Owls Earn C-USA Leading Eight Scholar Athlete Honors
8/11/2021 10:17:00 AM | General, Men's Basketball, Men's Cross Country, Men's Tennis, Men's Track & Field, Women's Basketball, Women's Cross Country, Swimming & Diving, Women's Track & Field
Seven student-athletes recognized
HOUSTON – Rice Athletics produced a Conference USA-leading eight Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards by seven student-athletes, the league office announced on Wednesday (Aug. 11).
The awards, voted on by the conference's 14 FARs (Faculty Athletics Representatives), are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.
The 17 scholar-athletes were selected from C-USA's full-time and affiliate member institutions across 19 sports (combining indoor and outdoor track & field).
The eight awards by the Owls are tied for the most in program history, matching the 2010-11 campaign.
Max Fiedler (Men's Basketball)
Fiedler averaged 11.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists while setting a new Rice single-season record for field goal percentage, connecting on 67.5% from the floor. He became the first player in school history to average 11.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in a season and the second to record at least 300 points, 200 rebounds and 100 assists. The Indialantic, Fla., native also became just the third player in school history to lead the team in rebounds and assists while placing in the top ten in the league in rebounding, double-doubles, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio.
Fiedler also excelled off the court. He was named to the 2021 Conference USA All-Academic Team, earning a 3.98 GPA in Mathematical Economic Analysis.
Nancy Mulkey (Women's Basketball)
Last year's WNIT Most Valuable Player, Mulkey graduated from Rice with a 3.47 GPA in Kinesiology before earning a 3.90 GPA in the Post Bac program. Mulkey, who was named the 2020-21 Joyce Pounds Hardy Award winner, was a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist last season as well as a Lisa Leslie Award semifinalist.
A member of the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Second Team, Mulkey earned her third consecutive C-USA Defensive Player of the Year award last season and earned a spot on a third straight C-USA All-Defensive Team. Mulkey, who transferred to the University of Washington, graduated from Rice as the Owls all-time leader in career field goal percentage (.551) and career blocked shots average (3.5) while ranking second in career blocks (266).
Hociel Landa (Men's Cross Country)
Landa earned his first NCAA Championship appearance in 2021 following a fourth place overall finish at the C-USA Championships, his best-ever finish. The 2021 Bob Quin Award recipient, Landa has earned all-conference honors at four consecutive C-USA Championships and won a pair of races during the 2020 fall season.
Landa, who was the 2017 C-USA Freshman of the Meet, earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades in 2021. He graduated with a 3.55 GPA this past spring in Mechanical Engineering.
Grace Forbes (Women's Cross Country/Women's Track & Field)
Forbes will be entering her third year at Rice having already established herself as one of the all-time greats in school history. Forbes currently holds a 3.86 GPA while majoring in Sports Medicine and Exercise Physiology. Forbes swept both the women's cross country and track & field Scholar Athlete of the Year awards after a year in which she earned three separate All-American honors (two T&F, one cross country).
Forbes has won eight combined C-USA title between the indoor and outdoor seasons and swept the 2021 C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Female Track Performer of the Meet Awards. She qualified and competed at the 2021 Olympic Trials as the youngest runner in the 10,000m. Her time of 32:24.38 in the 10,000m ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in 2021 and she earned Rice's first USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week on Feb. 24. In cross country she won the individual title with the second-fastest 6k time at the C-USA Championships and later placed 19th overall at the 2021 NCAA Championships, just days removed from competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Ellery Parish (Women's Swimming & Diving)
Parish was a NCAA qualifier in the 500 freestyle and won her third consecutive C-USA title with victories in the 500 freestyle and 1650 freestyle. She ranks second all-time at Rice in the 500 and third in the 200. The 2021 Catherine Hannah Award recipient as the team MVP, Parish earned the C-USA Swimmer of the Week Award on Feb. 10.
Sumit Sarkar (Men's Tennis)
Sarkar is coming off a season in which he qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championship and ranked 71st in the country in doubles. He earned All-C-USA Doubles First Team honors and Second Team singles recognition. The New York native ranked seventh in the Texas region in doubles.
Corbett Fong (Men's Track & Field)
Fong was named to the 2021 C-USA All-Academic Team after a season in which he placed fourth in the decathlon with a personal best score of 7115 points at the C-USA Championship. That mark ranks seventh in school history and was No. 49 in the NCAA last season. A three-time recipient of the C-USA Academic Medal and C-USA Honor Roll, Fong earned the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Qualifier twice and has been named to the Rice University President's Honor Roll four times.
