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Rebassoo, Whitchurch Named Scholar-Athletes
Finn Rebassoo (Seattle/Garfield High) and Kathryn D. Whitchurch (Palo Alto, Calif./Sacred Heart High) have been named as the 2003 outstanding male and female senior scholar-athletes at Occidental College.
Rebassoo, the first four-time All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection in league history, led the Occidental men’s basketball team to a 25-3 overall record this season and an Elite 8 finish in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Tigers won the SCIAC title for the first time since 1983 and posted a perfect 14-0 conference record, becoming the first team to win 14 league games in SCIAC history.
Rebassoo averaged a team-leading 16.4 points per game this season and finished second on Oxy’s all-time scoring list with 1,562 career points. He was named SCIAC Player of the Year for men’s basketball and also received the Ted Ducey Award, given annually to the senior who best exemplifies outstanding academic and athletic performance, leadership, and sportsmanship. He also was named to the Verizon Academic All-American Third Team. Rebassoo graduated magna cum laude this month with a physics degree and a 3.74 grade point average.
“Finn’s agility and skill on the basketball court are matched by his abilities in the classroom and lab,” said Occidental physics Professor Dennis Eggleston. “His course grades were so good that he was elected to the physics honor society as a junior. He is a shining example of the discipline of mind and body that exemplifies the Occidental scholar-athlete.”
Kathryn Whitchurch is a four-time All-SCIAC First Team selection in women’s water polo and a three-time American Water Polo Coaches Association First Team All-American. She scored the game-winning goal in the 2000 Collegiate III National Championship game and tallied 12 goals in the Tigers’ runner-up finish in the 2002 tournament.
Although hampered by a sprained wrist for much of the season, Whitchurch recorded 23 goals in 2003 and fired a pair of six-goal games against Cal State Bakersfield and Whittier College.
Whitchurch graduated this month with a kinesiology degree and a 3.44 grade point average. She will enroll in the Johns Hopkins University nursing program in the fall. Whitchurch’s senior research project covered the biomechanics of walking and the potential for foot injuries from various women’s shoe designs.
“The title of scholar-athlete is a fitting one for Kate because she has embraced both with passion,” said Occidental kinesiology Professor Stuart Rugg. “She is vibrant, radiant and strives for excellence in all aspects of her life.”
Since 1987, the Occidental College Tiger Club has presented annual awards to the school’s outstanding male and female senior scholar-athletes. Criteria for nomination include a minimum grade-point average of 3.0, participation in intercollegiate athletics at the varsity level, and recommendations from both the teaching faculty and the Department of Athletics.