Feb. 8, 2011
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
They are student-athletes with few equals which is exactly why Simon Ejdemyr and Roman Martinez won L.F. “Tow” Diehm Inspirational Awards and why Polina Ermoshina and Nanette Wittenberg won Leslie Self Inspirational Awards.
As much as anything, these four athletes are models of excellence for all athletes — anywhere — to look up to and try to emulate. If you only reach the lower levels of the success achieved by Ejdemyr, Martinez, Ermoshina and Wittenberg, you will have achieved more than most student-athletes can dream of.
They came from various regions on the globe to be Lobos, but they shared a common bond, a common drive, to be more than just common student-athletes or average Lobos. So they pushed themselves to extreme limits to find exceptional success on the field of competition while becoming examples of character and leadership to their teammates.
Simon Ejdemyr came to New Mexico from Sweden to become an exceptional player on Jeremy Fishbein’s men’s soccer team. He will soon pursue a Ph.D at Stanford University.
Roman Martinez bypassed the New Mexico State Aggies and the UTEP Miners to become one of the more loved and more accomplished Lobos to ever run in The Pit.
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Polina Ermoshina came from Moscow, Russia to star for Klaus Weber`s ski team and Nannette Wittenberg, like Martinez, is a transplanted Texan (Houston), who is in her senior season with Tracy Ljone’s Lobo swim team.
Of course, it’s easy to find Lobos that excel in competition and go the extra yards in the classroom and with the community. The athletic department is full of such Lobos. But Ejdemyr, Martinez, Ermoshina and Wittenberg went beyond the beyond.
The Diehm and Self awards were started in 1997-98 and this is the 13th year the awards have been presented to a UNM male and female student-athlete, who has shown exceptional leadership, character, determination and commitment to their team.
This year’s recipients will be recognized at halftime of Wednesday’s men’s basketball game against Wyoming. Presenting the awards will be Tow’s daughter, Teresa Austin, and Randy Self.
Roman Martinez: Martinez became an example of all-around play and unselfishness in his four seasons as a Lobo. He led the Lobo men’s basketball team to a 30-5 record in 2009-10, setting a school record for wins. UNM won its second straight Mountain West Conference regular-season title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
Martinez became the first Lobo to reach 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 200 3-pointers and 200 assists in a career. He tied for secpnd all-time at UNM in games played (133), was 19th in scoring (1,159), 10th in rebounding (633) and 6th in 3-pointers (205).
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Martinez was the national winner of the 2010 Chip Hilton Award, given to a Division I men’s basketball graduating senior for demonstrating outstanding character, leadership and talent.
In the classroom, Martinez was an ESPN the Magazine Second Team Academic All-American in 2009-10. He was Academic All-MWC all four seasons and graduated last year with a business degree and a 3.50 cumulative GPA. Martinez is currently pursing a pro career in basketball with his most recent stop U.B. La Palma in Spain.
Polina Ermoshina: It’s not an easy thing to become an NCAA All-American. Ermoshina did it seven times, joining an elite group of Lobo skiers with seven All-America finishes at the NCAA Championships from 2007-10. She was the NCAA national runner-up in the 15K Classic in 2009 and a four-year team Most Valuable Player.
A member of the National Ski Coaches Association All-Academic Team in 2008, Ermoshina was the Lobo Club Female Student-Athlete of Year for 2009-10. She graduated from UNM in the summer of 2010 with a degree in Organizational Management and a 3.41 cumulative GPA.
Nanette Wittenberg: Wittenberg is a senior with the Lobo swimming and diving team. She is a three-year letterwinner and team captain, Wittenberg competes in the breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley. She has a 4.04 cumulative GPA and is slated to graduate in May with a double major in Marketing and Operations Management.
Wittenberg has been selected to the UNM Dean’s List since 2007 and is a three-time MWC Scholar-Athlete.
During the 2009-10 academic year, Wittenberg was involved in a vast amount of community service projects: Los Duranes Easter Egg Hunt, student lettermen Easter Egg Hunt, Toy for Tots Christmas toy drive, hospital visits, swim clinic at the Thomas Bell Community Center, goal-setting workshop at Horizon Academy and Montessori Elementary School, and Coaches vs. Cancer.
Wittenberg spent more than 100 volunteer hours in the UNM athletics marketing department and was co-owner of Throwback 434, LLC, a business created by a UNM management class that raised money for Special Olympics of New Mexico.
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Simon Ejdemyr: A native of Boras, Sweden (ED-uh-meer) was a highly decorated member of the men’s soccer team from 2006-09. On the pitch, he was named to the College Soccer News Freshman All-American first team in 2006, and was a four-time Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all-conference performer.
Academically, Ejdemyr received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team and was the recipient of the Academic All-American of the Year award, receiving the highest amount of votes of all the Division I nominees in the fall of 2009. He was also the Lobo Club Male Student-Athlete of Year for 2009-10.
Ejdemyr graduated from UNM last year with a degree in Political Science and a 4.15 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale. He applied to Stanford, Harvard, Yale and New York University in pursuit of his Ph.D. in Political Science.
About Tow Diehm: L.F. “Tow” Diehm served the University of New Mexico for 40 years, most of that time spent as the head athletics trainer. He was also an athletics administrator and a lobbyist for the department to the New Mexico state legislature. Tow passed away on May 1, 1998.
About Leslie Self: Leslie Self was the wife of Randy Self, who is the former President of the Lobo Club and owner of Spectator’s Sports Bar and Grille. Leslie also passed away in 1998 after a long battle with cancer.
Tow Diehm Award Winners
1997-98 – Pepe Caballero – tennis
1998-99 – Marcos White – basketball
1999-00 – Daniel Reyes – football
2000-01 – Brian Smith – basketball
2001-02 – Jarrod Baxter – football
2002-03 – Dusty Young – baseball
2003-04 – Divan Coetzee – tennis
2004-05 – Nick Speegle – football
2005-06 – Chris Carlson – baseball; Lars Loseth – skiing/soccer
2006-07 – Robb Bierbaum – golf
2007-08 – Jeremy Johnson – cross country/track and field; John Sullivan – football
2008-09 – Johnny Parkes – tennis
2009-10 – Simon Ejdemyr – soccer; Roman Martinez – basketball
Leslie Self Award Winners
1997-98 – Tamika Stukes – basketball
1998-99 – Aimee Hites – tennis
1999-00 – Nikki Heckroth – basketball
2000-01 – Quinn Michie – swimming
2001-02 – Kristi Larsen – golf
2002-03 – Jennifer Delich – skiing
2003-04 – Amanda Barnes – track and field; Cassie Chavez – softball; Nicole Overeem – swimming
2004-05 – Kristen Winters – soccer
2005-06 – Maja Kovacek – tennis
2006-07 – Terryn Granados – soccer; Jen Hale – swimming
2007-08 – Katie Coronado – track and field; Tori Clarridge – swimming
2008-09 – Sarah Kwasigroch – volleyball
2009-10 Polina Ermoshina – skiing; Nanette Wittenberg – swimming