FULL VIDEO OF PRESENTATION
2021-22 HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
PHOTO GALLERY

POMONA -- The Cal Poly Pomona Department of Intercollegiate Athletics celebrated its student-athletes at the annual Night of Excellence awards presentation Monday night at University Theatre in recognition of accomplishments by the Broncos during the 2021-22 academic year.

Several special guests were also in attendance, including University President, Dr. Soraya M. Coley, and Vice President for Student Affairs, Christina Gonzalez.

Among the awards handed out, the 2021-22 Athlete of the Year Awards went to the Fields twins, with Ryan Fields being named the Male Athlete of the Year and Ayana Fields the Female Athlete of the Year.

Ryan won the 400-meter Hurdles at the CCAA Track & Field Championships two weeks ago and currently ranks fourth in the Nation in the 110-meter Hurdles, and sixth in the Nation in the 400-meter Hurdles. He was also a five-time CCAA Track Athlete of the Week this season. He currently holds the school record in the 400-meter Hurdles, and is second All-Time at CPP in the 110-meter Hurdles.

Ayana earned All-American honors in two indoor track and field events (in the 200m and 400m) and was named the 2022 CCAA Track Athlete of the Year. She also was the CCAA Track & Field Meet High Point winner at the CCAA Championships. A four-time CCAA Track Athlete of the Week this season, she won the CCAA Championship in the 100m, the 200m, and the 400m, and anchored the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams this past weekend. She currently ranks second All-Time at CPP in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, and is third All-Time at CPP in the 400 meters. She currently ranks eighth in NCAA Division II in both the 100 meters and 400 meters, and 15th in the 200 meters.

Two new awards introduced this year were the Male and Female Newcomer of the Year and the Male and Female Freshmen of the Year. 

The Male Newcomer of the Year was Paul Henschke of soccer and the Female Newcomer of the Year was Jade De Souza of track and field.  Henschke led the men's soccer team (and CCAA) in scoring with 13 goals and was an All-American.  De Souza earned an All-America honor in indoor track and field in the Triple Jump, and finished second in the CCAA Championships in both the 100-meter Hurdles and the Triple Jump.

The Male Freshman of the Year was Jacob Lopez of baseball and the Female Freshman of the Year was Arissa Hatcher of cross country/track and field. Lopez is hitting .343 this season as the team's designated hitter with seven doubles, two triples, two home runs and 35 RBI. He also sports the second-best on-base percentage for CPP with .467 and was recently named to the All-CCAA Second Team. Hatcher ran a personal-best time in the CCAA Cross Country Championships in the fall, and was also a member of the 4x400 relay championship team at the CCAA Track & Field Championships this month.

The department also awarded Ryan Fields with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Presidential Appreciation Award for his service as the SAAC President this year and all that he accomplished while in the role. He represented CPP at the 2021 NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, he helped organize an elementary school visit, an inaugural end of the year dodgeball tournament, and he helped lead SAAC in its February canned food drive initiative, collecting 674 canned food items that were donated to God's Pantry in Pomona.

Women's soccer graduate student Emma Barrow and men's track and field senior Gerardo Flores were honored with the Dr. Hal Charnofsky Memorial Award, an award from the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) that selects two student-athletes from each institution every year for the award that is named after the long-time Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) at Cal State Dominguez Hills who passed away in February 2003.  It recognizes student-athletes around the CCAA that have distinguished themselves in the classroom and in their sport. Barrow and Flores had incredible success in competition this year, and both added huge value to the athletics department working with our facilities and game operations crew.

On the academic side, men's cross country/track and field senior Vincent Sarino and women's track and field senior Analexis Glaude earned the Senior Scholar-Athletes of the Year Award.  Sarino was named to the Dean's List seven times and the President's List three times, maintaining a 3.82 grade point average as a Kinesiology major.  Glaude has been named to the Dean's List five times and the President's List twice, sporting a 3.98 GPA as a Psychology major.

The Academic Excellence Team Award was also handed out to the volleyball team, which led the department with a combined team GPA of 3.45.  Five other teams also snagged an Honorable Mention for having a team GPA above 3.19 -- women's soccer (3.37), women's basketball (3.28), baseball (3.26), women's track and field (3.23) and men's soccer (3.19).

To open the awards portion of the night, the Broncos recognized Sascha Hoemke with the Terri Brown Bronco Spirit Award.  Hoemke, a staff member in the Kinesiology department at CPP, supports the Broncos at our games and events, and even spends his own time and money to drive to cross country and track meets out of area, including the NCAA Cross Country West Region in Oregon back in the fall and the CCAA Track & Field Championships in San Francisco.