Swimmer Tom Jansen and Golfer Hannah Jugar selected as Frank Serrao Senior Scholar-Athletes of the Year

Swimmer Tom Jansen and Golfer Hannah Jugar selected as Frank Serrao Senior Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Posted: Apr 18, 2023

REDLANDS, Calif. – It was formally announced at the University of Redlands Honors Convocation during Commencement Weekend that men's swimmer Tom Jansen (Pleasant Hill, CA) and women's golfer Hannah Jugar (Chula Vista, CA) were named the 2023 Frank Serrao Senior Scholar-Athletes of the Year. 

Named in honor of longtime football coach and educator Frank Serrao, this award acknowledges the top male and female student-athletes who have competed in their final season and best exemplify academic achievement, athletic success, and community involvement. The head coaches and various directors within Bulldog Athletics nominate and vote for this prestigious accolade.

Tom Jansen

As a student, Jansen completed his undergraduate degree in 2022 with a B.A. in Psychology with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.781. This current school year (2022-23) he holds a 4.0 GPA as a postgraduate student in Continuing Studies while earning his Human Resources Management Certificate.

"Tom has been a stalwart member of the Bulldog swim and dive team," Assistant Coach Ben Fields commented. "Not only has he impressed with his performances in the pool, but he has led through his actions and by example throughout his five years with the team. His athletic record speaks for itself - All-American, school records, All-SCIAC - but his growth as a person and his efforts to be a great teammate have truly set him apart. I can't overstate what Tom has brought to Bulldog aquatics and I don't think it would be wrong to say he has been the strongest athlete - in the pool, on the deck, and in the classroom - at the TAC in the last five plus years." 

While completing his Psychology Senior Capstone, he was a LiveWell Bulldog intern and worked to promote the Five Essentials of Wellness: Replenish, Move, Calm, Discover, and Connect. He helped to create connections between the students, faculty, and staff in the U of R community, with the goal of combating the college mental health crisis. As part of his work, he contributed to the development of the Bulldog Physical Fitness Program and organized and conducted group training that was free to students and faculty at Redlands.

Jansen's academic research included studying the correlation between increased social media reliance and increased social anxiety, and the drastic changes to personal interaction/communication. He surveyed 89 University of Redlands undergraduate students in PSYC-100 as part of his study.

His academic success has earned him a spot on the College of Arts and Sciences Dean's List seven times and resulted in Redlands Scholar-Athlete status each year of his career. Furthermore, Jansen has earned a spot on the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) All-Academic team throughout his tenure with the Bulldogs.

Additional academic honors include being a College Swimming & Divining Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Individual Scholar All-American Second Team member in 2019-20 and 2021-22 and likely again in 2022-23. Jansen is also an eight-time member of the CSCAA Scholar All-American team. During this academic school year, he was a member of the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District team as he successfully maintained a minimum GPA of 3.50 and competed in at least half of the team's meets.

With great success out of the pool, Jansen was also one of the most successful Bulldogs in the pool, recently earning NCAA Second Team All-America status after placing ninth in the 1650-yard freestyle at the 2023 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships. While at the championships, he took 21st in the 500-yard freestyle for a 15-spot improvement from his 36th seeding.

In addition to being named an All-American in 2022-23, he earned All-SCIAC honors by finishing as the runner-up in the 1650 free at the SCIAC Swimming & Diving Championships. In that race, he tied his school record time in the 1000-yard freestyle while resetting his own school record time in the 1650 free.

Neither of his records lasted long as he broke his 1000-yard free and 1650-yard free times, which now sit at 9:24.19 and 15:35.59, respectively. His 1000-yard time is 14.58 seconds faster than the old record from 2011 and his 1650-yard time is 15.05 seconds faster than another 12-year-old time.

Other notable accolades include sitting third all-time in the 500-yard free with a time of 4:31.97, only 0.72 seconds off the school record. He contributed to the fifth-fastest, 800-free relay that swam 6:49.89 in 2023. Currently, he owns the Thompson Aquatic Center's (TAC) pool record in the 1000-yard free.

"Swimming has been the one constant in my life over the past 18 years," Jansen explained. "With the many life transitions I experienced, swimming was a familiar and predictable part of my life. It has allowed me to set incremental goals to get faster, but also more ambitious goals like wanting to swim collegiately. Arriving at the U of R, the swim and dive program was an immediate community of friends, making that transition easier. The Bulldog family, my teammates, coaches, and many others, were an incredible support network that allowed me to achieve the ultimate personal goal of swimming at the NCAA Division III National Championships. But beyond the fast times and accolades, being a swimmer has taught me the valuable lesson of dedication and perseverance that will serve me for the rest of my life."  

