Onyenwere, Pettway Named Tom Hansen Medal Winners

The Pac-12 Conference on Wednesday announced that Michaela Onyenwere (women's basketball) and Zach Pettway (baseball) are UCLA's recipients of the 2020-21 Tom Hansen Conference Medal.

A Conference Medal is awarded annually to each member institution's outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.

Onyenwere, a forward currently playing professionally with the New York Liberty after going No. 6 overall in the 2021 WNBA Draft, was named to the UCLA Director's Honor Roll eight times during her Bruin career, and was a 2019 Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention. She was one of the league's most dominant players, earning all-league status three times and becoming the first two-time AP All-American in program history. The sociology major, and African American studies minor, was UCLA's leading scorer in each of the last three seasons, and finished her career with the fourth-most points in program history (1,888).

Off the court, she helped launch the program's More Than a D.R.E.A.M. campaign, co-chaired the Black Student-Athlete alliance, and co-hosted Bruin Table Talk, a video series interviewing and highlighting prominent UCLA alumni to advance community, advocacy, and social justice.

A four-year rotation member and two-time Opening Day starter, Pettway posted a career 3.77 ERA at UCLA. The right-hander was the Bruins' Friday night starter in each season from 2019-21, including a standout 2020 campaign (3-0, 1.05 ERA, 29-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio) that earned him First Team All-America and Pac-12 "Most Impressive Pitcher" honors.

The Long Beach native was a finalist for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award for baseball, reached the UCLA Director's Honor Roll five times, and was a team captain in each of the last two seasons. Off the field, he was baseball's representative for the UCLA Athletics "Voting Matters" initiative, helping the program reach 100% voter registration. He was also an eager participant in UCLA's annual Jackie Robinson Day Fantasy Camp, where local veterans are invited to Jackie Robinson Stadium to participate in batting practice.

Conference medal winners have been named every year since the 1960-61 academic year. In 2009, the Pac 12 renamed the award the Tom Hansen Conference Medal in honor of Hansen, who retired at the end of June 2009 after serving for 26 years as Commissioner of the Pac-10.

2020-21 Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal Winners