FULL VIDEO OF PRESENTATION  |  PHOTO GALLERY

POMONA -- The Cal Poly Pomona Department of Intercollegiate Athletics celebrated its student-athletes at the annual Night of Excellence awards presentation Tuesday night in the Bronco Student Center in recognition of accomplishments by the Broncos during the 2022-23 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 2022-23 Athlete of the Year Awards went to the Fields twins for the second consecutive year, with Ryan Fields being named the Male Athlete of the Year and Ayana Fields the Female Athlete of the Year.

Ryan owns school records in both the 110 meter Hurdles and the 400 meter Hurdles, currently leads the CCAA in both events, and has the top 400 meter Hurdle time in all of Division II this season. Ayana has earned three All-Region and two All-America awards already this season, all during the Indoor Track and Field campaign, is a member of the 4x400 Relay Team that broke a 39-year old school record, and she currently has the fastest 200 meter time in all of Division II this spring.

The Male and Female Newcomer of the Year and the Male and Female Freshmen of the Year awards were handed out for the second year in a row.

The Male Newcomer of the Year was Brent Cota of baseball and the Female Newcomer of the Year was Caitie Mueller of volleyball. Cota is an incredible all-around player for the baseball team, not only getting it done with his bat with a .317 batting average and a team-high 57 hits, but he also flashes the leather with SportsCenter Top 10 catches in the outfield. Mueller was an All-America selection and led the CCAA in assists with 1,036, the second-most in a single season for the Broncos since 2008, and played a key role in leading the Broncos to their first-ever CCAA Tournament championship in the fall.

The Male Freshman of the Year was Shyheim Parm of men's basketball and the Female Freshman of the Year was Marisa Salazar of women's soccer. Parm played in all 26 games with 22 starts for the Broncos this season, averaging 10.9 points per game and led the team with 29 three-pointers made. Salazar was an All-West Region Third Team selection, starting 12 of the 16 games she played in while tying for the team lead in goals scored with three.

The department also awarded Megan Shadrick with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Presidential Appreciation Award for her service as the SAAC President this year and all that she accomplished while in the role. Alongside SAAC Vice President Audrey Brown, Megan represented the CPP Athletics Department at the 2023 NCAA Inclusion Forum. Also, under Megan's leadership this year, SAAC hosted several Mental Health events, a canned food drive (1,000 items donated) and the CCAA's inaugural Basic Needs Drive (861 items donated from CPP teams, an additional 54,000 items donated by CPP Inter Hall Council, and 300 items from CAP's). All donations went to House of Ruth in Pomona.

Volleyball sophomore Caitie Mueller and men's track and field senior Aaron May 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. Mueller and May had incredible success in competition this year, and both added huge value to the athletics department in their roles with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

On the academic side, men's soccer senior Alex Rieg and women's soccer senior Krista Eberle earned the Senior Scholar-Athletes of the Year Award. Rieg was named to the Dean's List five times and the President's List two times, maintaining a 3.83 grade point average as a Sociology major. Eberle has been named to the Dean's List five times and the President's List twice, sporting a 3.99 GPA as a Kinesiology major.

The Academic Excellence Team Award was also handed out to two teams tied with the same fall semester GPA, the volleyball team and the women's basketball team, which sported a GPA of 3.64. Three other teams also snagged an Honorable Mention for having a team GPA above 3.33 -- women's track and field (3.40), men's soccer (3.35) and baseball (3.33).

To open the awards portion of the night, the Broncos recognized Dr. Reyes Luna with the Terri Brown Bronco Spirit Award. Luna, the Executive Director of University Housing Services at CPP, has been an individual that has been an integral part of the Broncos success, not just this year, but for as long as we can remember. Whether it has been as a dedicated colleague in UHS, assisting our student-athletes, or especially where he loves to be, cheering all of our teams on in the stands. We want to thank Reyes for all he has done -- and continues to do -- to help make the experience for all student-athletes the best he possibly can.