MALIBU, Calif. - Student-athletes, coaches and staff members gathered on Sunday night to celebrate Pepperdine University's Third Annual Student-Athlete Honors Dinner on Sunday night in Firestone Fieldhouse.
Awards were given for the Athlete of the Year, the Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the Wave of the Year to both male and female recipients. The Wave of the Year honors student-athletes for outstanding contributions in spirit and service to the athletics program and the university community.
Director of Athletics John Watson was the master of ceremonies. Skye Barnett, a sophomore on the women's basketball team, gave the invocation. Greg Lee, Pepperdine's student body president and both a broadcaster and public-address announcer the past four years, gave a speech in appreciation of the student-athletes. Women's basketball assistant coach Maurice Hilliard, director of academic services Jim Hamad and senior associate athletic director Steve Potts were the presenters.
The winners of the various awards were as follows:
WAVE OF THE YEAR (Men's) - Tyler Jaynes
Tyler Jaynes (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay HS), a junior on the men's volleyball team, has been heavily involved in SAAC the past couple of years, especially in community service activities. He is a member of the Sideline, a weekly bible study and devotional designed for student-athletes, and a three-year participant in University Ministries, a college group of spiritual leaders at Malibu Presbyterian Church. He is a former "Mr. All-American" and has also participated in the Athletic Homecoming Group and Songfest. He earned All-MPSF honorable mention honors this season and ranks fourth in the nation in blocks. He is a mathematics major.
WAVE OF THE YEAR (Women's) - Krista Friedman
Krista Friedman (La Verne, Calif./St. Lucy's Priory), a junior on the women's volleyball team, is the co-president of SAAC and a leader in community service. She was part of Project Serve teams that went to Panama in 2010 and Ecuador in 2009, and also did a study abroad/service-learning project in East Africa in 2009. She is a leader of Sideline, a weekly bible study and devotional designed for student-athletes. Head coach Nina Matthies considers her a team and spiritual leader both on and off the court. With the team, she organized the sponsorship of a 4-year-old Rwandan refugee. Krista earned WCC All-Academic honorable mention honors in 2009 and averaged 1.5 digs last season as a defensive specialist. She is a psychology major.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (Men's) - Shane Mason
Shane Mason (San Diego, Calif./St. Augustine HS) is a repeat winner, having also claimed this award last year. This senior political science major boasts one of the highest GPAs in all of athletics (better than a 3.9). He is a standout in many other areas as well. He has played a key role in Pepperdine's SAAC over the years and was co-President in 2009-10. He was selected as Pepperdine's representative to the NCAA National Leadership Conference in 2008. Last year, he made the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-District second team and the WCC All-Academic first team. On the links, Shane has been a valued member of the team, having been in the lineup at all 11 tournaments. He earned All-WCC honorable mention honors both this year and last year.
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (Women's) - Kelly Reilly
Kelly Reilly (Cardiff, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS), a mathematics major with a 3.8 GPA, netted prestigious academic and athletic honors following her senior season with the Waves' women's soccer team. She was rewarded with a spot on the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic second team and the WCC All-Academic first team in 2009. She is a member of the Golden Key Honors Society, Pi Mu Epsilon (National Math Honors Society) and Phi Eta Sigma (National Honors Society).For her on-the-field accomplishments, Reilly was named to the All-WCC second team and the NSCAA All-West Region squad for the first time in 2009 after totaling a career-high six points on two goals and two assists from the defensive midfield position. Her goals against Tennessee and Houston both served as game-winners, while her defensive abilities helped the Waves pitch eight shutouts.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (Men's) - Matt Bywater
Matt Bywater (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) has been Pepperdine's top pitcher over the last three years despite not receiving much attention on the national scene. He owns a career record of 16-9 to go along with a respectable 3.98 earned-run average plus 169 strikeouts and three complete-game shutout victories, all of which have taken place through the first two months of his junior season. Bywater began 2010 with a complete game shutout win at then-#4 Cal State Fullerton, which not only earned him his first of three West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week Awards, but he also was named National Pitcher of the Week from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the CollegeBaseballInsider.com website. Entering this weekend's series vs. Portland, Bywater ranked first in the WCC with a 2.17 ERA, plus his three shutouts and three complete games. He is an advertising major.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (Women's) - Miranda Ayim
Miranda Ayim (London, Ontario, Canada/Saunders Secondary) recently completed one of the top careers in Pepperdine women's basketball history. She became only the school's fourth three-time All-WCC first team selection. In 2009-10, she led the team in scoring, rebounds and blocked shots, and set or tied school records for blocks in a career, season and game. She appears prominently elsewhere on the career records lists, including eighth in points (1,377) and eighth in rebounds (735). Also a standout in the classroom, Ayim was named the Division I-AAA women's basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was a three WCC All-Academic first team (becoming the first Pepperdine women's basketball player ever to accomplish that feat) and a two-time CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honoree. She also serves as a co-Vice President of Pepperdine's SAAC. Last year, she was chosen as Pepperdine Athletics' Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She will graduate this spring with a degree in public relations.
