April 27, 2006
April 27, 2006
Maryann Erigha is the Notre Dame recordholder in the 60-, 100- and 200-meter dashes while owning a 3.79 GPA as a psychology major.
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Five Notre Dame student-athletes recently were honored as 2006 recipients of the annual Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award, as announced in this month’s issue of Diverse magazine. Notre Dame’s recipients include: senior tennis player Patrick Buchanan (Fullerton, Calif.), track junior sprinter Maryann Erigha (Stone Mountain, Ga.), baseball senior shortstop Greg Lopez (Upper Arlington, Ohio), football senior defensive back Matt Mitchell (Memphis, Tenn.) and junior women’s golfer Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill.). Erigha was a first-team selection among the Ashe Award recipients from track-and-field while Buchanan, Lopez and Mitchell each were second-team honorees from their respective sports (women’s golf had one group of 11 recipients).
Beginning in 1992, Black Issues In Higher Education (now Diverse) established the Sports Scholars Award to honor undergraduate students of color who exemplify the standards set by tennis great Arthur Ashe Jr.
Respected as both a scholar and athlete, Ashe sought to expand opportunities for young people. Each year, Diverse invites every post-secondary institution in the country to participate in this awards program by nominating their outstanding sports scholars. In addition to their athletic ability, students who are named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars must exhibit academic excellence as well as community activism.
To be included, students have to meet the following criteria: compete in an intercollegiate sport; maintain a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.2; and be active on their campuses or in their communities. Approximately 600 student-athletes from across the country were nominated for the 2006 awards.
Here are updated bio. Capsules on Notre Dame’s five recipients of the 2006 Ashe Sports Scholar Awards:
Patrick Buchanan – a 3.38 student as a pre-professional studies major – has helped the Irish men’s tennis team move into the top-15 of the national rankings this season.
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Patrick Buchanan – has compiled a 63-36 career record in singles and 18-15 mark in doubles … has provided team’s match-clinching victory eight times in his career … upset Northwestern’s top player Tommy Hanus (#69 in the nation) at the ITA Midwest Championships during the fall of 2004, advancing to the round-of-16 with that 6-4, 6-4 win … team captain for ’05-’06 team that has cracked the top-15 of the national rankings for the first time in five years … has helped the Irish compile the program’s longest win streak (11) since 1990 while making a trip to the title match of the prestigious Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic, handing Big Ten leader Ohio State its only defeat of the regular season and posting the first undefeated home campaign for the Irish since ’73-’74 … carries a 3.38 cumulative GPA (including a 3.90 in the ’05 fall semester) as a pre-professional studies major in the College of Science … serves as team’s representative to the Student-Athlete Advisory Council … two-time recipient of the tennis team’s Raymond T. Bender Award, presented to the player with the most enthusiasm (as voted on by members of the team) … also has received the tennis team’s Dick Bowman Award (for “going above and beyond the call”) and the Raul Temmy Katthian Award (recognizing team loyalty) … four-year monogram winner … his community service activities at Notre Dame have included the Fighting Irish Fight for Life (benefiting youth undergoing cancer treatments), free tennis clinics for Midwest inner-city youth and the athletic department’s annual Christmas party for local youth with cancer.
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Maryann Erigha – has claimed BIG EAST track titles in the 100 meter outdoors (11.69, in ’05) and the 200 indoors (’06) … already has received all-BIG EAST honors nine times in her career … four-time qualifier for the NCAA Mideast Regional, in the 100 (’05 and ’06) and 200 (’04, ’05) … qualified for the NCAA 100 and 200-meter races in 2005 but unable to compete due to injury … owns three Notre Dame team records: indoor 60 meters (7.38, at the ’06 Alex Wilson Invite), the indoor 200 (23.60, at ’05 Alex Wilson) and the outdoor 100 (11.28, at the ’05 Mt. SAC Relays) … also holds eight of the top-nine 60-meter dash times (and seven of the top-10 in the outdoor 100) currently in the Notre Dame record book … won the 200 meters at the 2005 Meyo Invitational (23.85) … has won four individual outdoor races in the 2006 season (two each in the 100 and 200), plus a 1st-place finish in the 4×100 relay … carries a 3.79 cumulative GPA, as a psychology major … invited participant in the athletic department’s Academic Honors Program (faculty mentoring) … involved in campus groups such as the Minority Affairs Committee, the Deans’ Fellows Program and Shades of Ebony (for African-American female students) … her Notre Dame community service involvement has included the Read to a Child program, tutoring and mentoring youth at Elizabeth Memorial Church, and the athletic department’s annual Christmas party for local youth with cancer.
