Three SBCC Vaquero Teams Receive High Academic Honors

Three athletic teams at Santa Barbara City College received accolades last week for their work in the classroom.

The Women's Swimming & Diving team and Men's Golf team each were named CCCAA Scholar Team Award Winners for the 2018-2019 school year and the football team had 11 players recognized as members of the SCFA All-Academic Team.

This is the fourth straight year that multiple SBCC teams have received the Scholar Team Award, which is the highest academic award a team can receive by the CCCAA.

"We're extremely proud of the student-athletes for their work in the classroom," said Director of Athletics Rocco Constantino. "It takes a tremendous amount of hard work to be so successful academically, especially with all of the athletic responsibilities these students have. It wouldn't be possible without the support of their head coaches, assistant coaches and academic support staff. We work very hard to prioritize academics and it's great to see our teams and players rewarded for their hard work. I can't say enough good things about our students academically."

The Scholar Team Award is awarded each year to one team per sport in the state of California. All team members must have excelled academically with a total GPA of 3.0 or higher. 

Under the guidance of Head Coach Chuckie Roth, the Women's Swimming team continued to dominate the Western State Conference as one of the top programs in the state. SBCC finished last season with a record of 53-4 and went a perfect 26-0 in WSC play. The team currently has an incredible 127-meet winning streak in WSC play. They finished 10th in the state at last year's CCCAA Championships.

Head Men's Golf Coach Chuck Melendez led his team to another successful season in 2019. The team finished last season with an overall record of 146-20. The 146 wins broke the school record, topping the previous mark by an incredible 31 wins. The Vaqueros finished 2nd in the state at last year's CCCAA State Championships.

The teams will be honored at the Celebration of Student-Athletes Awards Luncheon during the CCCAA Convention on April 1, 2020 at the Doubletree Ontario Hotel in Ontario, California.

"This is the top academic award a team can receive from the CCCAA, so a huge congratulations to our head men's golf coach Chuck Melendez and head women's swimming/diving coach Chuckie Roth as well as our student-athletes and the fantastic support system we have in place for our athletes," said Constantino. "There is only one CCCAA team that receives this award per sport, so it is rare that schools have winners in multiple sports. Even more impressive is that we are one of just a small handful of schools that have had multiple teams recognized each of the past three years."

Santa Barbara City College and Orange Coast College are the only CCCAA schools to have multiple teams receive this award in each of the past four years. The Vaqueros have had at least one team receive the Scholar Team Award in each of the past five years.

Eleven players from the SBCC Football team also received academic honors, with each student being named a Scholar Athlete by the Southern California Football Association. To receive the award, a student must have successfully completed 36 units (27 academic) and maintained a minimum of a 3.0 GPA. The 11 SBCC football players who received the honor had an average GPA of 3.43.

"I'm really proud of the football student-athletes who were named to the SCFA Scholar-Athlete Team," said Constantino. "Football is a demanding sport, both physically and mentally. It's tremendously time-consuming as well. To see so many student-athletes excel in the classroom as well really speaks to the work ethic and dedication of each student. This is a very impressive honor and something the students, their families and coaches should be tremendously proud of."

Recent SBCC Scholar Team Winners

2018-2019: Women's Swim/Dive, Men's Golf

2017-18: Baseball, Men's Soccer, Men's Volleyball
2016-17: Men's Cross Country, Women's Golf
2015-16: Women's Golf, Women's Swim & Dive
2014-15: Men's Golf
2012-13: Women's Track & Field, Men's Volleyball
2006-07: Men's Tennis

SFCA Football Scholar-Athlete Team

Lars Bardenhagen

Burak Efendiogiu

Scott Forbes

Leland Gropper

Bradley Kleven

Gerardo Mack

Matthew Molina

Jacob Shultz

Sage Sobrado

Colton Takis

Jacob Villareal