Aug. 5, 2004
Albuquerque, N.M. – Four UNM men’s tennis players — senior Divan Coetzee, junior Ryan Stotland and sophomores Nick Ames and Eric Conklin — have been named Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes for 2003-04.
In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, a player must be a varsity letterwinner who earned a grade point average of at least 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) for the academic year, and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters.
Coetzee, who graduated with a Masters degree in Finance, also earned First Team Academic All-District VI honors from the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Mountain West Conference Scholar Athlete status and a spot on the MWC All-Academic team. What is even more impressive about this talented and intelligent ace is that he maintained an impressive 3.668 GPA and succeeded greatness on the tennis court while taking 24 and 21 credit hours in graduate school, respectively, this past year. The Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and the ITA Regional VII Senior Player of the Year made the most of his three years donning the cherry and silver and used his senior year of eligibility to set several UNM records.
Stotland, also a MWC Scholar Athlete and All-Academic team member as an accounting major, comes off a successful season going 19-14 in singles and a team-best 23-10 at No. 1 doubles.
Conklin, a mechanical engineering major, achieved the highest GPA for the men and finished the year with a 6-4 singles record. Ames, an economics major, had a positive spring season going 11-9.
The four men were members of the 2004 Mountain West Conference regular season and tournament championship team.