May 25, 2005

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State's Ashley Paiko (Davis, Calif./Davis Senior High School) has been named a national scholar-athlete by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) for a third consecutive year on Wednesday. Paiko, a senior liberal studies major with a 3.81 GPA, completed her collegiate eligibility at the Pac-10 Rowing Championships on May 15.

"Ashley (Paiko) has been a great asset all four years," said head coach Jennifer Zebroski. "She has been an amazing student-athlete both on the water and in the classroom."

Paiko is the only Aztec to win the national accolade three times.

The National Scholar-Athlete award is designed to recognize the outstanding academic accomplishments of female rowers and coxswains during the current season. The criteria include meeting eligibility rules as defined by her institution, participating in their second, third or fourth year of eligibility, participating in at least 75 percent of the season's races in the varsity boat, the student-athlete's head coach must be a member in good standing of the CRCA and the student-athlete must have a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA through the fall semester of the current season.

SDSU wraps up its season June 2-4 when the nationally eighth-ranked lightweights compete at the IRA Regatta in Camden, N.J.