Pitzer College Women’s Water Polo Player Perri Hopkins Named Academic All-American

Perri Hopkins about to score a goal against Stanford during the NCAA Water Polo Championship at San Diego State in May. The Sagehens lost the game but scored more goals off top-ranked Stanford than any other team in this year's NCAA Tournament.
Perri Hopkins about to score a goal against Stanford during the NCAA Water Polo Championship at San Diego State in May. The Sagehens lost the game but scored more goals off top-ranked Stanford than any other team in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Claremont, Calif. (June 6, 2012) — The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) named recent Pitzer College graduate Perri Hopkins ’12 to the Capital One Academic All-America Division III At-Large Third Team. Hopkins was the Sagehen Women’s Water Polo team co-captain, helping lead the team to its fifth Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) championship and a No. 1 ranking in Division III.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized for all the hard work that I put into school as well as water polo,” Hopkins said. “I really feel proud, especially since I played at a DIII school where the athletes are students first rather than the other way around. It shows that we can handle a crazy work load as well as play competitively.”

Hopkins graduated with honors this spring with a degree in biology. At Pitzer, when she wasn’t in the pool she was often in the lab at the College’s Ferré/Marquet Vaccine Research Center. This fall she will start her first year at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine as an Air Force medical student.

“I think balancing water polo and school has prepared me for my future,” Hopkins said.

During the NCAA Water Polo Championship at San Diego State in May, Hopkins was named to the All-Tournament team. She previously won Pitzer’s Daley Award for Athletic Achievement.

CoSIDA votes on Academic All-America teams for soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and cross country/track, while all other sports are nominated in the “at-large” category. Hopkins was the only male or female water polo player to be honored on the Division III All-America teams.

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About Pitzer College

Pitzer College is a nationally top-ranked undergraduate liberal arts and sciences institution. A member of The Claremont Colleges, Pitzer offers a distinctive approach to a liberal arts education by linking intellectual inquiry with interdisciplinary studies, cultural immersion, social responsibility, and community involvement. For more information, please visit www.pitzer.edu.

About Sagehen Athletics

Pitzer College joins with Pomona College to field 21 varsity teams – The Sagehens – that compete in Division III NCAA athletics and as members of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). There are 10 men’s and 11 women’s teams: baseball (men), basketball, cross country, football (men), golf, lacrosse (women), soccer, softball (women), swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball (women) and water polo.

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