, Blair
Brown, Gina Cafagna, Thomas Carlson, Rebecca Case, Andy Clifton, Kevin Conrad
and Carrie Covington.

Also Jason DeMouy, Ashley Elsey, Virginia Farmer, Esteban Fernandez-Lopez,
Mike Gingrich, Joshua Hardy, Benjamin Hines, Andrew Hughes, Jarvis Kelley-Sanni,
Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl, Kalyan Lakshmanan, Shelia Madigan, Chad Michael, Jen Moriarty,
Rebecca Nugent, Andrew Rapp, Jason Richards and Carolyn Sarnecki.

Also Sterling Schmutz, Christian Selchau-Hansen, Jane Shin, Alexis Smith, Angelica
Smith, Mark Spinner, Jason Stevens, David Stigant, Russell Streeter, Lisa Sweeney,
Matthew Sweet, Paul Thomas, Charles Torello, Mike Vietor, Kari Vigerstol, Shawn
Winkler, Carol Winston and Victor Young.

For related information visit the following Web site:
Rice University varsity athletics: www.ruf.rice.edu/~ricesid/