Dec. 18, 2009

A total of 13 UC Davis student-athletes from five teams earned 2009 Big West Conference All-Academic distinction for fall sports, it was announced by the league office on Friday. The Aggie women's cross country team boasted six such honorees, while women's volleyball, women's soccer and men's cross country each had two. The UC Davis men's soccer team tallied one represented on the 117-person roll.

To earn recognition on the All-Academic team, student-athletes must hold a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average, have completed one full academic year at the member institution prior to the season for which the award is being received, and have competed in at least 50 percent of their team's contest.

The six Aggie women's cross country honorees comprise senior Alison Stoakley, and sophomores Gina Dettmer, Krista Drechsler, Abbey Gallaher, Samantha Kearney and Chelsea Mumby. The total of six matched that of UC Santa Barbara for the largest contigent among the 34 honorees in that sport.

On the men's side, senior Scott Himmelberger and junior Calvin Thigpen accounted for one quarter of the conference's men's cross country honorees.

In women's volleyball, seniors Carson Lowden and Avreeta Singh found their names among the 20 winners in that sport. Singh has previously served as UC Davis' representative in the Big West Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards program.

The sport of women's soccer claimed 39 honorees in the conference, the most of the Big West's five fall offerings. Senior Sarah Peters and sophomore Jenna Brehmer represented UC Davis among that group. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Mustafa Chopan was the lone Aggie among the 16 men's soccer players on the all-academic roster.

The 2009-10 season is the third academic year in which UC Davis is an official member of the Big West Conference. Stoakley, Peters, Lowden and Singh have each earned all-academic nods in all three seasons.