61 USD Scholar Athletes Honored at President's Luncheon

61 USD Scholar Athletes Honored at President's Luncheon

Marta Stojanovic, CAS valedictorian

Sixty-one University of San Diego student-athletes were honored at the annual President's Luncheon for Scholar Athletes for achieving a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5. Student-athlete honorees invited faculty members as their guests and all were treated to a luncheon hosted by President Harris.

“The University of San Diego is one of the nation’s finest Catholic institutions,” Ron Valenzuela said, USD’s Assistant AD for Academics and Student Athlete Services. “USD represents the absolute best of intercollegiate athletics and college sports and the President’s Luncheon for Scholar Athletes recognizes the outstanding academic achievements of student athletes. Honorees must possess at least a 3.5 cumulative grade point average based on the most recent term and have completed at least two full-time semesters at USD. These student athletes have the competitive desire to be the best students they can be and have shown extraordinary academic success by accepting the challenge to become leaders in the classroom.”

USD's Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Mitch Malachowski from the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department addressed the crowd in opening remarks. Malachowski challenged student athletes to find the perfect components to build team chemistry.

Senior Marta Stojanovic of the women’s tennis team then gave a short speech to the group. Stojanovic, who has a perfect 4.0 GPA as a behavioral neuroscience major, will represent the College of Arts and Sciences as its valedictorian.

Each scholar athlete was presented a certificate of academic excellence and achievement by their head coach. The program ended with closing remarks from President Harris, who stressed the impact coaches and faculty members have on student-athletes.

“The two lessons I’ve learned from these two groups of individuals during my career and in my life is knowing how hard they work and how well they balance their life to accomplish so many things,” Harris said.

“Student-athletes, you are exemplars. You’re fantastic and we’re so proud of what you’re doing, but you only have to look at the people at the table with you, professors and coaches, and continue to be inspired and continue to lead our university to even greater heights.”

The 61 USD Scholar-Athletes are:

Football: Devyn Bryant, Junior, Mechanical Engineering major; Anthony Lawrence, Sophomore, Accountancy; Tyler Marshall, So., Finance; Max Michaels, Jr., Accountancy; Alec Moreno, Jr., Accountancy; Connor Spencer, So., Electrical Engineering; Luke Taffuri, Jr., Accountancy and Finance.

Volleyball: Alaysia Brown, Fall Graduate, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology; Kristen Gengenbacher, So., Communication Studies.

Women’s Soccer: Jacey Birtcher, Senior, Marketing; Michelle Craft, Sr., Biology; Caitlyn Kretzschmar, Jr., Political Science; Julia Sherwood, Jr., English and Philosophy.
Men’s Soccer: Alex Stimpfl, Sr., Accountancy; Michael Thilenius, Jr., Mechanical Engineering; Patrick Zimmer, Sr., Marketing.

Men and Women’s Cross Country: Matthew Beasley, Jr., Finance; Liam Burke, So., Anthropology; Tyler Hodges, So., Accountancy; Spencer Hoffman, Jr., Accountancy; Shannan Conlon, Soph., International Relations and Spanish; Julie Giannini, So., Biology; Olivia Gonzalez, Jr., Communication Studies and Economics; Olivia Houser, Sr., Accountancy; Sarah Kapple, Jr., Electrical Engineering; Dani LeMieux, Jr., Biology; Sam Mattice, So., Communication Studies; Ashton Padberg, Jr., International Business; Kalin Padberg, Jr., International Business; Alex Salazar, So., Undeclared; Hannah Talpash; Mary Tenuta, So., Biology.

Swimming and Diving: Missy Beall, Jr., Electrical Engineering; Danielle Deiparine, Jr., Biology; Stephanie Jones, Sr., Biology; Christina Jonsson, Jr., Marketing; Claire Tolan, Jr., Marketing; Gwen Walter, Jr., Real Estate and Finance.

Softball: Lauren King, Jr., Marketing; Danielle Mavridis, Sr., Mechanical Engineering; Olivia Sandusky, Jr., English.

Women’s Basketball: Caroline Buhr, So., Finance; Jamie Kissinger, So., Accountancy; Edi Utibe, Jr., Communication Studies; Sydney Williams, So., Behavioral Neuroscience; Alex Young, Jr., Communication Studies.

Men’s Tennis: Andrew Carlisle, Graduate student, Master of Science in Finance.

Men’s Rowing: William Carhart, So., Engineering; Pierce Salamack, Jr., Electrical Engineering; Nick Watson, Jr., Mechanical Engineering.

Women’s Rowing: Megan Goodman, Jr., International Relations and Spanish; Meredith Hoggatt, Jr., Mechanical Engineering; Morgan Lester, Jr., Finance; Megan McNamara, Sr., Psychology and Communication Studies; Hannah Saddler, Sr., Physics; Karli Wittenberg, Jr., Biochemistry; McKenna Wray, Sr., Accountancy and Finance.

Women’s Tennis: Marisa Marsh, Sr., Real Estate; Drew Spinosa, So., Accountancy; Marta Stojanovic, Sr., Behavioral Neuroscience.

— USD Athletics