Feb. 22, 2000
LAS VEGAS - The UNLV Athletics Department had its best academic semester in history during fall 1999,
according to the final semester grade report.
The 2000 UNLV Rebel Academic Top 30 has been announced and will be introduced during
halftime of Tuesday's men's basketball game against Florida Atlantic. This year's group
includes the 30 student-athletes with the highest grade point averages for the spring 1999
and/or fall 1999 semesters.
All students were enrolled in and completed a minimum of 12 credits and achieved a
semester GPA of 3.77 or higher for one or both semesters. An impressive 15 of these
student-athletes achieved a remarkable 4.0 GPA.
Men's soccer led the way with six of the 30 honorees, with softball just behind at five
representatives.
"When you know the time commitment of our student-athletes, this showing is truly an
amazing accomplishment," UNLV Athletics Director Charles Cavagnaro said.
The Rebel Academic Top 30 was originated in 1995 to recognize the very best
student-athletes and this year's 3.77 minimum GPA is the highest in the history of the
program. Other years, qualifying GPAs were: 1996 - 3.60, 1997 - 3.74, 1998 - 3.67,
1999 - 3.72.
There are many other highlights from the fall 1999 semester for the athletics department in
academics. Four of UNLV's athletic teams achieved their highest cumulative GPA since
records were kept beginning in 1994, which is a span of 11 semesters. Men's swimming
recorded an overall GPA of 3.14, softball with 3.06, men's soccer with 3.01 and women's
soccer with 2.85. The women's and men's tennis teams continued to record the highest GPAs
with 3.32 and 3.17, respectively.
The overall men's GPA in the athletics department was the highest since records were kept,
coming in at 2.81. Also, 16 percent of UNLV student-athletes (55-of-345) achieved a GPA
above 3.5 during the fall 1999 semester and 36 percent (125-of-345) were over 3.0. 64
percent of the teams (nine) improved upon their spring 1999 semester GPA and the overall
athletic GPA remained above 2.82 for the eighth consecutive semester.
2000 UNLV Rebel Academic Top 30 Team
Name Sport
Ryan Bledsoe Men's Soccer
Andrew Hooker Men's Soccer
Benjamin Hooker Men's Soccer
Paul Lunkwitz Men's Soccer
Marcus Sorensen Men's Soccer
Tuomas Talvio Men's Soccer
Charelle Ainslie Softball
Keao Chang Softball
Danielle Ferreira Softball
Linda Garza Softball
Nicole Truax Softball
Veronica Goude Women's Tennis
Susie Kocsis Women's Tennis
Katarina Malec Women's Tennis
Paula Lechner Track/Cross Country
Jessamyn Parker Track/Cross Country
Heather Steadham Track & Field
Janel Frei Women's Swimming
Hailey Nance Women's Swimming
Donna Wu Women's Swimming
Eric Pelton Men's Tennis
Adam Thurgood Men's Tennis
John Greer Football
Nathan Rydalch Football
Jonathan Fiene Men's Swimming
Michael Short Men's Swimming
Jessica Chavez Women's Soccer
Shannon FredricksonWomen's Soccer
Garett Shitanishi Baseball
Angie Sylvas Volleyball
