Tulane Student-Athletes Post Successful Spring in the Classroom
 |  Helmi Leppanen was one of five members of the women's track and field team to earn the C-USA Academic Medal and was one of eight student-athletes to post a perfect 4.0 GPA in the spring. |
June 22, 2004
As good a semester as Green Wave student-athletes enjoyed on the fields of play this spring - with three Conference USA Championships, women's tennis' No. 11 final ranking and first trip to the NCAA Round of 16, Michael Kogan's run to the NCAA Singles Championship match in men's tennis and baseball's win at the NCAA Oxford Regional - the results in the classroom were even better.
For the second time in the last three semesters, Tulane student-athletes compiled a grade point average above 3.0, checking in with a stellar 3.01 semester average and raising the cumulative grade point average of Tulane student-athletes to 2.93. Meanwhile, 53 percent - 149 - Tulane student-athletes qualified for the Scholar-Athlete List with a GPA of 3.0 or above in Spring 2004 and 15 earned the prestigious C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal with cumulative grade point averages above 3.75.
"We are extremely proud that our student-athletes continue to excel in the classroom," said Rick Dickson, Tulane Director of Athletics. "Their dedication to their academic, as well as their athletic, endeavors is what makes this program a model in Division I-A athletics across the country."
Tulane teams across the board achieved impressive academic successes in the spring. The men's cross country team posted the highest team GPA for the semester with a 3.43 mark. They were followed closely by Sue Bower's C-USA Champion and NCAA Regional participant women's golf team, who found time to compile a 3.40 grade point average in the spring. Men's golf, Tulane's team leader in cumulative GPA, came in with a 3.37 mark for the spring semester, while volleyball ranked fourth with an average of 3.22. In all, seven of Tulane's 14 teams posted a spring grade point average of 3.0 or better, while 10 had a mark above 2.8.
Tulane has eight teams with a cumulative grade point average above 3.0 as men's golf (3.35) is followed closely by women's golf (3.26), men's cross country (3.21) and volleyball (3.11). The Wave's NCAA Super Regional baseball team checks in with a 2.9 cumulative grade point average while the Top 20 men's tennis squad boasts a 2.8 mark.
"Our coaches and support staff are dedicated to the academic success of our student-athletes," said Morgan Walker, Assistant Provost for Compliance and Academic Services. "The grade point averages posted by our teams, as well as the number of students on the Scholar-Athlete list, have a direct correlation to our success in graduating student-athletes."
Women's track and field led the way for Tulane on the semi-annual Scholar-Athlete list with 27 student-athletes compiling a semester GPA of 3.0 or above. They were followed closely by football, with 25 Scholar-Athletes and soccer with 21. Men's golf continues to lead the way in terms of percentage as 10 of 11 student-athletes made the 3.0 list for the spring. Swimming saw 11 of 14 of its young team members earn 3.0 grade point averages or above in the spring.
The list of Tulane student-athletes with perfect 4.0 grade point averages, and those on the C-USA Academic Medalist list, continued to grow as well. Tulane had eight individuals with perfect grade point averages this spring, led by five members of the men's and women's track and field and cross country programs. Jenny Kuhn, the Conference USA Women's Tennis Player of the Year, showed that her abilities extend to the classroom as well with a perfect academic scorecard for spring. Volleyball's Karlyn Daly, the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year and Tulane's Female Student-Athlete of the Year, completed her career, and her chemistry degree, with a 4.0 GPA for the semester.
Tulane saw 15 individuals from seven different programs receive the C-USA Commissioner's Aademic Medal with cumulative GPAs of 3.75 or above as women's track and field had five medalists while men's golf placed four on the list. Football's Joe Traina, David Goulet of men's tennis, soccer's Lauren Peek, and Mark Hamilton of the Green Wave baseball team were the only representatives of their sport to receive the Academic Medal.
