AMILON, SENDER NAMED UNLV SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
The two Rebels were among many recognized at the 32nd annual Scholar-Athlete Honors Banquet on Tuesday night
Seniors Jakob Amilon and Lily Sender topped the Rebels recognized at the 32nd Annual UNLV Scholar-Athlete Honors Banquet, which was held at the MGM Grand Conference Center Tuesday night.
Amilon, from the men’s tennis program, was named UNLV’s Male Mehdi Bouras Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Sender, a member of the women’s soccer team, earned the Female Mehdi Bouras Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
Amilon, a finance major, currently has 3.78 cumulative grade point average and is a member of the Dean’s Honor List. The Stockholm, Sweden, native became the first men’s tennis player at UNLV to win the Mountain West’s Player of the Year award since 2011 this season. He was also named to the All-MW team in both singles and doubles for the second straight year. He also won the ITA Mountain Region title, which was just the second in program history.
Sender, from Honolulu, Hawaii, has a 3.58 cumulative GPA with a major of mechanical engineering and a minor in mathematical sciences. She is also a member of the Dean’s Honor List. She earned NSCAA Scholar All-West Region Team honors this season. It was the program’s second first team selection and she also became the first Scholar All-America (first team) in team history. A CoSIDA Academic All-American, she led the team and the conference this year with 15 goals and 38 points (both school records) after registering just three total points in her previous three seasons. She became the program’s third MW Offensive Player of the Year and she was also named first team All-MW.
The UNLV Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were recently named in honor of the late former UNLV tennis star who passed away suddenly in 2013 at the age of 24. Bouras was one of the most decorated players in UNLV tennis history as the two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete and three-time Academic All-Mountain West honoree was himself named the 2009 UNLV Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The former league freshman of the year and Mountain West Player of the Year remains the only Rebel netter since 1997 to compete in both the NCAA singles and doubles tournaments and holds the program record with seven MW Player of the Week honors.
“Mehdi was a great Rebel both on and off the court and it’s fitting for this prestigious award to be named in his honor to help keep his memory alive at UNLV,” said UNLV tennis head coach Owen Hambrook. “A big thank you to Alan Hott and everyone in Student-Athlete Academic Services for making this a reality.”
A total of 129 student-athletes were honored at the event for earning academic all-conference honors by achieving GPAs of 3.0 or higher in the Mountain West and the Western Athletic Conference (only men’s soccer and men’s swimming & diving compete in the WAC), while 49 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.
A total of 33 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 GPA’s of all student-athletes who have completed one full academic year at UNLV.
The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Leadership Awards were also handed out, going to men’s swimming & diving’s Ethan Klein and volleyball’s Carly Riehl.
Also announced at the banquet were the Student-Athlete Academic Champions awards, which are give 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 Advisers 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.
2016-17 UNLV Student-Athlete Academic Champions
Baseball – Cooper Esmay
Men’s Basketball – Cheickna Dembele
Women’s Basketball – Alyssa Anderson
Cross County – Lindy Eskin
Cheer – Sommer Ehrenberg
Dance – Ashley Schobert
Football – Kurt Palandech
Men’s Golf – John Oda
Women’s Golf – Harley Dubsky
Softball – Jamie Hatch
Men’s Soccer – Oscar Velazquez
Women’s Soccer – Jordan Magnin
Men’s Swimming & Diving – Kasey Foley
Women’s Swimming & Diving – Janelle Nguyen
Men’s Tennis – Jakob Amilon
Women’s Tennis – Carol Yang
Track & Field – Stella Clemens
Volleyball – Elsa Descamps
