Riego de Dios and Berscheid succeed on the field and in the classroom

Tennis player Nico Riego de Dios and track and field athlete Bonnie Berscheid have been selected by the Eastern Washington University athletics department as its Scholar-Athletes for the month of April.

In 2009, Riego de Dios came within one of the school record for singles wins with 17 and teamed up with Kyle Schraeder for an 18-7 doubles mark to set the school record in that category for wins (all tennis marks date to EWU entering the NCAA Division I ranks, as records in those sports are incomplete prior to then).

For his outstanding efforts, he earned All-Big Sky Conference first team accolades for the second straight season. Riego de Dios and the tennis squad finished with an 18-9 record, tied for the highest win total since EWU joined the NCAA Division I ranks. The team placed second in the Big Sky in the regular season and in the tournament.

Academically, Riego de Dios is carrying a 3.33 grade point average while majoring in exercise science/nursing. He also earned mention to the Big Sky All-Academic team in 2008 and is expected to join the 2009 list when that is released in June. 

Read a Q and A with Riego de Dios here.

Berscheid won the Big Sky discus title at the Outdoor Championships the past two seasons but was unfortunately unable to participate in the 2009 event due to a shoulder injury. She will also miss the upcoming NCAA West Regionals due to that injury.

She qualified to participate in both events earlier in the campaign. Her best throw of 156-2 was achieved on April 25 at the Duane Hartman Invitational in Spokane. She also performed well at the Stanford Invitational on March 27 with a toss of 155-9.

Berscheid is majoring in business management, human resources and management information systems, and she has posted a cumulative GPA of 3.89. She has also been named to the Big Sky All-Academic team both indoors and outdoors every season since her arrival at Eastern in the fall of 2005.

Read about how Berscheid helped organize a cleanup of Cheney on Earth Day here.

Men's Scholar-Athletes
September - Paul Limpf, cross country
October - Alex Smyth, cross country
November - Chris Thomas, football
December - Benny Valentine, basketball
January - Art Karas, tennis
February - Adam Stewart, track and field
March - Paul Limpf, track and field
April - Nico Riego de Dios, tennis

Women's Scholar-Athletes
September - Ashley Hamilton, volleyball
October - Lauryn Koelzer, soccer
November - Mandy Daniels, volleyball
December - Kyla Evans, basketball
January - Shene Davis, track and field
February - Krystal Deyo, track and field
March - Rachel Berger, tennis
April - Bonnie Berscheid, track and field