June 8, 2000
LOS ANGELES - UCLA student athletes and coaches from all 21 Bruin sports were on hand Wednesday to take part in the first annual "Big Dance" at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. The Big Dance, hosted by the UCLA athletic department and the Bruin Athletic Council, was highlighted by keynote speaker Coach John Wooden. Other festivities included a Supershot contest, the presentation of team MVPs and dancing.
Each Supershot team consisted of three athletes, with the first team in head-to-head competition to make a layup, a free throw and a three-pointer designated the champion. This year's champions were Jean-Noel Grinda (Tennis), Todd Ramasar (Basketball) and Lyndsey Klein (Softball).
In addition, head coaches on hand presented awards to their most valuable athletes. MVPs for each team were:
Baseball - Bill Scott
Men's Basketball - Earl Watson, Jerome Moiso
Women's Basketball - Maylana Martin
Men's Cross Country - Bryan Green, Will Bernaldo
Women's Cross Country - Kate Vermuelen
Football (Offense) - Danny Farmer
Football (Defense) - Joey Strycula
Men's Golf - Brandon DiTullio
Women's Golf - Amanda Moltke-Leth
Gymnastics - Heidi Moneymaker, Lena Degteva
Men's Soccer - Sasha Victorine
Women's Soccer - Skylar Little
Softball - Amanda Freed, Julie Marshall
Women's Swimming & Diving - Keiko Price
Men's Tennis - Brandon Kramer
Women's Tennis - Sara Walker
Men's Track & Field - Jess Strutzel
Women's Track & Field - Seilala Sua, Tracy O'Hara
Men's Volleyball - Entire NCAA Championship team
Women's Volleyball - Kristee Porter
Men's Water Polo - Sean Kern
Women's Water Polo - Catharine von Schwarz
Also acknowledged were the graduating male and female student-athletes with the highest GPA:
Parsa Bonderson, Men's Water Polo - 3.952 in Physics and Math/Applied Science
Kelly O'Connor, Women's Track & Field - 3.933 in Linguistics and Computer Science