Aztecs Shine in Classroom

A record 275 scholar-athletes were recently honored for their accomplishments on and off the field.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

For the seventh straight year, San Diego State University set a record for student-athlete performance in the classroom.

The eighteenth annual Scholar Athlete Awards Banquet honored 275 scholar athletes. These students posses a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average or a 3.0 semester GPA. The previous record of 256 was set in 2011.

Logan Ketchum, a senior linebacker on the football team from Oak Park, Calif., and Leanne Ford, a senior two-meter defender on the water polo team from Upland, Calif., were each named SDSU Student-Athletes of the Year for demonstrating excellence in academics, athletics and leadership, while boasting outstanding character.

About Ketchum

Ketchum finished his SDSU career with 114 tackles, two quarterback sacks, four broken-up passes, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in 35 total games. In 2011, he was also selected to the preseason all-Mountain West fourth team by Phil Steele’s College Football Preview Magazine.

Academically, Ketchum has been a scholar-athlete in eight of his nine semesters, earned Dean’s List honors on four occasions and earned the prestigious Malik Award twice. He has been named a Mountain West all-academic recipient three times for maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA and also earned Mountain West Scholar-Athlete honors for having above a 3.5 GPA during the 2010-11 academic year. This past fall, Ketchum was tabbed to the Capital One Academic All-District 8 first team.

About Ford

Ford is the second-leading scorer on the water polo team this season, after being No. 1 in goals last year. Her athletic excellence was recognized in 2011 where she was voted as honorable mention All-American by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches. She has been a scholar-athlete five of the seven semesters since she arrived on the Mesa in fall 2008, and also received a Malik Award with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in spring 2010. She has been selected to the all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation academic team in 2010 and 2011, as well as the Association Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-Academic Excellent Team in 2011.

The Malik Award

The Malik Award, which is named after SDSU professor emeritus of chemistry James Malik, was presented to 13 student-athletes who achieved the department’s highest semester GPAs.

The Montezuma Cup

The Montezuma Cup, presented annually to the team that develops life skills and competencies while enhancing collective team unity by working together to achieve the maximum possible points, was claimed by the women’s rowing team. The SDSU men’s tennis, women’s tennis and men’s soccer squads, meanwhile, each received the Faculty Athletics Representative Award for having the highest team semester GPAs. The Helping Hand Award, presented to the outstanding tutor or mentor in recognition of exceptional leadership and devoted service to student-athletes at San Diego State, was given to Megan Parry and Micah Berger.

James Kitchen was presented with the Distinguished Service Award for his work at San Diego State and his commitment to Aztec Athletics as the Vice President for Student Affairs. After this year, the honor will be renamed the Dr. James Kitchen Distinguished Service Award.

Malik Award Recipients (highest semester GPAs)