OSU Student-Athletes Honored for February
March 8, 2000
Corvallis, Ore. - Oregon State University has named four student-athletes to honor for their excellent work in academics and athletics for the month of February, it was announced Wednesday by Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart.
Each month during the school year, the Beavers honor a male and female student-athlete for academic achievement and a male and female student-athlete for athletic achievement.
The academic winners for the month of February are Lara Degenhardt, a junior gymnast, and Zach Gordon, a junior baseball player. Degenhardt, from Salem and North Salem High School, has a 3.45 GPA in graphic design. Gordon, from Simi Valley, CA, has a 3.48 GPA in history.
The athletic winners for February are Sissel Pierce, a senior in women's basketball from Aberdeen, WA, and John Lepak, a sophomore golfer from La Habra Heights, CA..
Pierce had an outstanding month of February for the Beavers. She was selected the Pacific-10 Player of the Week after leading OSU to victories over USC (2/24) and an upset of #22 ranked UCLA (2/26). Pierce averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocked shots and 1.5 assists in those two games. In the month of February, Pierce broke the Beavers' school record for career blocked shots (172), season blocked shots (81) and most in one game (8).
Lepak placed second in the Southwestern Invitational Golf Tournament in Los Angeles on February 28-29 with a scored of 212, which was one under par. He finished tied for 13th at the Taylor Made Intercollegiate Tournament on Feb. 17-18 in Hawaii, shooting a 217, including a season-low round of 68. He is averaging 72.9 strokes per round and is ranked 89th nationally in the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings. He has finished 13th or better five times this season, including two second place finishes.
Previous winners follow:
PREVIOUS WINNERS ACADEMIC (September) Beth Thomason, soccer, 3.69 in general science Aaron Wells, football, 3.15 in liberal studies (October) Brandi Bonnarens, volleyball, 3.75 in health care administration Svein Groem, soccer, 3.48 in business (November) Gina Schmidt, volleyball, 4.0 in general science Aaron Koch, football, 3.63 in psychology (December) Amy Inwale, swimming, 3.44 in pre med Paul Barron, wrestling, 3.66 in forest-civil engineering (January) Bea Tistu-Whisenhunt, gymnastics, 3.26 in pre-therapy Ramunas Petraitis, 3.02 in liberal studies (February) Lara Degenhardt, gymnastics, 3.45 in graphic design Zach Gordon, baseball, 3.48 in historyATHLETIC (September) Bree Anna Jolin, soccer Ken Simonton, football (October) Naya Higashijima, swimming Jonathan Smith, football (November) Sissel Pierce, basketball Jonathan Jackson, football (December) Paula Finlay, swimming Eric Jorgensen, wrestling (January) Tanya Ricioli, gymnastics Jason Cooley, wrestling (February) Sissel Pierce, basketball John Lepak, golf
