May 25, 2012

It was announced at the University of Redlands during Friday’s Honors Convocation that swimmer Tyler Harp (San Bernardino, CA) was named the 2012 Frank Serrao Male Senior Student-Athlete of the Year, and basketball player Courtney Carroll (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) and cross country and track star Emily Canales (Redlands, CA) were honored as the 2012 Frank Serrao Senior Female Co-Athletes of the Year.

Given in honor of longtime football coach and educator Frank Serrao, this award acknowledges the top male and female senior student-athletes who best exemplify strong academic and athletic success at the University of Redlands. The coaches and various directors within the Department of Athletics nominate and vote upon this prestigious accolade.

Harp closed out his illustrious four-year career with the Bulldog swimming program as the 2012 NCAA Division III 200 Freestyle Champion.  In addition, he collected eight All-America nods and 11 Honorable Mention All-America selections during his four trips to the NCAA Championships.  

With Harp’s contributions, the squad finished a program-high fifth place at the 2012 national meet with only a handful of competitors. 

The four-time Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Athlete of the Year also boasts 26 All-Conference selections and holds seven school records.

In addition, he succeeded in the classroom, earning a pair of College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District accolades. 

Equipped with a cumulative GPA of 3.467, Harp looks forward to graduating from Redlands on Saturday with a degree in Biology.

Carroll completed her extraordinary Bulldog basketball career as a four-time All-SCIAC honoree, highlighted by three First-Team nods.  She also received D3hoops.com All-West Region and All-America plaudits during her tenure, beginning with her being named the All-West Region Rookie of the Year in 2009.  She followed that up with a stellar sophomore campaign that saw the Bulldogs make their first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. 

With Carroll playing for the Maroon and Gray, the squad never finished worse than second in conference en route to a four-year SCIAC record of 45-11.

Now ranked as the third-highest scorer in Redlands history with 1,437 points, Carroll also sits atop the list for career blocks with 128 and comes in third with 755 career rebounds. 

This seven-time Dean’s List member earned Redlands Scholar-Athlete recognition each year of her career while garnering CoSIDA Academic All-District laurels on two occasions. 

A Phi Beta Kappa member, Carroll looks forward to graduation, when she will receive her degree in Psychology with a cumulative 3.825 GPA.

After transferring from Vanguard University, Canales made the most of her two years with the Bulldogs by leaving her mark on both programs. 

Following her SCIAC championships in the 3000m Steeplechase and 1500m Run, she qualified for the 2012 NCAA Division III Championships and advanced to Saturday’s finals of the Steeplechase with a preliminary time of 10:49.91.

Canales currently owns the school record in the Steeplechase, surpassing the previous school record by more than 44 seconds.  She also holds the school record in the 1500m Run after breaking the previous 35-year old mark.  Furthermore, Canales boasts the second-fastest time for the Bulldog cross country program, which came at the 2011 NCAA Cross Country Championships.  She advanced to the national meet after her All-Region performance that placed her 16^th. 

In her two years at Redlands, she has collected five All-SCIAC awards between her two sports. 

In the classroom, her near-perfect cumulative GPA of 3.981 has landed her on the Dean’s List all four of her semesters while giving her a pair of UR Scholar-Athlete honors.  Canales also represented the Bulldogs on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team for both sports. 

After receiving Honorable Mention for the NCAA Elite 89 Award, which honors the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the national championships, Canales will celebrate her degree in Communicative Disorders.

These three Frank Serrao award-winners join a remarkable group of Bulldog student-athletes that span Redlands’ history, including the 2011 winners in football player Mike Nicolini and basketball-track standout Mackenzie Smith.