June 14, 2006

Santa Barbara, Calif. - A total of 19 UC Santa Barbara student-athletes in the sports of baseball, softball, men's golf, men's and women's tennis and men's and women's track and field earned All-Academic recognition from the Big West Conference, the league announced Wednesday.

To be eligible for the conference's all-academic team, student-athletes must maintain a 3.2 cumulative GPA, have attained sophomore standing academically and competed in at least 50 percent of their team's contests.

Three Gauchos earned Big West All-Academic recognition for a third straight season: women's tennis star Marielle Gruenig and Danielle DeBeaubien and Elise Geiger from the women's track and field team.

UCSB also had ten two-time all-Academic selections. Joe Ryon of the men's golf team, Andrea Pintar of the women's tennis team, Andrew Schoneberger of the baseball team, Kent Centers, Justin Morgan and Reif Lawson of the men's track and field team and Megan Lewis, Katie Kramer, Christine Farson and Heidi Nyberg of the women's track and field team all received distinction for the second time in their UCSB careers.

First-time awardees were Ericka Hansen from softball, Anders Dalskov from men's tennis and Stellamarie Hall, Kylie McCuen, Bethany Nickless and Melanie Sonby from the women's track and field team.

For the complete list of Big West All-Academic honorees, visit www.bigwest.org.