IRVINE, Calif. – Two standout performers from the Concordia University Irvine track and field teams earned the prestigious title of PacWest Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday.

Distance runner Jori Paradis (who competed in both women's cross country and track and field) and All-American Dylan Fox from the men's track and field team were honored with this special award by the conference.

Paradis was recognized as the PacWest Women's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  She earned a 3.77 GPA in biology and was named CUI Co-Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year at the 2023 Senior Awards Legacy Banquet. The Oregon native was First Team All-Conference in her final cross country season after placing seventh overall at the PacWest Championships & made the All-Region squad with a Top 24 finish in Montana. She also helped CUI women's cross country earn a Top 3 finish at the conference meet for the first time in the NCAA DII era.

On top of all those achievements, Paradis set three school track records during her Concordia career. This included the outdoor 1,500m mark that had stood for 21 years! In the indoor 3,000m race, she broke an 8-year old record by more than two seconds and was the anchor leg in the indoor Distance Medley Relay (DMR) that snapped a 14-year-old school record.

Fox is the PacWest Men's Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  The local Irvine High School alum earned a 3.90 GPA in business administration after completing his first full season with the Golden Eagles. After transferring from Soka, he became the first CUI men's track and field member to both compete at the NCAA DII Championships and also be named Second Team All-American (Finished 11th overall).

Fox also set the school record on multiple occasions in the men's long jump this past spring.  He cemented a fantastic first campaign by winning the event at the PacWest Conference Championships before joining Porshe Eismann as Concordia's representatives on the national stage in May.

The PacWest Conference recognizes an outstanding student-athlete in each respective sport who excels both academically and competitively at the end of the school year in this way.

The awards are voted on by the league's College Sports Communicators (formerly known as sports information directors or SIDs at each school) for all 15 PacWest sports.

Concordia has had at least one Scholar-Athlete of the Year in one sport every season since joining the PacWest Conference in 2016.  This included a string of seven consecutive years where CUI softball won this award in that sport from 2016 to 2022.

Last summer, four CUI student-athletes were honored, including Angel Aguirre who became the first runner to be named PacWest Men's Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

For the full PacWest story release CLICK HERE

 

2022-2023 PACWEST SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
Sport	Name	School	GPA	Major
Baseball	Cole Hillier	Point Loma	3.91	Exercise & Sports Science
Men's Basketball	Alex Wright	Biola	3.82	Business Administration
Women's Basketball	Brittney Cedeno	Dominican	3.92	Master's of Business
Men's Cross Country	Bryan Banuelos	Fresno Pacific	3.90	Software Engineering
Women's Cross Country	Jori Paradis	Concordia	3.77	Biology
Men's Golf	Christian Schrodt	Dominican	4.00	Business Administration
Women's Golf	Ebba Wernered	Holy Names	3.95	Business Sports Management
Men's Soccer	Kristian Colaci	Biola	3.94	Master's of Business
Women's Soccer	Tori De Leon	Fresno Pacific	4.00	Master's Psychology
Softball	Colby McClinton	Biola	3.93	Psychology
Men's Tennis	Andrew Leischner	Point Loma	4.00	Mathematics
Women's Tennis	Eleonora Liga	Azusa Pacific	3.86	Master's Business
Men's T&F	Dylan Fox	Concordia	3.90	Business Administration
Women's T&F	Jaylah Walker	Azusa Pacific	3.91	Master's Public Health
Volleyball	Alexia Byrnes	Chaminade	3.86	Counseling Psychology