March 3, 2017 DAVIS, Calif. - Junior women's basketball player Dani Nafekh and senior track & field thrower Matthew Bender were chosen as UC Davis' representatives for the Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year awards program. Along with honorees from the other member institutions, both Aggies will be recognized at a banquet at the Wyndham Hotel in Garden Grove on Thursday, March 9.
A managerial economics major and starting guard, Nafekh is lead the Aggie women's basketball team to one of its most successful seasons in its Division I era. Through Saturday's win against UC Santa Barbara, the Oakville, Ontario, native averages 11.6 points per game with team highs of 50 three-pointers made and a league-leading .485 success rate from beyond the arc. Nafekh previously led UC Davis in assists (130) and steals (35) as a sophomore, an encore to her 2014-15 that saw her claim Big West All-Freshman Team distinction. In the classroom, Nafekh ranks among the top three percent in the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences and holds the top cumulative grade-point average (3.92) among UC Davis female student-athletes. She volunteers at local elementary schools by assisting math lessons and teaching physical education courses, and with the Special Olympics and local youth organizations as a basketball instructor. Nafekh hopes to follow many of her previous teammates by playing professionally in Europe, but ultimately will pursue a career in accounting or attend law school with the possibility of becoming a sports agent. She earned Big West Academic All-Conference accolades last year, and certainly remains on track to capture her second such honor later this spring. Bender, a mechanical engineering major from Shafter, California, led UC Davis in the discus throw in each of his four years. He posted finishes of sixth, seventh, fourth and fourth from his freshman through his senior seasons, while his collegiate-best throw of 53.67 meters (176 feet, 1 inch) ranks fourth in school history. Bender also ranks eighth all-time in the hammer throw at 57.77m (189-6), an event in which he posted two top-six finishes at the conference championships. Off the field, Bender works as a ski instructor, holds a leadership position with Athletes In Action, and volunteers with Recycle To Reach, the latter a program that collects recyclables to buy meals and reusable water bottles for the homeless. He is also completing his third U.S. Army Corps of Engineers internship and is interviewing with several agricultural engineering firms, being a fifth-generation California farmer. A three-time Big West Academic All-Conference honoree, Bender will graduate this month. The Thursday banquet takes place as part of the Big West Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments.
