MANHATTAN, Kan. Kansas State’s Bjai Rice was recently named a National Scholar Athlete by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA).

Rice, a sophomore on the women’s rowing team, holds an impressive 3.70 cumulative grade-point average in biology with aspirations of attending medical school in the future. The Wichita native earned a perfect 4.0 GPA in the both the fall and spring semesters during the 2005-06 school year at K-State.

"Bjai (Rice) has been a solid performer in the boat for us this year and has done an outstanding job in the classroom as well," Kansas State head coach Patrick Sweeney said. “She is a great example of what can be achieved as a student-athlete through hard work, discipline and focus. We are proud of her and thankful for her commitment and example to the team.”

This past season, Rice earned her first varsity letter as a member of the First Varsity Eight (1V8+) which raced to a third place finish in the C Final at the NCAA Central Region Championships on May 13-14 in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Kansas State's 1V8+ raced neck-and-neck with Indiana the length of the 2,000-meter course and came up a mere 0.42 seconds behind at the finish.

As a team, the Wildcats earned 144 points, leaving them tied for seventh with Iowa in the Central Region. Kansas State was the highest-placing Big 12 Conference school, ahead of Texas (136 points) and in-state rival Kansas (98 points). This was K-State's best finish ever in the 10-year history of the program at the NCAA regional qualifying event.

A total of 135 student-athletes from 50 NCAA Division I schools were honored for their efforts during the 2005-06 season. Rice was one of 17 scholar athletes representing the Central Region from schools such as K-State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Dayton and Eastern Michigan.

The scholar athlete award annually recognizes student-athletes with a 3.5 cumulative GPA or better, who have competed in 75 percent of the team’s 2006 spring races in the 1V8+, are upperclassmen in terms of eligibility and have been nominated by their head coaches who are good standing members of the CRCA.