June 19, 2006

Santa Barbara, Calif. - UC Santa Barbara distance runner Stephanie Rothstein proved to be a fan favorite as she was tabbed the 2005-06 UCSBGauchos.com Female Athlete of the Year Monday.

The honor added to a solid list of accolades collected by Rothstein this season, including NCAA All-America and Big West Conference Track Athlete of the Year.

A junior from Phoenix, Ariz., Rothstein finished eighth in the 10,000m at her first NCAA Division I Track & Field Championships in early June. The performance earned her All-American status.

Rothstein qualified for the NCAA Championships in March as she crushed both the UCSB and Big West Conference records in the 10k at the Stanford Invitational. Her 33:27.85 ranked her 10th in the NCAA and automatically qualified her for the Nationals as well as the USA Track & Field Championships.

Low iron levels hindered Rothstein's racing during the middle of the season, but she rebounded with a vengeance to win both the 10,000m and 5,000m titles at the Big West Championships in May. A week later, she was tabbed the conference's Athlete of the Year.

Adding to the sweetness of Rothstein's accomplishments is the fact that she had spent the good part of the previous three track seasons injured.

In online voting at UCSBGauchos.com, Rothstein picked up 26% of the total votes for the title. Junior softball player Jennifer Davis was a close second with 23% of the votes while freshman soccer standout Genelle Ives was third with 15%.

Others in contention included Jenna Green (basketball), Marielle Gruenig (tennis), Seanna Martin (cross country), Bethany Nickless (track and field) and Jennifer Schwalb (swimming).

Voting for the Men's Athlete of the Year is currently underway at UCSBGauchos.com.