CU Athletics Honors Its Academic Best

BOULDER — Over three dozen University of Colorado student-athletes, including a record 27 with perfect 4.00 grade point averages last year, were honored for a variety of outstanding academic accomplishments Thursday morning at the school's 27th Annual Student-Athlete Academic Recognition Banquet.

As usual, it was a packed house, as over 300 people attended the event, held in the Arrow Touchdown Club room in the Dal Ward Athletic Center.

The Clancy A. Herbst, Jr., Student-Athlete Achievement Award had two honorees this year, junior Isabelle Fidjeland (skiing) and senior Lyle Tuiloma (football), as the award is given to athletes who overcome personal, academic or emotional challenges difficulties to succeed both academically and athletically.

Fidjeland, already faced with the challenge of transitioning from her native Norway to the United States, was riding her bike near campus in October of her freshman year and was severely injured when hit by a car. She rebounded to qualify to ski in two NCAA Championships and major in Strategic Communication and Media Design.

Tuiloma had a rough childhood growing up in Hawai'i to the point where an older sister took legal custody of her three younger siblings, Lyle the oldest of that trio. He then had a series of frustrations after coming to CU, struggling academically and wanting to leave school. But he turned things around, posted a 3.433 grade point average last fall and will graduate this May with a degree in Ethnic Studies.

Four students were presented with the Morgan Family Buff Club Scholar-Athlete Award, as the recipients include a member of the sophomore and junior classes and male and female members from the senior class who have accumulated the highest cumulative grade point average in their respective class (and are awarded by academic year, not eligibility class). The winners were:

• Max Luukko, Sr., Skiing (3.703 GPA, Business-Finance)
• Brianna Schwartz, Sr., Cross Country & Track (3.955 GPA, Strategic Communication & Public Relations)
• Caleb Penner, Jr., Track & Field (3.978 GPA, Engineering Physics & Applied Mathematics)
• Libby Geraghty, Soph., Soccer (4.00 GPA, Integrative Physiology & Pre-Med Studies)

Academic team winners for grade point average were the women's cross country team for the sixth straight year (and 15th time in 27 years) for a sport with its championship in the fall semester (3.467) and the women's ski team, also the sixth time in a row (and 14th time overall) for those who compete in the spring semester (3.425). The women's lacrosse team was honored for the most improved honor for a team, as its cumulative GPA rose an impressive .106 (from 3.263 to 3.369) over the last two semesters.

The Leadership Through Service Award was presented to the women's basketball team, which did an impressive number of visits and community service projects that included visiting Children's Hospital, Read with the Buffs and National Girls & Women In Sports Day.

Out of 353 student-athletes, 187 attained a 3.0 grade point cumulatively through the Fall 2018 semester (190 recorded 3.0's for the semester term), both the second highest numbers on record. There were 70 with aggregate GPA's of 3.5 or better, with 89 earning that mark or better for the semester alone. The fall grade point average of all 353 worked to a 2.919, the fifth-best for a fall term, with the cumulative average overall the third-best at 2.981, the second-best number in 22 years of compiling the information. That's nine straight semesters over a 2.9 – out of 10 all totaled. Those are impressive numbers when realized that CU's curriculum is one of the toughest in Division I athletics, which is easily evidenced by the roll call of majors being undertaken by many of the award winners and 4.0 students.

In the 2018 calendar year, there were 27 student-athletes who studied to perfection, as in 4.00 grade point averages for at least one semester if not the full year; that bested the previous record of 26 set in 2017, and it also marked the sixth straight year with at least 21 earning perfect 4.0's. All were thus "inducted into CU's 4.0 club; membership now stands at 396 since 1994. Those honored included 12 student-athletes honored in consecutive years: Schwartz now for the fourth straight year and Kaitlyn Benner (Chemical & Biological Engineering), Sage Hurta (Chemical & Biological Engineering and Applied Mathematics), Caleb Penner (Engineering Physics and Applied Mathematics) and Ben Saarel (Engineering Physics), all from cross country and track for the third straight year.

