Santa Monica College has honored 16 Student Athletes of the Year who demonstrated scholastic achievement as much as athletic talent.
Awards were presented at an annual breakfast May 15 in the SMC Pavilion.
The students and their coaches:
Natalie Kelley, Women’s Tennis (Richard Goldenson, Coach) played No. 1 singles and doubles and ranked No. 2 in the Western State Conference. She is the full-time youth director at Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church.
Nate Scribner, Football (Robert Taylor, Coach) played outside linebacker for the Corsairs. The son of former UCLA quarterback Rob Scribner was the president of an SMC spiritual club and will attend Chapman College.
Vanessa Shoemaker, Women’s Swimming (Steve Contarsy, Coach) studies criminal justice and psychology and has a B-Plus average.
Donovan Chin, Men’s Track And Field (Larry Silva, Coach) ranks in the top five in Southern California in the 100, 200 and 400-meter and the long jump. A member of the Black Collegians Club at SMC, he aspires to become a doctor.
Daniel Nemirovski, Men’s Cross Country (Larry Silva, Coach) ranks among the conference’s top 20 in the 500 meter race. Ranking high in character, commitment and dedication, he has an A-minus average.
Zedra Slayton, Women’s Basketball (Lydia Strong, Coach) was MVP of the Western State Conference. She averaged 16 points as the Corsairs won the championship for the first time since 1981. She is an architecture major.
Nushin Nataneli, Women’s Volleyball (Kerri Eich, Coach) began playing at six years old in Torino, Italy and continued at Beverly Hills High after her family moved to Los Angeles, and the last two years at SMC. The biology major has an average slightly below A-minus.
Jackie Dawson, Women’s Soccer (Aaron Benditson, Coach) was voted Team Defensive MVP and made second team all-Western State Conference.She’s an inductee into the Players’ Academic Club with an A-Minus average.
Alex Donner, Men’s Water Polo (Eric Matheson, Coach) attended school in Germany before graduating from Malibu High. He made second team all-conference both years at SMC.
Quinn Lukens, Men’s Volleyball (John Mayer, Coach) has been a key member of SMC’s first place team, leading the conference in hitting percentage. He has an A-minus average in his first year.
Robert Shallert, Men’s Swimming (Steve Contarsy, Coach) dropped out of USC when his parents died unexpectedly and he had to care for his developmentally challenged brother and attend to the family business. He had surgery to replace a heart valve but is in his second year with the Corsair team and also works as a lifeguard.
Angela Perry-Spahn, Women’s Cross Country (Eric Barron, Coach) is a graduate of Palisades High who was Co-MVP in 2007 of the Corsasir squad. She has an average just below A-minus and is studying to become a physical therapist.
Brittany McKenney, Women’s Water Polo (Steve Contarsy, Coach) was a member of the SMC squad that placed fourth in the conference tournament. She has a B average and hopes to attend Loyola Marymount.
Sophia Wennerbeck, Women’s Track and Field (Eric Barron, Coach) competes in five events and is one of the conference’s best in the long jump. She came to SMC at 21 after being raised in Sweden and working in South Africa coaching elementary school students in athletics. She has an A-minus average in international relations.
Carl Kindborg, Men’s Basketball (Jesse Teplitzky, Coach) missed his first SMC season with an injury but started most games in the 2007-’08 season and is considering several scholarship offers. The 6-foot-3 forward earned the team’s Academic Award.
Yessina Munoz, Spirit Squad/Cheerleading (Susan Corpus, Coach) has been an avid community volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life while maintaining a B average. A Business Administrastion major, she wants to manage her own business and help her parents manage theirs, a nursery in Malibu.
