Barry, Wahl named 2021-22 CCCAA Scholar-Athletes; Honor Roll and Scholar Teams announced

SACRAMENTO – San Diego Miramar College men’s basketball standout Cameron Barry and Butte College All-America softball player Savannah Wahl have been named the 2021-22 California Community College Athletic Association Scholar-Athletes, it was announced by Executive Director Jennifer Cardone on Thursday.

The pair will be honored on March 29 during the annual CCCAA Convention which will be held that week at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento. They’ll join 15 other impressive student-athletes representing the 10 CCCAA conferences who earned distinction on the Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, and 22 programs that will receive Scholar Team Awards.

Additionally, football player Iretunde Akinsola from De Anza College and Ventura College basketball standout Talitha Draper will receive Achievement Awards from the Community College Counselors/Advisors Academic Association for Athletics (3C4A) during the Scholar-Athlete Celebration. Tickets for the Scholar-Athlete Celebration are available through the CCCAA Convention website here.

The CCCAA Scholar-Athlete awards combine excellence in academics, athletics and citizenship.

“The CCCAA Scholar-Athlete Celebration is one of the main highlights of our convention because it focuses on honoring the individuals we’re serving,” Cardone said. “We haven’t had an in-person celebration for four years because of the pandemic so returning to that event is something we’re looking forward to. The student-athletes being honored represent the ideals we promote, and we are thrilled for all of them to be honored.”

Barry, a 6-foot-1 guard from West Hills was an accomplished player for the San Diego Miramar Jets from 2019-22. He earned two All-Pacific Coast Athletic Conference first-team honors on his way to All-State Honorable Mention accolades. Barry, a prolific sharpshooter who made a school-record 11 three-pointers against Imperial Valley as a sophomore, is the program’s all-time made three-pointer leader.

He averaged 20.2 ppg. during the 2021-22 season, one year after scoring at an 18.9 ppg. clip as a freshman. Barry was named the PCAC Player of the Week six times, was named the Don Gehler Memorial Tournament MVP and finished second on the Jets’ all-time scoring list with 1,133 pts.

But Barry was just as impressive in the classroom as well, receiving accolades from professors for his commitment and passion toward his coursework. He carried a 4.0 GPA at San Diego Miramar while concurrently attending San Diego State where he held a 3.82 GPA. One of his instructors specifically mentioned Barry’s strong academic work ethic.

“Cameron is a top student who on many occasions received extra points because he heeded advice not to take the passive role by just trying to get through a course,” said Jeff McKendricks, Professor of Education, Anthropology and Behavorial Sciences at Miramar, in nomination materials. “He made a concerted effort to get as much out of it as possible from every single class.”

Amanda Homer, Associate Professor, Business Administration/Marketing at San Diego Mesa, lauded Barry’s approach in her Business Communications course.

“Cameron is motivated and determined to learn, grow and succeed,” she said in nominating materials. “He is organized, composed and able to work in a fast-paced environment. In addition, Cameron has a wonderful rapport with his classmates and has been a delight to have in class.”

Wahl was one of the most dominant softball players in the state during her career which spanned from the pandemic-stopped 2020 season through 2022 when Butte College went 43-3 and advanced to the CCCAA Softball Championship Tournament. Wahl, from Chico, amassed a 38-8 record from the circle while striking out 282 batters and compiling an overall ERA of 1.19.

She went 21-2 with a 0.76 ERA during the 2022 campaign and averaged a strikeout for each of her 157 total innings pitched. But Wahl was also a threat at the plate, posting a career batting average of .360 with 72 RBIs. While she was strikeout master as a pitcher, she was tenacious as a batter, striking out just five times in 292 at-bats.

Wahl was honored with several awards from the CCCAA and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, including All-America and All-State accolades. She was also named the Golden Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year and the NorCal Pitcher of the Year.

Wahl was perfect with her academic studies as well, earning a 4.00 GPA and two Associate of Arts degrees on her way to prestigious CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. Her physics professor, Allesandro Baldi, praised Wahl’s knowledge and command of the subject matter during the two courses she took with him.

“Savannah is a perceptive, sharp individual with a high aptitude for science,” he said in a nomination letter. “She is driven to understand how things work, whether they be intuitive concepts like velocity or magnetic interaction or more abstract, harder-to-grasp concepts such as momentum and electromagnetic induction.”

She also volunteered at a variety of community and school events.