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SAN FRANCISCO -- In the sixth installment of what has become a yearly tradition, Academy of Art University student-athletes, coaches, and staff came together to celebrate accomplishments from the 2018-19 season at the ARTYs Awards. The end-of-the-year banquet recognized Urban Knights from all 14 teams and featured honors for community service, academics, and athletic excellence.

As they have for the past three seasons, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee played a major role in hosting the ceremony and presenting awards. Director of operations Dani Sherman and associate athletic director of compliance Dan Emerson also played critical roles in the success of the event. The night started with dinner, photos, and mingling before director of athletics Brad Jones and university president Elisa Stephens gave speeches to recognize the hard work each and every ART U student-athlete has dedicated to the program.

The first ARTY of the night went to baseball for their efforts in serving the community and giving back to the Bay. The team averaged 24 hours per player for a total of over 616 hours to earn the highest impact score on Helper Helper, the NCAA's official volunteer management platform, and take home the Community Service Award.

Sticking to achievements off the field, the next award was highest grade point average, given to one male and one female individual with the highest GPA across the two most recent semesters. Lawrence Liang of men's golf won on the men's side with his 3.87 while Maria Fernanda Traboulsi took home her second straight Best GPA ARTY with a near perfect 3.92.  It what can be viewed as an upset men's golf dethroned their female counterpart, who had won the previous three years, for the Best Team GPA award with a cumulative GPA of 3.44 led by Liang.

"It's such a great honor to receive the Best Individual GPA award, especially when this is my senior year here," said Liang. "Also very proud of my team to receive the Best Team GPA award. I want to take this opportunity to thank my coaches and everyone in the ART U Athletics again for your tremendous support and help in the past few years and putting so much effort to make the best out of us. I feel very grateful to have the best teammates I could ever ask for. It's been an amazing journey here with all the talented student-athletes, and it's definitely one of the the the best memories in my life."

Moving into the realm of athletic achievement, the men's track and field 4x400m relay team of Christian Carter, Roshard Williams, Grant Swinton, and Mobolade Ajomale won the ARTY for Record-Breaking Performance by running the sixth fastest time in Division II history and fastest in ART U history (3:10:02). Best Moment followed and the ARTY went to women's golf for winning their first PacWest Championship in program history. The team ran away with the title, ending with a 20 stroke advantage over the next closest team.

The Freshman of the Year ARTY went to Darria Matthias of women's track and field. Matthias was a First Team All-American in the 60m, First Team All-Region in the 200m, and her 60m time of 7.50 is second in program history. Her teammate Camille Jouanno followed by winning the ARTY for Newcomer of the Year. Jouanno won the award coming off an indoor national championship in the triple jump, First Team All-American honors, and All-Region honors in long jump and triple jump.

Introduced in 2015, two more awards were announced that focused on "servant leadership" or one's responsibility to serve as a positive role model for others in all aspects of life. The gender-specific honors were named after two individuals dedicated to this concept, inaugural Director of Athletics Dr. Jamie Williams and former Associate Athletics Director/Senior Woman Administrator Meghan Bushnell. Each for their work in the community, dedication to their craft in the classroom, and inspirational athletic efforts, baseball's Zak May was bestowed the Dr. Jamie Williams Male Servant Leadership Award and women's tennis senior Taisiia Andrieieva received the Meghan Bushnell Female Servant Leadership Award. May dedicated a total of 53 community service hours, was a member of SAAC, and helped the athletic department with his photography skills while Andrieieva worked 47.5 community service hours and was also a member of SAAC.

Each team's Most Valuable Player was announced next and from them emerged the male athlete of the year, track & field sprinter Mobolade Ajomale, and the Female Individual Athlete of the Year, women's golfer Anahi Servin. Ajomale was a three-time All-American, 200m national champion, and West Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. This is his fourth consecutive Male Individual Athlete of the Year ARTY. Servin became the only player in PacWest history to repeat as individual champion at the PacWest Championship, and placed tied for fourth at NCAA Nationals.

The newly-renamed Richard & Clara Gil Stephens Urban Knight of the Year honor went to senior women's tennis player Klara Thell-Lenntorp. Klara earned a 3.53 GPA in school of Communications and Media Technologies, completed 12.5 hours of community service, broke the all-time doubles wins record, was All-PacWest First Team in singles and doubles, and ranked as high as No. 1 in the country in doubles.

"Being named Urban Knight of the Year for the second time was an honor," said Thell-Lenntorp. "The competition was tough this year with many great student-athletes and results so it was a great surprise. It has been four amazing seasons and I am proud to say that I finished my tennis collegiate career strong with many great results and memorable moments. I am so very happy that Alma and I decided to go to Academy of Art to be a part of the program. These have been the best years of my life. I would like to say thanks to my team for believing in me on the number one spot this year, for all the support, and love they have given me through the years. Before I came here, I didn't know that I one day would call myself for an artist, but here I am. I have one semester left in school and I am really looking forward to see where I will go next."

The night came to a close with women's golf being named Team of the Year. The team won its first PacWest Championship title, had the PacWest individual champion, placed first or second in eight of their nine tournaments, and had three individual tournament wins throughout the season.

"I couldn't be more proud of this team," said head coach Mitch Lowe. "I have been very lucky to walk into such a great group of golfers, teammates, and really great people. What they accomplished this year wasn't easy but they definitely made it a group effort and the support up and down the team made it possible. As a team we are honored to be named Team of the Year especially with all of the great performances at ART U this year. Everyone at the University should be proud of this year and driven and excited for next fall!"

Full list of ARTYs winners below:
 

Fifth Year of the Year	Eamonn Coughlin (MG)
Community Service Award	Baseball
Best Individual GPA	Maria Fernanda Traboulsi (WG) & Lawrence Liang (MG)
Best Team GPA	Men's Golf
Record-Breaking Performance	Men's Track & Field indoor 4x400m relay recording fastest time in ART U history and the sixth-fastest time in D2 history (3:10.02 - Christian Carter, Roshard Williams, Grant Swinton, Mobolade Ajomale)
Best Moment	Women's Golf winning their first PacWest Championship
Freshman of the Year	Darria Matthias (WT&F)
Newcomer of the Year	Camille Jouanno (WT&F)
Dr. Jamie Williams Male Servant Leadership Award	Zak May (BASE)
Meghan Bushnell Female Servant Leadership Award	Taisiia Andrieieva (WT)
Male Team MVPs	Freddie Hessian (XC), Connor Henrichs (SOC), Mobolade Ajomale (T&F), Andrija "Dre" Blatancic (MBB), Elijah Smith (BASE), Gabriel De Leon Manotoc (MG)
Male Individual Athlete of the Year	Mobolade Ajomale (T&F)
Female Team MVPs	Hasna Kaarour (XC), Safua Elisaia (VB), Klara Thell-Lenntorp (WT), Chanel Stuart (WBB), Anahi Servin (WG), Anissa Wilson (SOC), Camille Jouanno (T&F), Lauryn Henderson (SB)
Female Individual Athlete of the Year	Anahi Servin (WG)
Richard & Clara Gil Stephens Urban Knight of the Year	Klara Thell-Lenntorp (WT)
Team of the Year	Women's Golf