DAVIS, Calif. - UC Davis' student-athletes and teams were honored Sunday evening at Aggie Stadium during the second-annual Gunrock Gala, a year-end celebration organized by Student-Athlete Advisory Committee officers Aislinn Dresel (swimming and diving), Lani-Rae Green (women's tennis), Mitchell Iwahiro (men's tennis) and SAAC members.

During this event, senior Greta Kohlmoos (women's water polo), senior Chase Rhode (men's soccer), freshman Kelley Hebert (gymnastics) and junior Keelan Doss (football) were presented with the department's top individual awards. 

Kohlmoos, the 2018 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Rhode, a CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team and Big West All-Academic selection, received the W.P. Lindley Award as UC Davis' outstanding scholar-athletes of the year. 

A historic accompishment took place when Lindley honorees were announced: This is the first time in the Division I era that multiple student-athletes earned the department's top accolade.

Hebert, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's first-ever freshman to win Gymnast of the Year honors, took home the Dr. Hubert Heitman Award, presented to the female athlete of the year. Doss, a national finalist for the Walter Payton Award (presented to the most outstanding FCS offensive player in the nation) earned this year's Colby E. "Babe" Slater award as the male athlete of the year.

Initially diagnosed with leukemia in January, 2017, and now cancer free, junior Megan Salazar (softball) is the inaugural recipient of the Sarah Sumpter Perseverance Award. This honor is named after Sumpter, a former state champion from Cloverdale, Calif., who captured a Big West Conference cross country title in 2009 and became the program's first conference champion of the Big West era.

Forced to miss a year when diagnosed with a brain tumor, Sumpter returned to competition one year later. Throughout the 2011-12 season, she earned a Big West Conference Athlete of the Year nod and All-America honors in track and field, the 2012 Hubert Heitman Award, and set Big West Conference Championship records in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in addition to a UC Davis record in the 10k.

After battling a recurrence of the brain tumor, she passed away in September, 2015, one month before she should have competed in the New York City Marathon.

Created in her honor, the Sarah Sumpter Award is presented to a current UC Davis intercollegiate student-athlete who overcame a significant obstacle to return to his or her sport and enjoyed outstanding and/or distinguished participation, even in a different capacity.

Also making its debut at this year's Gunrock Gala, and presented by head strength and conditioning coach Jeff Bourque to juniors Emily Allen(volleyball) and AJ John (men's basketball), were the female and male Iron Aggie awards. These awards were presented to student-athletes who displayed an exemplary work ethic and drive throughout their team's year-long weights and conditioning program.

Two familiar programs earned the Marya Welch Award and Lysle Leach Award, bestowed to the female and male programs with the highest GPA. Thanks to its 3.52 average, women's cross country posted the top figure for the second straight season; a 3.26 average helped men's tennis earn its honor for the fourth year in a row.

Introduced for the first time in school history last year, student-athletes selected the winners of the next six awards, which highlighted outstanding performances by individuals or teams throughout the 2017-18 season.

Thanks to its Elite Eight appearance at the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the Female Performance of the Year was awarded to women's basketball. By winning a Big West North Division title and advancing to the championship game of the Big West Tournament, men's soccer collected Male Performance of the Year honors.

In addition to winning the Heitman Award, Hebert is this year's Female Newcomer of the Year. Junior TJ Shorts II's outstanding performance throughout men's basketball's championship-winning season is the reason why he stood out among a deep and talented group of nominees to win the Male Newcomer of the Year award.

Both earned trips to postseason competition and enjoyed success throughout their respective seasons, which is why junior Erinn Beattie (women's track and field) and John are the recipients of the Female and Male Individual Performance of the Year.


W.P. Lindley Award - Greta Kohlmoos (women's water polo) and Chase Rhode (men's soccer)
Greta Kohlmoos, a two-time All-Big West First team honoree and All-American in 2017, was one of her team's captains and leading scorers with 42 goals this past season. This is why she is considered the league's top center in a conference that saw all six of its squads earn a national top 20 ranking last year, and will graduate ranked No. 6 in program history with 154 career goals.

The 2018 Big West Scholar-Athlete of the Year also played a key role in the organization and execution of the team's Sunday Showers program, which provides toiletries and showers for Davis' homeless population throughout the year.

Kohlmoos, a Big West and Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-Academic honoree in each of her years at UC Davis, is the second women's water polo recipient of the Lindley award, following Lindsay Kiyama's selection in 2008.

On the field, Rhode started 38 of 41 games as a member of UC Davis' back line, scored three game-winning goals and helped the Aggies become the Big West's top-ranked defense. Before he graduated with a 3.97 GPA and a political science degree, coaches and teammates selected Rhode as the team's MVP.

Rhode was equally as successfull in the classroom, earning Dean's List distinction every quarter. In addition to his memberships in UC Davis' chapter of The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key International Honor Society, he also earned CoSIDA Academic All-District and Big West All-Academic Team honors. 

