April 15, 2008
LAS VEGAS - Sophomore baseball player Kyle Kretchmer and sophomore volleyball player Jessica Walters led those recognized at the 29th Annual UNLV Scholar-Athlete Honors Luncheon held at the Foundation Building on UNLV's campus Tuesday.
Kretchmer was named UNLV's most outstanding male scholar-athlete for the second straight year and Walters was the most outstanding female scholar-athlete, which are awarded to the male and female student-athletes with the highest cumulative GPA, were a significant contributor to their sport during the 2007 season and have completed at least one academic year at UNLV.
A native of Carmel, Calif., Kretchmer is majoring in kinesiological sciences as he completes requirements for medical school. This year, he received an invitation to join Phi Kappa Phi, a prestigious academic honor society. His overall GPA is 3.95. This season he has appeared in 11 games, making two starts and is hitting .263 with a double and an RBI.
Walters is from Ashland, Ore., and is a journalism major with a minor in political science. She is a finalist for the 2008 NCAA Student-Athlete Development Conference, her team's representative on the UNLV Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has an overall GPA of 3.96. An outside hitter, she notched three double-doubles on the year and ranked third overall for UNLV in kills and kills per game helping her team to its first-ever conference tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance this past season.
"I am so proud of our student-athletes," said Mike Hamrick, UNLV's Director of Athletics. "This is a very special day as we get a chance to recognize the quality of student-athletes that we have at this university. Our honorees are very deserving student-athletes and we appreciate all they have done and continue to do for UNLV."
A total of 134 student-athletes were honored for achieving GPAs of 3.0 or higher and recognized as MWC and Mountain West Sports Federation (men's soccer) Academic All-Conference recipients. Honorees also must have completed one academic semester at UNLV and have competed in 50 percent of the team's contests.
There were 29 student-athletes recognized for being named to the MWC's Scholar-Athlete Award list for having a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or greater in at least two semesters at UNLV.
Forty-three individuals were honored as members of the Rebel Top 10 for attaining a GPA which places them in the top 10 percent of all student-athletes at UNLV. The award is based on cumulative GPA's of all student-athletes who have completed one full academic year at UNLV.
Also announced at the luncheon were the top sports awards, which were given to the student-athletes with the highest cumulative GPA in their individual sports.
Top Sports Awards
Cheer - Breann PonticelloBaseball - Kyle KretchmerWomen's Basketball - Brittany HalbergMen's Basketball - Mareceo RutledgeDance - Jessica QuinnFootball - Mike McKiskiWomen's Golf - Nicole McGirrMen's Golf - Johnny PinjuvWomen's Soccer - Katie CarneyMen's Soccer - Mason TraffordSoftball - Marissa NicholsWomen's Swimming & Diving - Kim BonneyMen's Swimming & Diving - Johan ClaarWomen's Tennis - Alisa RazinaMen's Tennis - Matthew KunkelWomen's Track & Cross Country - Olivia RayaWomen's Volleyball - Jessica Walters
