Tulane Honors Student-Athletes at 2009 Athletic Banquet
Apr 29, 2009 | General
April 29, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane University student-athletes Sam Honeck and Sara Radosevic were named the Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year, as the athletic department honored its 2008-09 student-athletes at the annual athletic banquet held at the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life.
The athletic awards banquet was a joint effort between Tulane athletics staff and the department's Student-Athlete Advisory Council, which is composed of 28 current Green Wave student-athletes.
Tulane's head coaches awarded team honors and discussed their respective seasons, and the 2008-09 senior class was also honored for their contributions both on and off the playing field during their careers as Green Wave student-athletes. Tulane also presented the Male and Female Scholar Athletes of the Year in addition to the Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year.
The Male and Female Scholar Athletes of the Year is awarded to the male and female student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade point average after at least three semesters at Tulane University, while the Male and Female Student-Athlete award was based on performance.
The 2009 recipient for Female Scholar Athlete of the Year was volleyball athlete Ashley Bernards. Bernards is a senior in graduate school from McMinnville, Oregon, who holds her Bachelor's of Science in Finance with a final undergraduate GPA of 3.970. She is currently completing her Master's in accounting with a GPA of 4.0. She carried a 4.0 GPA through her first 50 credits of college all in her freshman year, and has never received a grade lower than an A-.
A third time repeat-winner of the Tulane Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Bernards earned the award in 2007 and 2008, in addition to being named to Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and earning the C-USA Academic Medal. She appeared in nine matches and 12 sets as a senior. She also served on the Student Athlete Advisory Council and is very involved in Community Service activities in New Orleans. Rob Segedin of the Green Wave baseball team took home the honor of Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. The sophomore is a double major in Finance and Management. Segedin, a native of Old Tappan, New Jersey, has a GPA of 3.599, earning him a spot on the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and Tulane's 3.0 Club last year.
While having only played in five games this season due to a back injury, Segedin has still been an integral part of the club, having been named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List in the preseason, along with being tapped as a member of both the NCBWA Preseason All-America Third Team and preseason All-Conference USA Team. He was selected as Second Team All-Conference as an infielder while also being named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team for his contributions on the field in 2008. Segedin was named as Conference USA Hitter of the Week while also earning a spot on the College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup following the 2008 campaign. This season, Segedin picked up four hits in the five games played, including three doubles, while also knocking in four runs for Tulane.
The 2009 Female Athlete of the Year was volleyball star Sara Radosevic . Radosevic, a senior Business and Management major from Zagreb, Croatia played in all 34 matches and 126 sets as a senior in 2008 when she was named Conference USA and Louisiana Player of the Year. She received recognition as honorable-mention AVCA All-American, first-team AVCA All-Midwest Region, first-team All-Conference USA and All-Louisiana, and third-team Stellar Spikers by CVU.com. She was this year's C-USA Tournament MVP after averaging 3.15 kills and 2.62 digs per set while tallying four block assists and a team-best eight service aces. Radosevic was the team leader in points (528.0), kills (456), kills per set (3.62), total attacks (1,222) and service aces (42) while ranking second in digs (327) and digs per set (2.60), and fourth in blocks (55) and blocks per set (0.44). She ranked second in C-USA in kills per set and points per set (4.19), and tied for fourth in aces per set (0.33). Radosevic completed her Tulane career ranked No. 1 in career service aces (197), kills per set (4.73) and total attacks (4,819) while ranking second in kills (1,925) and sixth in digs (1,135), and became just the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career and also ranked eighth in career digs per set (2.79).
Radosevic's award-winning counterpart was Sam Honeck, of the baseball team. A mathematics major, Honeck is currently leading his team, as well as Conference USA, in multiple categories. Though still in season, the Male Athlete of the Year currently has a Conference USA-best 15 home runs and 63 runs batted in. His stellar RBI numbers have also earned him a position in the top five nationally. A left-handed bat, Honeck also paces the club in doubles with 13, slugging percentage with .752, total bases with 118 and he has also hit three grand slams.
The Austin, Texas-native hit two home runs against #1 UC Irvine, while also tallying four RBI in the series and also turned in a 2-4, four RBI performance against then-#2 LSU. He has scored 47 runs, placing him a top the club's leader board and he has started every game for the Green Wave while turning in a .988 fielding percentage at first base.
