For Immediate
Release: Monday, August 5, 2002
Contact: Dave Geringer, Director of Athletic Media Relations, (956) 381-2240
EDINBURG, TX-The University of Texas-Pan American women’s tennis team and three UTPA tennis players have been honored by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The Lady Broncs received Academic All-American honors for the 2001-2002 season. Junior Elisabet Mateos (Barcelona, Spain/Arnau Cadell HS/Laredo CC) of the UTPA
women’s tennis team was named an ITA Scholar-Athlete. Senior Kareem Abdullah (Clarendon, TX/Clarendon HS/Seward County CC) and junior Neil Barraclough
(Coventry, England/Cardinal Newman HS/Seward County CC) also received ITA Scholar-Athlete honors.
The UTPA women’s team was one of 70 NCAA Division I teams honored. To earn All-American honors, teams had to earn a cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 or
above. Student-athletes honored had to earn a grade-point average of 3.5 or above, and had to be either a junior or a senior.
Abdullah earned copious academic honors during his UTPA career. He was named an Arthur Ashe, Junior Sports Scholar and received Southland Conference
All-Academic honors this spring. Abdullah, Barraclough and Mateos all were named to the UTPA Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, earned membership on the Dean’s List,
and were members of the Bronc Pride 3.0 Club as well.
“I am very proud of our men’s and women’s tennis programs and both their team and individual academic accomplishments this year,” said UTPA Director of Academic Support and Student Services for Athletics Chris Uchacz. “ The women’s tennis team has established itself as one of the premier academic teams in the country as a result of their second consecutive ITA Academic All-American honor. The individuals awarded Academic All-American status by the ITA are all fine examples of the types of student-athletes we have here at UTPA. Head Coach Todd Chapman also deserves recognition, as he is a staunch advocate of excellence in the classroom, as is evident by both his teams’ academic performances. We are very proud of the accomplishments of our student-athletes.”
“It’s a great honor for our program for the women to be named an Academic All-America Team, and for Elisabet, Kareem and Neil to be honored individually,” said Chapman. “It’s a testament to the hard work our men’s and women’s teams put in, not only on the court, but also academically. I feel that both of our teams exemplify the term ‘student-athlete’ because they are students first and take pride in their academics, while also doing well athletically. I’m proud of Kareem because going out like he did, as a senior, speaks for the type of person he is. He has won numerous academic awards throughout his career, and it shows that he is a quality person. Hopefully, with our new student-athletes coming in, and with the players we have returning, we will continue to receive these types of awards.”
TE-15-02 080502