Three Tulane student-athletes were further honored by Conference USA when they were chosen as the C-USA Scholar-Athletes of the Year for their respective sports. Only one Scholar-Athlete per sport is chosen by the league as the award is based on academic achievement, athletic achievement and service. Tulane's selections were baseball senior Joey Charron, a mechanical engineering major from Tallahassee, Fla., volleyball's Karlyn Daly, who received her degree in chemistry from Tulane in May, and junior golfer Chris Wheeler, a business major from Allen, Texas.
The complete list of Tulane Scholar-Athletes for Spring 2004 is below.
Men's Tennis
David Goulet*
Dmitriy Koch
Michael Kogan
Maxime Lacroix
Hannu Piiroinen
Victor Romero
Women's Basketball
Jessica Carroll
Kinya Lennix
Jami Montagnino
Tymeka Moore
Kelly Nadeau
Courtney Simmons
Tiffany Wilson
Volleyball
Katie Case
Karlyn Daly^
Kelli Dickson
Iman Houston
Lauren Jones-McClain
Nitia Small
Kim Swafford
Sara Thorson
Women's Tennis
Nancy Kockott
Jenny Kuhn^
Kori Ounjian
Ana Maria Saaibi
Julie Smekodub
Men's Basketball
Marcus Kinzer
Marc Siegel
Baseball
Joey Charron
Ricky Fairchild
Matt Goebel
Mark Hamilton*
Tyler Kimmons
Daniel Latham
Scott Madden
Matt Mann
Tommy Manzella
Rusty Rebowe
Ted Reedy
Robbie Whitman
Women's Golf
Liliana Alvarez
Suzie Cope
Maggie Cuningham
Carrie Farnham
Lindsay Hulwick
Carolin Landmann
Alexis Wooster
Women's Swimming
Jen Berzinis
Elizabeth Carey
Taylor Hughes
Monica Jones
Nellie Langeland
Katherine McCoy
Katie McGuire
Linda McEachrane
Lauren Patterson
Megan Underwood
Amanda Williams
Football
Aryan Barto
Chris Bordelon
Ray Boudreaux
Winfred Brown
Chris Bush
Anthony Cannon
Chris Dawson
James Dunn
Tye Graham
Bart Grasso
Wesley Heath
Bobby Hoover
Max Koeck
Lane Macaluso
Antonio Mason
Bamm Mateen
Barrett Pepper
Mike Purcell
Lester Ricard
Michael Roberts
Michael Sager
Brandon Spincer
Joe Traina*
Matt Traina
Bruce Youmans
Men's Golf
Justin Adendorff*^
Cyril Coldefy
Bill Gutknecht
Wes Hitchcock*
Jeff Osborn*
Kyle Ritchie
Bill Roach, Jr.
Mike Rodrigue*
Mark Sullivan
Chris Wheeler
Men's Cross Country
Philip Aagaard
Tyler Chapman
Ryan Gallagher
Brett Guy*
Luke Hooper*^
Michael Moore
Dave Posnick
Philip Romero
Soccer
Jacque Gruber
Keisha Kennedy
Kali Miller
Megan Morey
Lindsay Morris
Makenzie Morris
Jackie Obert
Brook Parker
Lauren Peek*
Leah Peterson
Toni Schlapprizzi
Jillian Sharp
Asia Simons
Kelley Smith
Kristen Tasca
Rachel Thompson
Jessica Traver
Blair Trickey
Kristen Warren
Lauren Whalen
Melissa Wheeler
Women's Track & Field
Reagan Balsamo
Sarah Bumby
Kristyn Cosgrove
Brianne Darragh*^
Katherine duPont
Sheena Garwood
Eva Gordon
Lisa Green
Rebecca Greenberg
Camilla Hatlen
Nicole Hutchinson
Jelena Jurlina
Lindsey Karlik
Helmi Leppanen*^
Eva Lustigova
Lissie Mo
Carlyne Pradieu
Allicia Ryan
Nicole Sauer*
Lauren Swenson
Sarah Szczerbicki
Anahita Taylor
Katherine Tek
Heather Vinet
Ellen Vollmers*^
Birka Wicke*^
Tahira Wiggins
*C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medalist recipient.
^Perfect 4.0 Grade Point Average for Spring 2004 semester.
-- Roll Wave --
