Dec. 14, 2006

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - A total of sixteen UC Santa Barbara student-athletes that compete in soccer, cross country and women's volleyball earned All-Academic recognition from the Big West Conference, the league announced Wednesday.

To be eligible for the All-Academic team, student athletes have to maintain a 3.2 cumulative grade point average, complete one full academic year at the member institution prior to the season for which the award is being received (at least a sophomore academically) and have competed in at least 50 percent of their team's contests.

The Gaucho women's cross country team garnered the most honors with seven student-athletes earning a spot on the Academic All-Conference team. Seniors Lindsay Christman (Santa Cruz, Calif.), Christie Farson (Irvine, Calif.), Megan Lewis (Tracy, Calif.) and Bethany Nickless (Huntington Beach, Calif.) were joined by sophomores Danielle Domenichelli (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) and Liza Hitchner (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) on the team.

The National Champion UCSB men's soccer team beat out all other Big West soccer programs by grabbing three All-Academic honors. Seniors Jeff Murphy (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Kyle Reynish (Valencia, Calif.) along with sophomore Kyle Kaveny (Cupertino, Calif.) were each honored.

For the women's soccer team, seniors Chandi Bickford (Haiku, Maui) and Allie Kueny (Brea, Calif.) accompanied sophomore Linda Allen on the list of All-Academic performers.

Sophomores Lauren McLaughlin (Torrance, Calif.) and Leigh Stephenson (Nipomo, Calif.) represented the women's volleyball team amongst the conference and senior Tetlo Emmen (Torrance, Calif.) from the men's cross country team rounded out the list of UC Santa Barbara honorees.

The Gauchos were second only to UC Irvine for total athletes placed on the All-Academic team; the Anteaters had 19 total honorees.