Related | D3CA Student-Athlete of the Year Regional Winners
In an announcement made today, 20 student-athletes were recognized as regional winners of the inaugural Division III Commissioner's Association (D3CA) Student-Athlete of the Year awards. Each of the winners will advance to the national ballot for consideration for 2021-22 D3CA Men's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year and Women's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year.
Conferences were permitted to submit two nominations for each award if at least one of the nominations was an international student/ethnic minority. Graduating seniors were the only student-athletes eligible for this award. Selection criteria for the awards included considerations based on academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership, and a personal statement submitted by each nominee.
Voting was conducted by the commissioners within each of the 10 regions, with the top male and female honoree (including ties) recognized as finalists for the Awards Committee to select the Division III Commissioner's Association Men's Sport and Women's Sport Student-Athlete of the Year. The two national winners will be announced later this month.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) had both Region X winners as Kellan Grant of Pomona-Pitzer and Sophie Srivastava of Chapman will now move on to the national pool. Other nominees from Region X included Robert Liu of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), Price Peden of the American Southwest Conference (ASC), and Cole Thumann of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). On the women's side, Ciannah Correa of Pomona-Pitzer, Taylor Singleton of the ASC, Maggie Fiocchi of the Northwest Conference (NWC), and Kelly Jurden of the SCAC were Region X nominees.
Grant, a member of the Pomona-Pitzer men's water polo team, graduated with a degree in Economics. In 2022, Grant was recognized as the Division III CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, as well as being a member of the ACWPC All-Academic and SCIAC All-Academic teams. In addition to his stellar performance in the classroom, Grant has participated in several community service ventures, including fundraising money for breast cancer research, and mentoring ninth-graders at his church.
A team captain for the Sagehens' men's water polo team, Grant was named the 2021 ACWPC Division III Player of the Year and earned All-American honors after posting 260 saves and 34 steals in 30 games and 772:13 minutes in goal during the 2021 campaign. He helped lead Pomona-Pitzer to the 2021 USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate Men's Water Polo National Championship and a 27-8 overall record.
Srivastava, a member of the Chapman women's volleyball team, graduated with a degree in Psychology with a minor in Nutrition. Srivastava has amassed several academic achievements including the Chapman Outstanding Research Award (2022): awarded to a senior Psychology undergraduate student who displayed exceptional research and contributed significantly to the field; presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference on the effects of the pandemic on eating, exercise, and mental health; and was presented the Outstanding First Year Award (2019); Outstanding Sophomore Award (2020); Outstanding Senior Award (2022): which are campus leadership awards presented to individuals with outstanding leadership and dedicated service to the quality of life and campus community programs.
On the court, Srivastava was a two-time AVCA All-American and All-West Region first team honoree (2019, 2021). Additionally, she holds the record for most triple-doubles in volleyball in all three divisions nationally (31 triple-doubles total). The SCIAC Athlete of the Year in 2021, Srivastava is a three-time First Team All-Conference honoree (2018, 2019, 2021), a member of the SCIAC All-Academic Team, and was the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year in 2018.