UMBC senior Lana Khvalina and University of Maine senior Jacob Jentzer were chosen as the 2003-04 America East Women’s and Men’s Scholar-Athletes of the Year it was announced today by Chris Monasch, Commissioner of America East Conference. Khvalina, a tennis athlete, and Jentzer, a member of the swimming and diving team, were distinguished from the Scholar-Athletes in the 22 conference sports by a committee of athletics administrators and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representatives at America East institutions.
Khvalina, a native of Rochester, N.Y., completed her bachelor’s degree in political science in three years with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average. She was recently selected one of 174 student-athletes from the more than 360,000 student-athletes at NCAA Division I, II and III institutions to receive an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. She will apply that scholarship toward her first year at the College of William and Mary Law School. On the tennis court, she finished her singles career with a record of 62-20. The first two-time First Team Academic All-American in UMBC history, Khvalina twice earned all-conference honors and competed on teams which went to the NCAA Championships in 2002 and 2003.
Jentzer, the first Maine student-athlete to earn the award since its inception in 1996-97, was the only repeat winner among the Scholar-Athletes for the conference’s 22 sports. A biochemistry and psychology major with a premedical studies minor, he graduated with a 3.99 grade-point average. A native of Bangor, Maine, Jentzer won the 100-freestyle at the 2002 America East Swimming and Diving Championships. He also had three second-place finishes, as well as a fourth and fifth place finish at the conference championships in his four-year career. He was a second-team Academic All-American in 2002-03. Jentzer will attend University of Rochester Medical School in the fall.
Khvalina and Jentzer were chosen from the 22 America East Scholar-Athletes named last week. Those 22 recipients were chosen from the nearly 3,500 student-athletes at America East institutions, who averaged a 2.98 grade-point average in the 2003-04 season.
Other America East Scholar-Athletes included Aaron Izaryk, Maine, baseball; David Hehn, University of Vermont, men’s basketball; Kim Corbitt, Maine, women’s basketball; Andy Allstadt, University at Albany, men’s cross country; Julia Nazzer, Boston University, women’s cross country; Rebecca Ouellett, Maine, field hockey; Brad Moulton, Binghamton University, men’s golf; Jill Friedman, Albany, women’s golf; Adam Grossman, UMBC, men’s indoor track and field; Kristal Kostiew, Vermont, women’s indoor track and field; John Elbey, Albany, men’s lacrosse; Marrisa Trachtenberg, Stony Brook University, women’s lacrosse; Grossman, men’s outdoor track and field; Lesley Read, University of New Hampshire, women’s outdoor track and field; Alon Lubezky, University of Hartford, men’s soccer; Jeanette Akerlund, Hartford, women’s soccer; Andee Lindgren, Albany, softball; Yun Qu, Binghamton, women’s swimming and diving; Egil Anonsen, Stony Brook, men’s tennis; and Rachel Goldsmith, Stony Brook, volleyball.
Member institutions of America East Conference for the 2003-04 academic year included Albany, Binghamton, Boston University, Hartford, Maine, UMBC, New Hampshire, Northeastern University, Stony Brook, and Vermont.