June 14, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB forward Lukasz Kwapisz was honored with the league's Post-Graduate Scholarship award for men's soccer on Thursday, Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky announced. Kwapisz becomes the second UAB men's soccer player to earn one of the league's top academic awards, as Jeremy Drake was tabbed the Conference USA men's soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year on June 12.

"This is an outstanding award for Lukasz," UAB head coach Mike Getman said. "Lukasz truly defines what it means to be a student-athlete. With Lukasz and Jeremy winning these awards, I think this shows that our program is not only about success on the field, but hard work and positive results in the classroom as well."

The conference annually presents the $4,000 Postgraduate Scholarship awards to graduates as selected by the Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors. Kwapisz becomes the first men's soccer player to claim the honor in program history. Furthermore, Drake and Kwapisz were the lone UAB representatives on both the Scholar Athlete of the Year and the PostGraduate Scholarship awards.

With a perfect 4.0 GPA, Kwapisz was selected to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America first team following both his junior and senior seasons with the Blazers. Kwapisz tied for fifth in C-USAand was second on the team with seven goals this season, while also earning the Outstanding Organic Chemistry Award and UAB's Senior Male Top Scholar Athlete. He was a four-time selection to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and Academic Medal recipient. The Birmingham, Ala., native has applied to the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

Drake was the second Blazer men's soccer player over the past three seasons to earn the league's Scholar Athlete of the Year. Kwapisz earned the honor during the 2004-05 academic year. Drake, a senior from Birmingham, Ala., played a key role in UAB's run to the 2006 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. He played in 13 contests before suffering a season-ending injury prior to the 2006 Conference USA Tournament. Drake carried a perfect 4.0 while majoring in biology/pre-medicine at UAB, and intends become an orthopedic surgeon.