May 26, 2005

DAVIS, Calif. - Three outstanding Aggies have been named recipients of UC Davis' annual student-athlete awards and will be presented with those honors at the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame ceremonies at Freeborn Hall on June 4.

Ryan Shaw, the all-time leading scorer for the men's soccer team, has been named winner of the Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award as the Aggies' top male athlete; Big West Conference champion swimmer Yuka Kobayashi is winner of the Dr. Hubert Heitman Award as the school's top female athlete; and Academic All-America football player Chris Jones will receive the W.P. Lindley Award for scholastic and athletic achievement, and leadership.

Shaw is the school's career scoring leader with 43 goals and 98 total points. He finished the 2004 schedule with nine goals and three assists, both tops on the squad. He scored the Aggies' only goal in a 1-1 tie against No.18 Stanford and the Aggies' 1-1 draw at Oregon State. In the highly competitive Big West Conference, which UC Davis officially joins in 2007, Shaw's numbers would have put him in the top five in both goals and points.

Shaw set the all-time goals record with his first of two scores against UC Riverside on Oct. 30, moving past Peter Faeth who held the mark with 39 since the 1993 season. Earlier in the season, Shaw became the all-time points leader when he scored the Aggies' only goal in a 1-1, double-overtime draw at Oregon State on Sept. 17. That goal moved him past Matt DeJong, whose 82 points had been the standard. Shaw is continuing his soccer career with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. The Galaxy drafted Shaw in the third round of the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft.

Kobayashi is the third Aggie to capture the Heitman Award twice and the first to do so non-consecutively, having also won the honor in 2003. In February, she became UC Davis' first-ever Big West Conference champion, winning the 100-yard backstroke with a school-record time of 55.10 seconds. Kobayashi won a second conference title a day later, this time in the 200 backstroke, in which she again set an Aggie record. Additionally, Kobayashi finished second in the 200 butterfly at the Big West meet, becoming the first Aggie to break the two-minute barrier in the event (1:59.52).

In all, Kobayashi set or took part in eight school records during her junior year. Besides surpassing her own standards in the 200 fly, 100 back and 200 back, she nipped her 2003 record in the 200 individual medley (2:05.26) and aided in four relay marks.

Kobayashi now owns eight total conference titles and five All-America awards. She won NCAA Division II championships in the 100 back and 200 fly as a freshman in 2003.

Jones, a senior from Stockton who started this past season on the Aggies' defensive line, finished the season with 18 total tackles, including three quarterback sacks, while also breaking up a pass. He was a key member of a defensive unit that allowed opponents just 113 rushing yards per game. Jones has been a decorated student at UC Davis, carrying a 3.95 GPA in biochemistry and molecular biology, and the winner of several campus and academic awards.

Among his many honors are the 2005 V. Glenn Winslow, Jr. Award, which is given to the top graduating male based on service and leadership, community activities and scholarship, and the 2004 Margarita Robinson Award, honoring the junior believed to be the most outstanding in the areas of leadership, scholarship, integrity and service to the campus community. Other recognitions includes a 2004 Outstanding Senior Leadership Award, the 2003 National Society of Black Engineers Tony Harris Award, recognition on the 2003 Arthur J. Ashe Sports Scholar Awards first team, and second-team Academic All-America football honors by ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA.

Jones has worked at the UC Davis Medical Center Anesthesiology Department, volunteered with the UC Davis football team at The Shriner's Hospital in Sacramento and with its football reading program, and developed "Athletes Dedicated to Success", a peer tutoring program. Jones has been accepted to several medical schools including UC Davis.