ALL-TIME LIST OF WINNERS
Athlete of the Year (Men's)
2008 Andre Begemann, men's tennis
2009 Paul Carroll, men's volleyball
2010 Matt Bywater, baseball
Athlete of the Year (Women's)
2008 Sylvia Kosakowski, women's tennis
2009 Julie Rubenstein, women's volleyball
2010 Miranda Ayim, women's basketball
Wave of the Year (Men's)
2008 J.D. Schleppenbach, men's volleyball
2009 Omar Altmann, men's tennis
2010 Tyler Jaynes, men's volleyball
Wave of the Year (Women's)
2008 Emily Wynne, women's soccer
2009 Kayla Stolte, women's soccer
2010 Krista Friedman, women's volleyball
Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Men's)
2008 Jonathan Winder, men's volleyball
2009 Shane Mason, men's golf
2010 Shane Mason, men's golf
Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Women's)
2008 Julie Rubenstein, women's volleyball
2009 Miranda Ayim, women's basketball
2010 Kelly Reilly, women's soccer
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
(only one award from 1984-2007)
1984 Greg Outcalt, men's swimming/water polo
1985 Paul Faries, baseball
1986 Peter Rohde, men's swimming
1987 Rick Hirtensteiner, baseball
1988 Stella Berkebile, women's volleyball
1989 Anna Brunstrom, women's tennis
1990 Stephanie Beiser, women's swimming
1991 Lesli Asplund, women's volleyball
1992 Cary Lothringer, men's tennis
1993 Nikki Brodowy, women's basketball
1994 Nina Eriksson, women's soccer and tennis
Evy Wild, women's swimming
1995 Alan Herrmann, men's water polo
1996 John Workman, baseball
1997 Gaylen Matsumura, women's golf
1998 Zsofia Csapo, women's tennis
1999 Angela Lawrence, women's tennis
2000 Rebecca Freebury, women's cross country
2001 Clint Olson, men's volleyball
2002 Jason Allred, men's golf
2003 Katherine Hull, women's golf
2004 Lyndsey Hache', women's volleyball
2005 Steve Kleen, baseball
Michael Putnam, men's golf
2006 Nick Kliebert, baseball
2007 Richard Johnson, men's tennis
Coach of the Year
(awarded from 1984-2007)
1984 Gualberto Escudero, women's tennis
1985 Dave Gorrie, baseball
1986 Rod Wilde, men's volleyball
1987 Dave Gorrie, baseball
1988 Allen Fox and Richard Gallien, men's tennis
1989 Tom Asbury, men's basketball
Gualberto Escudero, women's tennis
1990 Nina Matthies, women's volleyball
1991 Tom Asbury, men's basketball
1992 Marv Dunphy, men's volleyball
Andy Lopez, baseball
1993 Kurt Schuette, men's golf
1994 Dick Kampmann, cross country
1995 Allen Fox, men's tennis
Pat Harrison, baseball
1996 Nina Matthies, women's volleyball
1997 John Geiberger, men's golf
1998 Terry Schroeder, men's water polo
1999 Laurie Gibbs, women's golf
2000 Jan van Breda Kolff, men's basketball
2001 Peter Smith, men's tennis
2002 Marv Dunphy, men's volleyball
2003 Laurie Gibbs, women's golf
2004 Nina Matthies, women's volleyball
2005 Marv Dunphy, men's volleyball
2006 Adam Steinberg, men's tennis
2007 Marv Dunphy, men's volleyball
