Jenel Lopez and Kyle Zozaya concluded their senior year of athletics while being honored as the male and female 2012-2013 athletes of the year.

Lopez, the former dominating sprinter for CSU East Bay’s women’s swim team, and Zozaya, the leading hitter for the Pioneer baseball team in 2013, received the award at CSUEB’s 2012-2013 Annual Student Athlete Awards Banquet. The banquet is held with the purpose to recognize the impressive accomplishments of CSUEB student athletes during their athletic season.

Upon receiving her second straight female athlete of the year award, Lopez is currently known as the greatest sprinter in Pioneer swimming history.

She currently holds school records in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle and finished top three in all three events at the 2013 PCSC Conference Championships, leading the team to a program best second place finish overall.

Nearly three weeks following her championships meet, Lopez anchored the Pioneer record-setting All-American 200 freestyle relay team which placed 8th in the nation. She was also an honorable mention All-American with a 13th place finish in the 200 freestyle at the NCAA Division II National Championships.

“I think Jenel taught us all one of the oldest lessons in the book, and that is if you want to do something special, you just go out there every day and earn it,” said Head Swim Coach Ben Loorz. “That is what she lived for the past two years and her results showed it.”

Lopez found her love for swimming 13 years ago when she spent a great amount of time watching the Olympics and becoming  fascinated with the sport of swimming. She could not stay away from the water after her mother took her to try out for a local swim team; a journey that eventually led her to swim at the collegiate level for CSUEB.

“I’ve grown so much since my recruiting trip,” said Lopez. “It shows how hard I’ve worked, not only me, but the whole team. They’ve pushed me even harder to do better.”

Following the conclusion of her swimming career, Lopez is ready to set foot on a new journey.

“I’m going to miss swimming a lot,” she said. “It kind of sucks that I’m not doing it as much anymore, but now I have so much more free time to find a job, explore my options, and travel.”

Zozaya played baseball for 16 years and models himself after Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. Last season he led the Pioneer baseball team with a .348 batting average, which also ranked fifth in the CCAa. He also leads the team in doubles (20) and RBI (44).

For the week of February 18-24, Zozaya was named CCAa and West Region Player of the week and on March 22 he was selected to the All CCAA second team.

Following his baseball career, Zozaya plans to spend the next two quarters at CSUEB completing his degree in business. While honoring his own personal achievements of the season, Zozaya also acknowledges the role the team has played in his success as well as their overall team improvement since last season.

“I need to thank my teammates because I couldn’t do it without them,” he said. “Our team just connected and we have really great chemistry; we turned our team around in the entire opposite way this year from last year.”

The Pioneer baseball team concluded their season with a .640 winning percentage; the second best in school history for a Division II team and the best since 1968.

Head Baseball Coach Bob Ralston was unable to disclose comments at the time of the event, but wrote on the description of the award that he is very proud Zozaya is representing the team as the male athlete of the year.

Other nominees for the female athlete of the year awards were: Senior soccer player Zuly Diaz, senior softball player Sara Holdridge, junior water polo player Sara Hudyn, sophomore cross country runner Robin McClinton, senior basketball player Marlene MacMillan, freshman track runner Celina Vera, and junior volley ball player Suzy Ni Xu.

Other nominees for the male athlete of the year were: Junior soccer player Paul Dewhurst, senior baseball player Matt Fontaine, junior track runner Jose Gonzalez-Meja, senior golfer Chris Herzog, junior basketball player Gabe Kindred, senior baseball player Charlie Sharrer, and junior cross country runner Will Weeks.