Recognized as a Top 100 Student Leader by the Executive and Entrepreneural Forum, Rhode will continue his formal education at the University of Nottingham's business school (ranked No. 84 in the world) and pursue a graduate degree in entrepreneurship, finance and management business. 

Dr. Hubert Heitman Award - Kelley Hebert (gymnastics)
Kelley Hebert is the fifth gymnast to win the Heitman Award, and does so after earning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Year and first team all-conference accolades in the vault, balance beam, floor exercise and the all-around.

In addition to breaking a 14-year-old conference record in the all-around, she also tied the school and conference record on floor, tied the school and conference record on beam, and became the first Aggie in program history to compete in the all-around in every meet.

Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award - Keelan Doss (football)
Keelan Doss is the 22nd football student-athlete overall, and the first during the program's Big Sky era selected for the Colby E. "Babe" Slater Award.

UC Davis' first national finalist for the Walter Payton Award (presented to the most outstanding FCS offensive player in the country) is the team's first consensus All-American after enjoying a historic junior season.

The all-conference first-team honoree set new school records with his 1,499 receiving yards, smashing the previous all-time mark set in 2005, 115 receptions and nine 100-yard games. How dominant was Doss last season? When the Aggies' season concluded, no player at the FBS or FCS levels had more total receiving yards, receiving yards per game or receptions per game than the Big Sky Conference's Offensive Player of the Year.

Sarah Sumpter Perseverance Award - Megan Salazar (softball)

Marya Welch Award - Women's Cross Country (3.52 GPA)
Lysle Leach Award - Men's Tennis (3.26 GPA)

Female Iron Aggie - Emily Allen (volleyball)
Male Iron Aggie - AJ John (men's basketball)

Female Team Performance of the Year - Women's Basketball
The Aggies finished last season with a 28-7 overall record, the second-highest number of wins in school history, and a trip to the Elite Eight of the Women's National Invitation Tournament -- advancing further into the postseason than any UC Davis squad in the program's Big West history -- after claiming its second consecutive Big West Conference regular season title.

Finishing the year winning 18 of their final 22 games and wrapping up a postseason that saw the team travel more than 7,500 round-trip miles for three games, the Aggies also hosted their inaugural home postseason game when Idaho visited the Pavilion for a WNIT first-round matchup.

Male Team Performance of the Year - Men's Soccer
The Aggies capped off a successful season, which included a Big West Conference North Division title and trip to the Big West Tournament's championship game, with a total of eight student-athletes named to the All-Big West teams. Including Big West Defender of the Year Roy Boateng, men's soccer's three first-team honorees and eight total award winners are the most since UC Davis joined the Big West in 2007.

Female Newcomer of the Year - Kelley Hebert (gymnastics)
Kelley Hebert led the MPSF and ranked 11th in the West Region with a regional qualifying score of 39.220 in the all-around. In addition to earning Gymnast of the Year honors, the first freshman in league history to win this award, she was one of three individuals who represented UC Davis at the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional, hosted by Utah. Throughout her first year as an Aggie, she also won three MPSF Gymnast of the Week and four MPSF Freshman of the Week awards.

In addition to setting a school all-around record of 39.525 during a home conference dual with Air Force, she twice tied a school record by scoring a 9.950 on floor (the only Aggie in history to achieve this score more than once), and scored 9.8 or better 26 times in 2018, one shy of a school record.

Male Newcomer of the Year - TJ Shorts II (men's basketball)
TJ Shorts II, the Big West Conference's first-ever Newcomer and Player of the Year dual-award winner, set a new program record in steals the same night UC Davis won its third conference title in the last four years with its double-overtime victory at UC Irvine.

The junior guard finished the season with top individual rankings among all players in the nation, in four categories, and played a key role in the Aggies' title-winning run, thanks to his game-winning three in double overtime at Long Beach State, and another game-winner at home a couple weeks later vs. UC Riverside. With those wins, UC Davis ended the regular season with victories in nine of its final 11 games, which allowed the Aggies to advance to a postseason tournament and record its third 20-win season in the last four years.

Female Individual Performance of the Year - Erinn Beattie (women's track and field)
Following her second-place finish in the heptathlon and the high jump at this year's Big West Conference Championship, Erinn Beattie punched her ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the second time in as many seasons, and will compete in the high jump once competition opens later this week. Earlier this season, she became the first Aggie in indoor history to reach a measurement of six feet in the high jump, and set a pentathlon record at the 2018 MPSF Indoor Championships.

Male Individual Performance of the Year - AJ John (men's basketball)
By winning a double-overtime thriller in their season finale at UC Irvine, the Aggies officially clinched their third Big West championship in the last four years -- a celebration that took place thanks to a career-best performance from AJ John. That night against the Anteaters, he nailed six of his seven baskets from three, finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, and hit one clutch three after another to help UC Davis erase a late five-point deficit in regulation, force another five-minues of action and secure another postseason appearance in another national broadcast that featured the Aggies.