June 12, 2001
SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Santa Clara women's basketball player Annie Garrison and Loyola Marymount cross country runner Michael Cortez earned the 2001 West Coast Conference Male and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, Commissioner Michael Gilleran announced this afternoon. Garrison's honor makes it three straight years that a women's basketball player has obtained the top female honor.
Garrison will graduate this weekend with degrees in mathematics and computer science with a 3.77 grade point average. She joins former women's soccer standout Margaret Krawiec as the only Broncos to earn the league honor, as Krawiec did in 1995.
Garrison, the epitome of the phrase "scholar-athlete," is a three-time unanimous All-WCC first team member from 1999-2001. She holds the school record for blocked shots with 211 and was the named the 1999 WCC Defender of the Year for her efforts. This season, Garrison became only the third player in league history to record more than 1,000 points, 700 rebounds and 200 blocks. In her final season at SCU, the two-year captain ranked in the top 20 nationally in blocked shots, posted six double-doubles and was named the WCC Player of the Month in January. In her four-year career at Santa Clara, Garrison found the formula to succeed on and off the court. Her list of accolades is outstanding, including CoSIDA/Verizon District VIII All-Academic first team, two-time WCC All-Academic and vice-president of the SCU's Math honor society. Garrison also found time to do volunteer work and assist in hosting basketball clinics at community schools. Her career culminated as the recipient of the WBCA Scholarship Award, a $1,000 scholarship for postgraduate study. She plans to use that scholarship at Washington, where she will pursue a Ph.D. in math, but is deferring for one year to play basketball professionally.
The Scholar-Athlete of the Year award is the highest honor in the WCC. Honorees are selected by a vote of the WCC's institutional representatives to recognize the finest accomplishments in athletes, academics and community service by individuals who have completed their WCC eligibility.