Fong also placed sixth in the heptathlon at last season's C-USA Indoor Championships. He currently holds a 3.96 GPA while majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
The awards, voted on by the conference's 14 FARs (Faculty Athletics Representatives), are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.
The 17 scholar-athletes were selected from C-USA's full-time and affiliate member institutions across 19 sports (combining indoor and outdoor track & field).
The eight awards by the Owls are tied for the most in program history, matching the 2010-11 campaign.
Max Fiedler (Men's Basketball)
Fiedler averaged 11.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists while setting a new Rice single-season record for field goal percentage, connecting on 67.5% from the floor. He became the first player in school history to average 11.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in a season and the second to record at least 300 points, 200 rebounds and 100 assists. The Indialantic, Fla., native also became just the third player in school history to lead the team in rebounds and assists while placing in the top ten in the league in rebounding, double-doubles, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio.
Fiedler also excelled off the court. He was named to the 2021 Conference USA All-Academic Team, earning a 3.98 GPA in Mathematical Economic Analysis.
Nancy Mulkey (Women's Basketball)
Last year's WNIT Most Valuable Player, Mulkey graduated from Rice with a 3.47 GPA in Kinesiology before earning a 3.90 GPA in the Post Bac program. Mulkey, who was named the 2020-21 Joyce Pounds Hardy Award winner, was a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist last season as well as a Lisa Leslie Award semifinalist.
A member of the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Second Team, Mulkey earned her third consecutive C-USA Defensive Player of the Year award last season and earned a spot on a third straight C-USA All-Defensive Team. Mulkey, who transferred to the University of Washington, graduated from Rice as the Owls all-time leader in career field goal percentage (.551) and career blocked shots average (3.5) while ranking second in career blocks (266).
Hociel Landa (Men's Cross Country)
Landa earned his first NCAA Championship appearance in 2021 following a fourth place overall finish at the C-USA Championships, his best-ever finish. The 2021 Bob Quin Award recipient, Landa has earned all-conference honors at four consecutive C-USA Championships and won a pair of races during the 2020 fall season.
Landa, who was the 2017 C-USA Freshman of the Meet, earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades in 2021. He graduated with a 3.55 GPA this past spring in Mechanical Engineering.
Grace Forbes (Women's Cross Country/Women's Track & Field)
Forbes will be entering her third year at Rice having already established herself as one of the all-time greats in school history. Forbes currently holds a 3.86 GPA while majoring in Sports Medicine and Exercise Physiology. Forbes swept both the women's cross country and track & field Scholar Athlete of the Year awards after a year in which she earned three separate All-American honors (two T&F, one cross country).
Forbes has won eight combined C-USA title between the indoor and outdoor seasons and swept the 2021 C-USA Indoor and Outdoor Female Track Performer of the Meet Awards. She qualified and competed at the 2021 Olympic Trials as the youngest runner in the 10,000m. Her time of 32:24.38 in the 10,000m ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in 2021 and she earned Rice's first USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week on Feb. 24. In cross country she won the individual title with the second-fastest 6k time at the C-USA Championships and later placed 19th overall at the 2021 NCAA Championships, just days removed from competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Ellery Parish (Women's Swimming & Diving)
Parish was a NCAA qualifier in the 500 freestyle and won her third consecutive C-USA title with victories in the 500 freestyle and 1650 freestyle. She ranks second all-time at Rice in the 500 and third in the 200. The 2021 Catherine Hannah Award recipient as the team MVP, Parish earned the C-USA Swimmer of the Week Award on Feb. 10.
Sumit Sarkar (Men's Tennis)
Sarkar is coming off a season in which he qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championship and ranked 71st in the country in doubles. He earned All-C-USA Doubles First Team honors and Second Team singles recognition. The New York native ranked seventh in the Texas region in doubles.
Corbett Fong (Men's Track & Field)
Fong was named to the 2021 C-USA All-Academic Team after a season in which he placed fourth in the decathlon with a personal best score of 7115 points at the C-USA Championship. That mark ranks seventh in school history and was No. 49 in the NCAA last season. A three-time recipient of the C-USA Academic Medal and C-USA Honor Roll, Fong earned the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Qualifier twice and has been named to the Rice University President's Honor Roll four times.
Fong also placed sixth in the heptathlon at last season's C-USA Indoor Championships. He currently holds a 3.96 GPA while majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
-RiceOwls.com-
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
Decathlon
/ Men's Track & Field
Distance
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Distance
/ Men's Track & Field
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/ Women's Basketball
Free/Back
/ Swimming & Diving
/ Men's Tennis
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