Greg Lopez
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Greg Lopez – third-year starting shortstop and four-year monogram winner who is emerging as a strong All-America candidate in 2006 … also currently under consideration for official Academic All-America honors, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America … boasts rare combination for a shortstop of having high RBI total (team-best 33, despite batting in 8-hole) and low errors (6) … entered week with the second-best ratio of RBI to errors (5.1, now 5.5) among shortstops from teams in the Baseball America top-25 … currently owns the best season batting avg. (.373) and top fielding pct. (.963) of any Notre Dame shortstop in the 12-year Paul Mainieri era … ranks 7th among BIG EAST players in overall batting avg. while his strong play in league action includes ranking 3rd in conference batting avg. (.483) and hits (28), 4th in RBI (16) and 5th in on-base pct. (.508) … has posted 33 error-free games while making multiple Es just once all season (2) … rates as team’s top batter with runners in scoring position (.426), also hitting team-best .488 vs. lefthanded pitchers … ranks 2nd on team in batting avg. (.373), games started (38) and 2-out RBI (14), also 3rd in 2-out batting (.359), 4th in hits (50), total bases (58) and sac. bunts (5), and 5th in slugging pct. (.433) and leadoff on-base pct. (.412) … his 210 career games played (197 starts) rank 13th in the ND record book … also owns the 2nd-most sac. bunts (30) in ND history while ranking 5th with 515 career fielding assists … has struck out just 9 times all season (after 43 Ks in ’05) … his other ’06 stats include 25 runs scored, 6 doubles, a triple, 6 walks and 4 times hit-by-pitch … second-year team captain who has helped 2006 team rise to #8 national ranking with 33-9 record … earned 3rd team all-BIG EAST honors in 2004 while receiving baseball team’s Rockne Student-Athlete Award … carries a 3.39 cumulative GPA as a pre-professional studies major in the College of Arts and Letters, with an emphasis in anthropology … already has been accepted to medical school … an invited participant in the ND athletics Academic Honors faculty mentoring program … also member of the Presidential Committee on Diversity, the Student-Athlete Advisory Council and the athletic department’s Leadership Institute … his extensive community service work has included the following: La Casa de Amistad Christmas for Hispanic youth; Shoe Box Drive for homeless youth; Swing for Shoes drive for children in need; Adopt-a-Family for Christmas; Logan Center mentor for adults with Downs Syndrome; drug and alcohol prevention speaker to elementary-age youth; Buddy Walk for children with Downs Syndrome; the athletic department’s annual Christmas party for local youth with cancer; four-year participant in the Christmas for Pediatric Ward; coordinator of the pediatric ward Adopt-A-Kid; and reading program for children in South Bend.
Matt Mitchell’s impressive resume while at Notre Dame includes a 3.40 GPA as a double major in political science and Spanish.
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Matt Mitchell – served as defensive back and special-teams contributor during four seasons as a member of the Notre Dame football team … saw action in the Syracuse game during the 2005 season and vs. Washington and Oregon State during his junior season in 2004 … carries a 3.40 cumulative GPA while majoring in political science and Spanish … hopes to pursue a career in immigration law or human rights law … involved in the Balfour Hesburgh Minority Scholars program and a Sankofa Scholar since 2002 … received the Frazier-Thompson Scholar Award and a senior scholarship (for ’05-’06) from the Black Alumni Association of Notre Dame … has served since 2003 as a speaker for the office of alcohol and drug education PILLARS group that provides campus-wide talks in residence halls concerning AOD education … involved in the BRIDGES mentoring program since 2002 … attended the 2003 IMPACT African-American Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. … served as an intern with the Notre Dane Law Clinic in the summer ’05 … his service involvement has included the football program’s popular Tackle the Arts program with area youth.
Noriko Nakazaki owns the best career stroke average (76.05) in the history of Notre Dame women’s golf and carries a 3.33 GPA as a finance major.
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Noriko Nakazaki – standout on the links who owns the best career stroke average in the history of Notre Dame women’s golf (76.05), also owning three of the top-four season marks: 75.79 in 2005-06 (1st), 76.33 in 2003-04 (2nd) and 76.54 in 2004-05 (4th) … has factored into the team count-four score in 28 of her 29 rounds during the ’05-’06 season while leading the Irish at a team-best five tournaments during her junior season … also leads ’05’-06 team with seven rounds at par or lower … shares ND record with 18 career team-leading finishes while counting to the team score in 97 of her 100 career rounds … her team-leading finishes in 2005-06 include: co-medalist honors at the ND Invitational (223), runner-up at the Lady Jaguar Invitational (147; in Augusta, Ga.), 3rd at both the Lady Northern (school-record 215; in Bloomington, Ind.) and the BIG EAST Championship (71-78-71/220; in Tampa, Fla.) and 7th at the Thompson Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii (221) … her final round at the 2006 BIG EAST tournament included a hole-in-one … has posted an all-BIG EAST finish each year of her career (including 5th in ’04; 222) … opened her career at the Cougar Classic by setting ND records (since broken) for low round (69) and low 54-hole score (217) … set ND record by leading team at eight tournaments during her freshman season … won Indiana Invitational as a sophomore … posted team’s top score at the 2004 (233) and ’05 (230) NCAAs … owns a 3.33 cumulative GPA, as a finance major … participated in the ND athletic department’s Leadership Institute … her service activities have included being a speaker for D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and an ongoing participant in the There are Children Here mentoring program and the Robinson Learning Center putt-putt competition for inner-city youth.
Noriko Nakazaki
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