By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

The College of the Canyons Athletic Department honored 115 Cougar student-athletes who will be graduating and/or transferring this semester while also naming six Student-Athlete Academic Excellence Award Winners during the department’s annual end of the year celebratory dinner.

To be eligible for the Academic Excellence Award student-athletes must have competed in their sport for two seasons and demonstrate tremendous leadership qualities, with the student’s combined GPA also a determining factor in recognizing award winners.

The honorees for the 2022-23 academic year are:

Andy Ambriz — Baseball

Monique Febles — Women’s Basketball

Justin Horton — Football

Allyson Melgar — Softball

LuLu Salloom — Women’s Basketball

Andranik Soghomonian — Men’s Soccer

The COC Athletic Department also honored former Cougar student-athletes Lauren Hannah (women’s tennis) and Doyle Kane (baseball) who were named to the 2021-22 California Community College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll earlier this spring. Hannah and Kane were part of a select list of 17 student-athletes across the state to earn recognition as a member of the Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll.

In all, the college’s 2023 graduating class includes 115 student-athletes, with a combined GPA of 3.10 (for fall 2022 semester), who will be earning an associate degree and/or transferring to a four-year school.

Those numbers included individuals from all 17 of the college’s intercollegiate athletic programs and eight dual-sport student-athletes.

Already more than 50 COC student-athletes have committed to play their sport at the four-year level, with many more still weighing both their athletic and academic options.

Stay up to date on all this season’s action by visiting the College of the Canyons Athletic department and following on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Images from the 2023 Student-Athlete Academic Acheivement Dinner are available here.