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Seven UB students named SUNY Scholar-Athletes
By PAUL VECCHIO
Reporter Contributor
Seven UB student-athletes are among the first group of recipients of SUNY Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Awards.
The Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award, co-sponsored by USA Today, recognizes students who have combined academic excellence and outstanding athletic achievement at the Division I, Division III and NJCAA levels at SUNY schools. One award winner was selected in each sport at each of the three athletic levels for a total of 57 students in 27 different sports from 26 state universities. The 57 winners have a collective grade-point average of 3.6.
"The Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Award embodies the concept of hard work, dedication and success," said Chancellor Robert L. King. "We are extremely proud of these students' accomplishments and for serving as role models for their fellow student-athletes, as well as the many children across New York who look up to them."
UB's seven award winners were selected from among 18 student-athletes nominated by the university in their sports at the Division I level. The Bulls had the most honorees among the four Division I SUNY schools, followed by Binghamton University with six winners and the universities at Albany and Stony Brook with five each.
The award winners were honored at a Chancellor's Scholar-Athlete Awards ceremony at State University Plaza in Albany last week.
The UB students named SUNY Scholar-Athletes are:
Turner Battle, Men's Basketball, 3.472 GPA, communication major. Battle is the only player in the Mid-American Conference to be named All-MAC and Academic All-MAC in each of the past two seasons. He was an All-MAC Second Team selection and a CoSIDA Academic All-District I First Team honoree this past season after leading the Bulls to a 17-12 overall record and an 11-7 MAC record, as well as their first appearance in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals since joining the league in 1998. Battle averaged 14.5 points and 4.1 assists per game in 2003-04, and he has 903 career points, 351 career rebounds and 312 career assists (fifth all-time at UB). Battle is a two-time team captain and team Most Valuable Player, and was named UB's Male Athlete of the Year for 2003-04. He was an All-MAC Honorable Mention selection in 2002-03 and a MAC All-Freshman Team pick in 2001-02.
Jessica Kochendorfer, Women's Basketball, 3.222 GPA, business major. Kochendorfer ranked sixth in scoring (13.8 ppg), fourth in rebounding (8.5 rpg) and second in blocks per game (2.24) in the MAC in 2003-04 en route to earning All-MAC Honorable Mention honors and team MVP honors for the second time in her career. Kochendorfer was a two-time Preseason All-MAC East Division selection, and finished her career ranked fourth for all-time in scoring at UB (1,275), fourth for all-time in rebounding (767) and first for all-time in blocked shots (163). She set a UB single-game record and tied the MAC single-game record with nine blocked shots in a win at Cornell on Jan. 12, 2004.
Mary Conniff, Women's Crew, 3.893 GPA, exercise science major. Conniff is a member of UB's varsity eight squad, rowing in the second seat. She rowed with the varsity eight squad that won the 2002 SUNY Championship title and finished third at the 2002 New York State Championship. She also was a member of the second varsity eight that placed second at the 2003 New York State Championship. Conniff was the team's Top Newcomer in 2000-01.
Jenny Koeppel, Women's Cross Country, 3.666 GPA, mathematics major. Koeppel was an All-MAC Second Team selection, an Academic All-MAC Team selection and team MVP in 2003 after becoming the first UB women's cross-country athlete to earn All-MAC honors since the Bulls joined the league in 1998. Koeppel placed ninth at the 2003 MAC Cross Country Championship in a season-best 5K time of 17:50.3, and she later placed 21st among 245 runners at the 2003 NCAA Northeast Regional meet. Koeppel was UB's top finisher in each of the eight meets she entered in 2003 with five top 10 finishes, including two victories and one second-place finish.
Devon Russell, Women's Soccer, 3.705 GPA, communication major. Russell was the anchor of the Bulls' defense throughout her four-year career. She was an All-MAC First Team and Academic All-MAC selection as a senior in 2003 as well as an All-MAC First Team selection as a sophomore and All-MAC Second Team selection as a junior. Russell also was an NSCAA Northeast Region Second Team member in 2001 and NSCAA Northeast Region Third Team selection in 2003. She had two goals and two assists in 2003 and nine goals and six assists in her four-year career.
Breanne Nasti, Softball, 3.637 GPA, psychology major. Nasti currently leads the Bulls with a .324 batting average, 34 hits, 26 RBIs, eight home runs and a .629 slugging percentage in 39 games in 2004. She is a two-time All-MAC First Team selection, and has been named MAC East Player of the Week twice this season and seven times in her four-year career. Nasti holds 15 UB single-season and career batting records, including the record for single-season batting average (.451 in 2002). That number also is a MAC single-season record, as was her .405 career batting average entering the 2004 season. Nasti was an Academic All-MAC Team and Verizon Academic All-District I Second Team selection in 2003. She was an NFCA All-Mideast Region First Team pick as a sophomore and a second-team honoree as a freshman.
Laura Olson, Women's Track and Field, 3.149 GPA, sociology major. Olson is the UB record-holder and an NCAA participant in both the indoor and outdoor pole vaults. She won the ECAC title and tied for second at the MAC Indoor Championship in the pole vault in 2003-04, and in the process became the first UB athlete to earn a trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the Division I history of the program. Olson finished 14th in the pole vault at the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships and 13th at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships after winning the pole vault title at the 2003 MAC Outdoor Championship. Olson was this year's MVP of the indoor track team.