July 11, 2011

PASADENA, Calif. – Former Caltech men’s basketball player Ryan Elmquist added one more accolade to his collegiate legacy when he was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court for the 2010-2011 season.

The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts that these men possess off the court, and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be named to the Honors Court, an athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria. The qualifications are as follows:

1. Academically a junior or senior and a varsity player.
2. Cumulative G.P.A. of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2010-11 academic year.
3. Students must have matriculated at least one year at their current institution.
4. Member of an NCAA Division I, II, III, or NAIA Institution.

It is the second straight season Elmquist has earned this yearly recognition. He was one of only five student-athletes from a SCIAC school to be named to the Honors Court. Alex Wolpe and Jonathan Bastos from the University of La Verne as well as Greg Wright and Evan Zahniser from Pomona-Pitzer also received the honor.

The accolade is another in a list of accolades and awards the native of Woodbury, Minn., has received this season:

• Elmquist was named a Capital One Academic All-District VIII college level men's basketball first- team member. He has accumulated a 3.5 GPA and will graduate with a computer science degree in June. After graduation he will serve as a software engineer for Google.
• The conference’s head coaches awarded him with the Ted Ducey award which is given annually to the senior who best exemplifies the high ideals demonstrated by Coach Ted Ducey. The criteria includes ability, leadership, sportsmanship, determination and academic pursuits.
• The SCIAC also awarded him the male Athlete of the Week honor twice during the season. No other male athlete in any sport has earned the distinction more than once this school year.
• He leaves the men’s basketball program as the second leading scorer in school history (1254 points) in addition to holding eight different individual school records. Among them are most career blocked shots (157) and career free throws made (414). In addition, he played in all 100 games Caltech competed in during his four years on campus.
• Elmquist was also named Caltech’s most outstanding athlete at the institute’s annual yearly sports recognition show.

During his final season he averaged 15.8 points per game, which was the second best mark in the league, while blocking a conference best 2.0 shots per game. Furthermore he made a SCIAC best 129 free throws.

Elmquist solidified his reputation in Caltech history by helping the Beavers break its 310-game conference losing streak on Feb. 22. During his final game in a Beaver uniform, Elmquist scored a game-high 23 points while grabbing a team best nine rebounds in the 46-45 win over Occidental. He hit the game-winning free throw with three seconds left in the contest.