Sixteen UC Santa Barbara student-athletes have been selected Golden Eagle Award winners, and three of them have been chosen as Golden Eagle Ring winners, the UCSB Intercollegiate Athletics Department announced Wednesday.
The Golden Eagle Award represents a combination of athletic and academic achievement. The Golden Eagle Ring honorees represent the male and female student-athletes with the highest grade-point averages among all Gaucho athletes.
The 2008 Golden Eagle Ring winners are Brittany Kausen of women’s tennis, Katy Freeman of women’s swimming and Zsombor Vincze of men’s water polo. Kausen, a senior bio-chemistry major from Irvine, and Freeman, a junior sociocultural linguistics major from Concord, each have a 3.64 GPA, and Vincze, a junior business economics major from Szeged, Hungary, has a 3.85 GPA.
“These student-athletes represent the best of UC Santa Barbara,” Athletic Director Gary Cunningham said. “There is nothing that makes me more proud than all the accomplishments of our Golden Eagle Award winners.”
The other Golden Eagle Award winners are Matthew Barkley, men’s track and field; Anders Dalskov, men’s tennis; Matt Grush, golf; Erika Hansen, softball; Liza Hitchner, women’s cross country; Chuck Huggins, baseball; Kyle Kaveny, men’s soccer; Bradley Matsumoto, men’s swimming; Bethany Nickless, women’s track and field; Jessie Steinberg, women’s soccer; Leigh Stephenson, women’s volleyball; Katherine Suderman, women’s basketball; and Matt Thobe, men’s volleyball.
The UCSB Golden Eagle Award winners will be honored today at a banquet at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Hotel. The banquet is sponsored by Pacific Beverage Co.
Bill Mahoney is UCSB‘s assistant athletics director.