The De Anza College Athletics Department honored outstanding scholar-athletes during the annual spring recognition ceremony on May 25.

With five All-Americans, 18 All-State winners, four Coast Conference Championship titles, and eight second place conference finishes, the athletics department had much to be proud of at the end of the 2010-2011 sports season.

“The excellence we expect in the classroom is the excellence we expect on the field,” said De Anza President Brian Murphy.

Although De Anza student-athletes are only required to maintain a 2.0 grade point average in order to be eligible to play sports, 75 student-athletes were recognized for going beyond the bare minimum and achieving a 3.0 GPA or higher.

The sports recognition ceremony is not just about highlighting an individual or team’s athletic skills on the tennis court or baseball field; it is more than just giving out certificates for having an above average GPA. At De Anza, the sports recognition ceremony is about the whole picture: the student-athlete, the time spent perfecting their athletic skills and techniques and their work in the classroom, educating for the future.

Excellence and commitment are just two attributes that qualify a De Anza student-athlete for the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. Each year, this award is given to a male and female athlete who have maintained a minimum 3.5 GPA, has competed for at least two years at De Anza and has shown a commitment to community service and involvement.  This year the recipients were basketball player Desiree Collins and dual sport athlete Peter Chew who competed in cross country and track and field.

“It feels great,” said Chew. “In high school I remember I thought I’d never do anything, and now it’s nice to see my hard work paid off, it’s rewarding.”

This year, the women’s track and field team had the most scholar-athletes of any one team. In addition, the team also had a standout spring season winning the Coast Conference title for their second year in a row and coming in second place in the Northern California Championship Finals.

The Dons set new De Anza records for their season in all but five individual events with three all-time school records broken by pole valuter Brianna Tucker with a height of 10 feet 10 inches, runner Kristine Talbot with a time of 11:27.22 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and runner Rebekah Phillips in the 10,000 meter event with a time of 39:27.46.

Men’s soccer also made its mark at De Anza scoring their third consecutive Coast Conference Championship title and recognizing four scholar-athletes this year, one of which, midfield player Tomohito Kondo, was the male runner up for the Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.

Besides achieving excellence in the classroom, the men’s soccer team achieved it on the field as well, finishing their fall 2010 season with a record of 13-3-5 and two players named All-Americans.

“This year we had a really good year overall,” said athletic director Kulwant Singh.

Singh also thanked the head coaches, assistant coaches, volunteer coaches, trainers, equipment technicians, the academic adviser and all the staff who are responsible for recruiting, fundraising and monitoring the nearly 450 student-athletes and 19 sports at De Anza.