Coyotes’ Haas honored by NCAA

Meghan Haas of Cal State San Bernardino, the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s scholar-athlete of the year, is now a semifinalist for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

            Haas, an honorable mention all-American as a libero in volleyball and holder of the CSUSB career and single season records for digs, was among 30 student-athletes from 130 entries among three NCAA divisions to make the semifinals.

            The 30 semifinalists will be trimmed to nine – three from each division – next month and the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the national winner from the pool of finalists.

            The recipient will be announced during an awards dinner in Indianapolis, Ind., on Oct. 18.

            Haas was among 10 NCAA Division II student-athletes advancing in the awards program and the second from the CCAA. Also making it into the semifinals was Jasimen Bailey, a track and field athlete from Cal State Stanislaus.

            The NCAA Woman of the Year Award honors senior student-athletes who have excelled in the areas of academic achievement, athletics, service and leadership.

            Haas learned the news first from her mother, who was monitoring the NCAA website on a daily basis. “My initial response to the news was shock. When Morgan Walker (CSUSB’s Associate Athletic Director for NCAA Compliance) and I began the application process, I had no idea it would take us this far!”

            The 6-foot  Haas, a Menifee resident and Temecula Chaparral HS graduate who helped lead the Coyotes win three straight CCAA volleyball titles, a West Region title and the NCAA championship match in 2008, said winning such an award would be “surreal.”

            “Now, do I think I will actually win? No, I don’t. I may have volunteered my time, kept my grades up and was lucky enough to be part of a successful volleyball team, but I don’t feel my contributions were anything out of the ordinary.

            “As a college student, I wanted to get involved as much as I could, and if what I did is enough to be recognized at a national level, then that’s great. But if not, I am still proud of what I was able to do.”

            Haas received her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology (pedagogy) in June commencement ceremonies.

            “In the end it goes to show that the opportunities that we are given as collegiate athletes are endless. For those four or five years of our lives we truly have the power to affect change and I applaud the NCAA for recognizing individuals all over the country who jump on such opportunities.”

            Haas had a cumulative grade point average of 3.83 at CSUSB. She earned all-CCAA, all-West Region and honorable mention all-America as well as Daktronics third-team all-America in volleyball. She served as team captain or co-captain three times.
Academically, she was the Kinesiology department’s outstanding graduate in the Class of 2009, graduating with high honors. She received the CCAA’s Hal Charnofsky Award for academic excellence and was awarded an academic scholarship at CSUSB from the Martin Matich Family. She was voted to the ESPN-The Magazine/CoSIDA all-academic District 8 first team.

She served as vice-president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council for the past two years and voluntarily participated in Relay for Life for three years, Read Across America, the CSUSB Disability Sports Festival, the SAAC Adopt-a-Family program and Make-A-Wish Foundation fund-raisers.

Haas also served as a counselor at Coyote summer youth volleyball camps and was head coach of the Rancho Valley club’s 15-under team this past season.
 
 

Share this

Plusone Twitter Facebook Tumblr Reddit Stumbleupon Email