LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Baseball's Bryson Stott, Track & Field/Cross Country's Avi'Tal Wilson-Perteete and Women's Tennis' Aiwen Zhu led a group of student-athletes recognized at the Second Annual Scarlet & Gray Awards Show, which was presented virtually Friday evening on UNLV Athletics' YouTube channel.
Stott was named the Mehdi Bouras Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Wilson-Perteete and Zhu were co-winners of the Mehdi Bouras Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. The awards are named in honor of the memory of the late UNLV tennis star Mehdi Bouras who passed away suddenly in 2013 at the age of 24.
Stott, who finished his junior year in 2019 before turning pro, majored in sociology and has a 3.18 grade point average. The local product from Desert Oasis High School was drafted 14th overall by the Philadelphia Phillies in last year's Major League Baseball First-Year Draft. During his Rebel career, Stott progressed from being named to the Mountain West's All-Conference Second Team and claiming a share of the MW Freshman of the Year Award in 2017 to first team honors and sharing the MW's Tony Gwynn Player of the Year Award. In all, Stott was a three-time All-MW Team performer and three-time MW Player of the Week honoree. A finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award and a semifinalist for the USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award, he was also tabbed a Second Team All-American by Perfect Game as well as a Third Team All-American by ABCA/Rawlings, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He concluded his Rebel career batting .340. Academically, he was a two-time Spring Academic All-MW Team representative.
Wilson-Perteete is a junior from Oakland, California, who is majoring in business and has achieved a 3.96 GPA. In three years competing for the Rebel track & field team, she has become one of the program's most decorated student-athletes and helped the team to two conference indoor championships and two runner-up showings (one indoor and one outdoor). She is a three-time USTFCCCA All-American in the 800m - Outdoor First Team in 2019 and Indoor/Outdoor Second Team in 2018, and finished third overall at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships. She is a four-time MW champion in the 800m - twice each in Indoor and Outdoor, and has earned All-MW Team honors five times as an individual and four times as a member of the Scarlet & Gray's 4x400m relay. She owns the program's 600m and 800m indoor records, and was a member of the record-setting indoor distance medley relay team. In outdoor competition, she ranks second in the 800m. In the classroom, she has earned USTFCCCA's All-Academic recognition each of the past two years and has also earned the MW Scholar-Athlete Award and Academic All-MW Team honors four times each.
Zhu, a back-to-back MW Women's Tennis Player of the Year (2018 & 2019) graduated in May 2019 with a bachelor's degree in hospitality management and a 3.68 GPA after turning in one of the most decorated careers in program history. As a senior she led her squad to both the regular-season and conference tournament titles before becoming only the second Rebel to win at least one match in multiple NCAA Singles Championships. The native of Wuxi, China, upset the nation's No. 26 player, which moved her into a tie for fifth on her school's career singles list with 103 and gave her a career winning percentage of .763 (third in UNLV history). The seven-time MW Player of the Week honoree finished her senior campaign 30-8 overall and ranked 58th in the nation after winning Outstanding Rebel of the Week four times. Also a top doubles performer, Zhu finished second at the school with 90 career victories and received a final ranking of 75 after becoming just the fourth Rebel to earn All-MW honors in both singles and doubles all four seasons. The 2019 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Senior Player of the Year for the Mountain Region was the first player in program history to earn an ITA regional award all four years on campus. For her classroom work, Zhu earned Academic All-MW, MW Scholar-Athlete status and ITA Scholar-Athlete status all four years.
A total of 145 student-athletes were honored for earning academic all-conference honors by achieving GPAs of 3.0 or higher in the MW and the Western Athletic Conference (men's soccer and men's swimming & diving), while 74 student-athletes were recognized for being named to the MW's Scholar-Athlete Award list for having a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or greater in at least two semesters at UNLV.
Also, a total of 53 individuals were honored as members of the Rebel Top 10 for attaining a GPA placing them in the top-10 percent of all student-athletes at UNLV. The award is based on cumulative GPAs of all student-athletes who have completed one full academic year at UNLV.
Also announced during the show were the Student-Athlete Academic Champions awards, which are given to each sport's most well-rounded leaders that demonstrate great academic achievement in addition to maintaining a productive role in their respective sport. Athletic academic advisors select each sport's academic champion based off the following criteria: GPA, degree path, credit load, academic class standing, contribution to their sport, community service and character.
Other honors, voted on by the student-athletes, included Outstanding Team (women's tennis), Best Upset (men's basketball vs. No. 4 San Diego State), the Perseverance Award (Agnes Mansaray from track & field/cross country and Lauren Tycksen from softball) and Heart of a Rebel Award (Marvin Coleman from men's basketball).
2019-20 UNLV SCARLET & GRAY AWARDS
Mehdi Bouras Scholar-Athletes of the Year: Bryson Stott (baseball) and Avi'Tal Wilson-Perteete (track & field/cross country)/Aiwen Zhu (women's tennis)
Newcomer of the Year: Panagiotis Bolanos (men's swimming & diving)/Cassondra Hall (track & field/cross country)
Best Upset: Men's basketball vs. No. 4 San Diego State
Perseverance Award: Agnes Mansaray (track & field/cross country)/Lauren Tycksen (softball)
Outstanding Team: Women's tennis
Heart of a Rebel: Marvin Coleman (men's basketball)
Academic Career Breakthrough Award: Tykenzie Daniels (football)/Agnes Mansaray (track & field/cross country)
SAAS Choice Awards: Eric Samuelsson (men's tennis)/Samantha Diaz (softball)
SAAC Leadership Award: Sean Gage (men's swimming & diving)
UNLV TEAM ACADEMIC CHAMPIONS
Baseball: Ryan McDonald
Men's Basketball: Marvin Coleman
Women's Basketball: Bailey Thomas
Cheer: Sarah Augente
Cross Country: Elise Rovere
Dance: Tess Corda
Football: Matt Brayton
Men's Golf: Justin Kim
Women's Golf: Cathy Liu
Men's Soccer: Isidro Sanchez
Women's Soccer: Samantha Bailey
Softball: Jennifer Bressler
Men's Swimming & Diving: Bertrand Phung
Women's Swimming & Diving: Caitlyn Schreiber
Women's Tennis: Samantha Li
Men's Tennis: Clayton Alenik
Track & Field: Avi'Tal Wilson-Perteete
Volleyball: Thea Sweder
