For the second time in his career with the Golden Grizzlies, Oakland University soccer defenseman Ryan Rzepka was named the Mid-Continent Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in a vote of the conference’s faculty athletics representatives. The award is the most prestigious individual honor given by the league.

Rzepka is the only two-time recipient from OU and just the second OU student-athlete to be selected for the honor. Myke Thom from the 1999-2000 men’s basketball team also received the honor.

Rzepka, who recently graduated magna cum laude from OU, was a four-time letter winner for the Golden Grizzlies men’s soccer program where he took home first team all-conference honors each of the last two seasons. He also served as the team captain each of the last two seasons and was a mainstay on the OU defense that allowed a league-best 0.66 goals per game and posted 11 shutouts in 2004. He finished his senior year tied for third on the team with eight points via three goals and two assists.

In the classroom, Rzepka posted a 3.8 cumulative grade point average as an accounting major. He received ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America first team honors this past season after an appearance on the second team a year ago and was awarded third team All-Academic honors from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in 2004.

Rzepka garnered dean’s list accolades each of his eight semesters at Oakland and was a four-time recipient of the Golden Grizzlies Excellence in Academics Award. Additionally, he received the Bud Kulesza Family Scholarship and the Hollie Lepley Senior Scholar Student-Athlete Award. He also was the treasurer for Beta Alpha Psi and served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) for two years.

For more information on OU's soccer teams, see the OU Athletics Web site.