June 27, 2007
University of New Mexico senior Lars Loeseth was announced today as the 2006-07 Mountain West Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Year. Loeseth was a two-sport star at New Mexico from 2004-07, competing on both the ski and soccer teams. He is a four-time All-American skier, a two-year member of the nationally-ranked soccer squad and a three-time Academic All-American.
Established by the Mountain West Conference Joint Council in 1999, the Student-Athlete of the Year award is the highest honor presented to a student-athlete by the league. The award is bestowed annually to one male and one female who best exemplify the term “student-athlete” by achieving excellence in academics, athletics and community involvement. Criterion for the Student-Athlete of the Year award requires that nominees demonstrate leadership, character and conduct on and off the playing field. In addition to superior athletic achievement, candidates must have a minimum 3.5 grade point average. The winners each receive a $2,500 postgraduate scholarship. Air Force swimmer Blair Leake is the 2007 MWC Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
“It is great to get recognized for hard work both in the classroom and in athletics,” stated Loeseth. “It has been a long two years training constantly for soccer in the fall and skiing in the winter. Having to keep up with my academics on top of all that has been difficult, but this makes it all worthwhile. I am very honored to have received this award.”
Loeseth will graduate in December, 2007, with a 3.92 grade point average in finance after competing as a two-sport star for the Lobos. A four-time All-American for the New Mexico ski team, Loeseth also participated for two years as a member of the Lobos’ soccer squad. He guided New Mexico to the 2004 NCAA Skiing Championship as a freshman, the first and only NCAA title in school history. As a junior, Loeseth was a major contributor on the 2005 NCAA runner-up men’s soccer squad and an All-American for the ski team that finished second at the 2006 NCAA Championships. A native of Oslo, Norway, Loeseth was also part of two NCAA men’s slalom team champions in 2004 and 2006. This past season, he was named the 2007 Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association Men’s Skier of the Year. His six career Alpine wins are tied for the most in school history. A three-year MWC Scholar-Athlete honoree, Loeseth also recently earned his third ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America award while landing on the university’s Dean’s List for the fourth consecutive year. An active participant in several community service projects, Loeseth used his athletic success to help others, serving as a mentor for several young skiers.
Following his sophomore year at UNM, Loeseth began training with the highly-ranked men’s soccer squad. He was so impressive he was put on soccer scholarship and made an immediate impact on the team as a junior. In 2005, he scored three goals and five assists while starting 10 of 23 games. He converted a game-winning penalty kick in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The next week he had the game-winning assist against Cal State Northridge in the Sweet 16. Both games were played in front of 4,500+ fans at the UNM Soccer Complex and were a part of New Mexico’s memorable run to the College Cup finals in 2005. As a senior, Lars was moved to the backline where he became of the best defenders in the region. He missed six games in the regular season while attending to the death of his father in Norway, but still managed to be one of the leaders on the team.
Lars Loeseth scored four goals and seven assists in two years on the men’s soccer team. |
Loeseth is the third Lobo to earn the MWC Male Student-Athlete of the Year award. Former Lobo tennis player Matthieu Amgwerd won the honor in 2000 while Sean Murray from the UNM baseball team took home the award in 2004. No other team in the MWC has had three male athletes win the MWC Student-Athlete of the Year honor. Loeseth’s honor is even more unique considering that neither sport he competes in is part of the MWC. The Lobos play men’s soccer in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and ski in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association.
“I think the fact that Lars competed in two non-MWC sports gives even more credibility to the award,” stated retired UNM ski coach George Brooks. “It shows that the Mountain West recognizes his accomplishments despite not being as familiar with the sports he played. I think he is one of the best studnet-athletes to come out of UNM in a long time and is the best I have ever coached.”