Accardi, Men's Tennis Receive Academic Awards At Year-End Banquet

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle senior men's swimmer Blase Szyszko and senior women's soccer player Gabrielle Pakhtigian were named the Male and Female Scholar Athletes of the Year, respectively, at the Athletic Department's Student-Athlete Recognition Ceremony, held on Wednesday evening in the Student Union.

Also receiving awards were senior men's tennis player Sam Accardi, who received the Academic Excellence Award given to the senior student-athlete with the highest grade point average and senior women's rower Kellen Burke, who received the De La Salle Community Service Award.

Beth Salazar, a four-year student assistant in the Athletic Communications and Video offices, received the Crowley Award, presented to a non-student-athlete who has made an impact on the department.

The men's tennis team earned the top GPA for a men's team and the women's soccer team had the top GPA for a women's team in the spring of 2012. In the fall of 2012, the men's tennis and baseball teams and women's volleyball teams had the top GPA, respectively.

Szyzsko won three Atlantic 10 gold medals in swimming and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in two different events. He also won two A-10 silver medals in his illustrious career and broke a 22-year old school record in the 200 breaststroke. Szyzsko has served as the La Salle Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President and is the Atlantic 10's SAAC representative to the NCAA. He was named Academic All-Atlantic 10 and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area twice.

Pakhtigian received first team CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America recognition this fall. She became just the 11^th Explorer student-athlete all-time to receive first team Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA. In addition, Pakhtigian was a first team All-Atlantic 10 goalkeeper and helped her team to two straight NCAA Tournaments, including two A-10 regular season championships and an A-10 tournament championship in 2012. She ranks in the top three all-time at La Salle in wins, shutouts and goals against average.

Accardi has maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average as a member of the men's tennis team. He is a seven-time member of the A-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll and four-time recipient of La Salle's Faculty Athletic Committee Academic Achievement Award. Accardi also plays guitar in the chapel choir and is a resident assistant.

Burke is a four-year member of the SAAC and was heavily involved in the Explore-A-Cure and Dodgeball fundraisers for Breast Cancer and the SAAC Anti-Bullying Video. She coordinated Habitat for Humanity in Appalachia and assisted in SAAC projects such as the day of service, toy drive and Logan Elementary programs. Burke served two years on the SAAC Executive Board as the secretary in 2011-12 and the vice president in 2012-13.

Salazar has coordinated La Salle's video streaming efforts for three years and was the technical director at Gola Arena for the video boards for the past two seasons. She has also produced video content for GoExplorers.tv and worked on the baseball game day operations.

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