Men's Tennis

By Beth Renkoski

06/05/09

Lions Spring to NAIA and GSAC Scholar-Athlete Awards

Clinton Behrends 2009
Clinton "Sonny" Behrends

Hana Jucovicova 2009
Hana Jurcovicova

Rebecca Sopp 2009
Rebecca Sopp

Costa Mesa, Calif – Fourteen Vanguard University spring-sport student-athletes completed the requirements for the Golden State Athletic Conference Academic All-GSAC and NAIA Scholar-Athlete Teams with three 4-year seniors (Behrends, Jurcovicova, and Sopp) leading the way. All six of Vanguard’s spring sports were represented as all qualifying student-athletes must meet a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 and have at least a junior standing academically. Vanguard University Athletics is proud to announce that the spring addition brings the total number of GSAC/NAIA scholar-athletes to 24 for the entire 2008-09 school year.

The softball team accounted for five of the 14 spring honorees with Jennifer Bergh, Katie Daniels, April Glenn, Kasey Klarenbach, and Stephanie Leisenring all earning the award for the first time in their career. Bergh accumulated a 3.62 grade point average and Glenn a 3.51 GPA, both as Business Administration majors. Daniels notched a 3.52 GPA in Liberal Studies, Klarenbach a 3.53 average in Accounting, and Leisenring is holding a 3.69 GPA as an English major at Vanguard.

Seniors Clinton Behrends and Christopher Carls capped their athletic careers at Vanguard with a 3.78 GPA and a 3.94 GPA, respectively. Behrends, a four-year Lion majoring in Religion, and Carls, an Intercultural Studies major, received the GSAC/NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards for the second time. Matthew Curtis completed his junior season this spring, carrying a 3.71 grade point average in the classroom while studying Religion to complete the baseball academic trio.

Florian Lemke (3.61 GPA) and Dominic Stockler (3.51 GPA) also finished their third seasons of competition for the men’s tennis team but graduated this spring in Business Administration and International Business, respectively. Representing women’s tennis, Hana Jurcovicova added another star to her stellar four-year career at VUSC with her second NAIA Scholar-Athlete award by posting a 3.76 GPA in Business Administration.

For track and field, senior Rebecca Sopp and juniors Kelsie Davis and Michael Hartanov repeated their fall academic awards for cross country by meeting the criteria in their spring sport of track and field. Sopp, a four-time NAIA Scholar-Athlete, celebrated her final undergraduate semester by maintaining her 3.66 GPA in VU’s Liberal Studies program. Davis continued dominating in the classroom with over a 3.9 grade point average in the Communications department, while Hartanov became a two-time Scholar-Athlete with another sensational mark of 3.89 in Business.

Matching last year’s total of 24 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, the Vanguard University Athletic Department would like to congratulate the student-athletes on another fine job on and off the competitive field. Go Lions !