Seven more were honored for the second year in a row: Wilson Belk (golf, Integrated Physiology), Hannah Cardenas (Integrative Physiology & Psychology), Libby Geraghty (Integrated Physiology and Pre-Med Studies) and Jalen Tompkins (Psychology and Leadership Studies), all from soccer; Nora Grieg Christensen (Architectural Engineering), Petter Reistad (Finance) and Tonje Trulsrud (Architectural Engineering) all skiers. Those dozen were joined by:

Mo Bandi (majoring in Neuroscience and Pre-Med Studies) and Kyle Evans (International Affairs) from football; Nancy Best (Integrative Physiology) and Scout Watson (Strategic Communication and Communication) from soccer; Erin Clark (Master's program in Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice), Elisa Grandemange (Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience), Annie Hill (Integrative Physiology), Elissa Mann (Environmental Studies), Melanie Nun (Mathematics and Economics) and Adam Peterman (Environmental Studies and Geology) all from cross country, track and field; Carly Cox (Strategic Communication and Advertising), from lacrosse; Erik Dengerud (Applied Mathematics), from skiing; Elle Otten (Psychology and Accounting) and Kelsey Webster (Psychology), from women's golf and Yannik Paul (Business Management) of men's golf.

Kelsey Aaknes, a junior on the soccer team, and Kyle Evans, a member of the football team who graduated in December, were recognized as the recipients of the Most Improved Student-Athlete Awards. Aaknes, a Psychology major with minors in Leadership Studies and Ethnic Studies, saw her GPA improve to 3.045. Evans, an International Affairs major started and finished his CU academic career with 3.2 cumulative grade points in his first and after his final semesters, but had all sorts of trials and tribulations in-between, including a nasty hip injury and a switch of majors. He closed out his time at CU with a perfect 4.0 GPA last fall.

There were three recipients of the Byron R. White Leadership and Initiative Award, given to those student-athletes who have exhibited outstanding initiative and demonstrate a strong commitment to service to the CU and Boulder communities. Those winners were Colby Pursell (sophomore, football), Paxton Smith (junior, track and field) and J.J. Tompkins (senior, soccer). The three were selected among nominees from across all sports.

The Student Support Services Academic Award was presented to Stazie Moise, a senior student worker in the Herbst Academic Center. She not only owns a 3.257 grade point average majoring in Business Management while taking additional core course work (sub-plans) in Leadership, Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Talent Management. And in her "spare" time, she is a member of CU's Marching Band where she plays the cymbals.

Closing comments were made by Belk, a four-year letterman on the golf team. He reeled off examples of several CU athletes who persevered through adversity, including Best who had three knee injuries that required 27 months of rehab and then unexpectedly had her mother pass away; Evan Battey (men's basketball) overcoming a stroke around Christmas in 2017 and recovered to play in 36 games this season; and the lacrosse team overcoming the death of a teammate, dedicating the season to her and going out to win the Pac-12 regular season title.

"What I've admired throughout college is how willing (Division I) athletes are to not only get outside their comfort zone, but live there," Belk told the audience. "We are tested around the clock, we look adversity

in the face, day after day, and the results speak for themselves. I started to realize how many resources there are here to help us get to where we want to get to, and to understand how big of an asset this athletic department could be for my future. All of the opportunities that I've had over the last four years have come directly from the people in this room, and they've led me to a lot of really cool places."

In other academic news, senior offensive tackle Aaron Haigler was named to the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society team, rewarding those student-athletes who have in excess of a 3.2 grade point average. The NFF Colorado Chapter also released its annual Academic All-Colorado Team on Wednesday, with seven Buffaloes earning first-team honors: wide receiver Daniel Arias, defensive back Lucas Cooper, quarterback Josh Goldin, defensive tackle Nico Magri, offensive lineman Heston Paige, inside linebacker Jonathan Van Diest and outside 'backer Carson Wells. Eight others earned honorable mention: Haigler, defensive back Isaiah Lewis, offensive linemen Tim Lynott and Jake Moretti, placekicker Davis Price, center Colby Pursell and outside linebacker Davion Taylor.