University of Connecticut Athletics
CPIA Honors Outstanding Student-Athletes
4/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | General
April 17, 2009
STORRS, Conn. - The Counseling Program for Intercollegiate Athletes at the University of Connecticut held its annual awards dinner on Thursday night at the Rome Ballroom on the Storrs campus. The event is held annually to recognize UConn's top student-athletes and is a celebration of National Student-Athlete Day.
The highest honor of the evening is the Donald Kinsman Awards, named after the former CPIA Director. They are presented annually to those student-athletes who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement during their time at UConn.
The Kinsman winners this year were senior Jennifer Kleinhans (Mannheim, Germany) of the field hockey team and senior Dori Arad (Hahotrim, Israel) of the men's soccer team.
One of the top defensive players in UConn and BIG EAST field hockey history, Kleinhans was also a force for the Huskies in the classroom where she excelled while majoring in biomedical engineering.
She was named as the winner of the 2008-09 BIG EAST Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Kleinhans will receive a $4,000 scholarship, which may be applied to graduate or professional studies. Kleinhans is also a recipient of the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
On the field, Kleinhans was a three-time winner of the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year Award (2006-08) - the first player on UConn history to earn the award three times in a career.
She is a three-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-America selection and also was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team four times.
Kleinhans led Connecticut to three BIG EAST tournament championships (2005, 2006, 2007), three BIG EAST regular-season titles (2005, 2007, 2008) and four NCAA tournament appearances, including back-to-back appearances in the national semifinals in her sophomore and junior seasons. She finished her career as Connecticut's all-time assists leader (24).
Arad has been a leader for the UConn men's soccer team, not only on the field, but also in the classroom. Arad is a four-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star as well as a two-time College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District Team member.
A Dean's List member in five of his seven semesters at UConn, Arad has also earned a spot on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll six of his seven semesters as a nutritional science major.
Arad has also given back to the University and the community in many positive ways. Since his initial enrollment at UConn in the fall of 2005, Arad has been actively involved in Hillel - UConn's Jewish community. He has been involved in the Israeli Education and Advocacy group and was a member of the Chabad Student Organization.
Arad served as team captain for the Huskies as a senior and was the 2007 BIG EAST Tournament Offensive MVP and an all-tournament pick.
There was also a "Special Academic Achievement Award" given to Kaitlin Vaughn of women's track and field, who is a molecular and cell biology major and a "Extraordinary Perseverance Award" given to Ashley O'Brien of women's soccer, who is a marketing major.
In addition to the Kinsman Awards, a top student-athlete from all 24 of UConn's athletic teams were honored. They were: senior Adrian Astiz (Rockville, Md.) of men's swimming, who is a molecular and cell biology major; senior Brendan Bayers (St. Louis Park, Minn.), of men's ice hockey, who is a real estate and urban economics major; sophomore Rob Brickley (Wethersfield, Conn.), of men's soccer, who is a civil engineering major; junior Matt Burnett (Endicott, N.Y.) of baseball, who is a communications major; senior BreAnn Cheung (Tucson, Ariz.) of women's tennis, who is an accounting major; senior Danielle DelPonte (Tewksbury, Mass.) of softball, who is a coaching and administration major; senior Jessica Foreman (Wayland, Mass.) of women's track and field, who is a communication sciences major; senior Doc Goodreau (Brookfield, Wisc.) of football, who is a biological science major.
Also honored were: senior Keith Gray (Allen, Texas), of football, who is an actuarial science major; junior Alex Hornat (South Windsor, Conn.), of men's basketball, who is a real estate and urban economics major; senior Steve Iannoccone (Toms River, N.J.), of men's cross country, who is a urban studies/real estate and urban economics major; senior Kristalynn Kempton (Glen Head, N.Y.) of women's swimming and diving, who is a molecular and cell biology/English major; senior Cassie Kerns (Valparaiso, Ind.) of women's basketball, who is a fine arts major; junior Sara Leslie (Portland, Conn.), of women's cross country, who is a molecular and cell biology major; junior Lizzie Littlewood (Mystic, Conn.) of women's rowing, who is a physiology and neurobiology major; senior Kim McGinty (Huntington, N.Y.) of women's lacrosse, who is a marketing major; senior Ben Schueler (Arlington, Mass.) of men's tennis, who is a heath care management major; senior Kate Seabaugh (St. Louis, Mo.) of volleyball, who is a finance major; senior Sean Smith (Scotch Plains, N.J.) of men's track, who is an accounting major; senior Brittany Tegeler (Baldwin, Md.) of women's soccer, who is a coaching and administration major; senior L.J. Tosches (Grafton, Mass.) of golf, who is a political science major; senior Nicole Tritter (Toronto, Ont.) of women's ice hockey who is biology major; and senior Gina Uguccioni (Colrain, Mass.) of field hockey, who is a nursing major.
The CPAI staff is: Director Bruce Cohen, CPIA Counselors Monsour Ndiaye, Ingrid Hohmann, Alana Linick, John Miceli, Ellen Rennie, Ted Taigen and Rebecca Taylor, Administrative Assistant Cynthia Gilmore and Graduate Assistants Aaron Isaacs and Michelle Wardwell.
Players Mentioned