Beyond swimming, Jansen's extracurricular activities included serving as a lifeguard at the TAC during the 2022-23 school year. He also helped incoming students by serving on the New Student Orientation Bulldog student-athlete panel in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He was also one of two swimming & diving student-athletes who participated in the athletics department Self-Evaluation for Title IX Compliance.

Hannah Jugar

Jugar has completed her Environmental Science degree with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.770. She earned Magna Cum Laude Honors and the 2023 Roger Tomlinson Undergraduate Award for Excellence in GIS in 2023. So far, Jugar has made the CAS Dean's List in Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, and Fall 2022.

"Hannah is someone that every coach strives [to have] in a student-athlete," explained Head Coach Jamie Zantua. "Having her as a team captain makes my job so much easier. She is the leader of the women's golf team and every one of her teammates is better because of her. As a Bulldog, she's won nine individual titles and a handful of team wins and was a part of the runner-up finish in the 2022 NCAA Division III National Championship. She's an overachiever, on and off the golf course. Everything she gets involved in, expect her to be committed and give it her all. I can't wait to see what the future holds for Hannah. I know, with her work ethic, the future looks bright!"

Jugar earned Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-Scholar honors in 2020, 2021, and 2022 and earned the WGCA Scholar All-America distinction in 2020-21.

On the golf course, Jugar is a three-time WGCA Division III First Team All-American (2020, 2021, 2022) and a three-time All-West Region (2020, 2021, 2022) member. She is one of only two Bulldogs to be named first-team All-American and will look to become the second four-time member this spring, as she is currently ranked No. 6 in the country by Golfstat and competes as the top golfer for the No. 1 University of Redlands Women's Golf program.

She was named to the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) First Team in 2021 and 2022 and became the SCIAC Athlete of the Year in 2021.

Jugar is a nine-time collegiate champion, posting two wins in 2019-20, five in spring 2021, one in fall 2021, and one this season at SCIAC No. 2.  Fifteen of the 44 lowest rounds in program history have come from Jugar, which is five more than the next golfer. She also has three of the six lowest single rounds with three 67s, one of which came at SCIAC No. 2 earlier this April.  Adding to her single-round records are nine of the 21 lowest two-round totals, including a 137 (70-67) total from SCIAC No. 2 this season, which is one stroke off the school record of 136 (64-72).

Coming into 2022-23, she holds the first, third, and fifth-best single-season round averages. Last season, she reset the program's record for the single-season average when she played 23 total rounds with an average score of 73.61, an improvement of 0.53 shots better than the previous record.

Among the team records, Jugar was one of the golfers on both the lowest single-round team total and the second-lowest team round. She also contributed to each of the four lowest two-round team totals, and lastly, she played in each of the three lowest three-round team totals.

"Being a Bulldog student-athlete has enabled me to balance and combine my academic and athletic passions," Jugar explained. "My supportive professors have encouraged me to combine my environmental science, golf, and GIS interests through my capstone, The Climate Change Adaptations of Southern California Golf Courses to Annual Temperature Increase and Drought. I will continue my career path in environmental consulting and hope to eventually use my academic and athletic experience to make the golf industry more sustainable.  Redlands, with its small class sizes and academic advisors, is structured in a way that allows athletes to excel in the classroom and in their sports. My team and I will be across the nation to compete in a tournament, and this structure made sure I never missed out on learning." 

Furthermore, Jugar served as the Vice President of Students for Environmental Action (S.E.A.) from the Fall of 2019 through the Spring of 2023 and represented the university as a Maroon and Grey Student Ambassador (MGSA) from the Spring of 2021 through the Spring of 2023.

Last year, she participated in the University of Redlands Summer Science Research Program. While working with the San Bernardino National Forest – Bearpaw Reserve, she helped to analyze wildlife populations and vegetation succession after the 2020 El Dorado Fire by using GIS remote sensing, wildlife camera installation, ArcGIS Field Maps, and measuring canopy coverage, height, slope, aspect, soil moisture, basal area, and tree diameter at breast height (DBH).

"Competing with a talented and driven team while wearing Bulldog gear has been the highlight of my golf career. My team and I are a family. Going out on the course to have fun and play for ourselves and each other has led to our success.  I am fortunate to be in this tight-knit community that allowed me to be involved and make the most out of my time at the University. Some days consisted of early morning surfing in San Clemente, going to class, golfing, work-study, field trips to the San Bernardino Mountains, homework, and meeting with Students for Environmental Action and Maroon and Grey Student Ambassadors. All of these academic, athletic, and networking experiences would not be possible without the supportive faculty at Redlands."
 
Jansen and Jugar now join a remarkable list of Bulldog student-athletes, including last year's honorees Andrea Lyon and Tucker Cargile, as recipients of the prestigious Frank Serrao award.