Cal State Monterey Bay’s Cooper Steiner has been named the 2020-21 CCAA Men’s Golf Championship Scholar for his efforts in the classroom.
 
Steiner, a sophomore from Wichita, Kan., keeps a perfect grade-point average in his pursuit of a computer science degree at Cal State Monterey Bay. Remarkably, in the four seasons the Championship Scholar has been given, an Otter has taken claim to the award each year.
 
During his freshman season for the Otters, Steiner took to the course twice, competing in the 2019 Otter Fall Invitational and the 2020 Bay Area Invitational. He carded his lowest collegiate round of 79 in his last outing prior to the abrupt end of the season due to COVID-19. 

“Cooper is a great example of our goal for all our student-athletes this year to stay enrolled, engaged and on track toward a meaningful degree,” noted Cal State Monterey Bay Director of Athletics, Kirby Garry. “Congratulations to Cooper (and Coach Owen) for this exceptional honor for his hard work and commitment to success in the classroom.”

Cooper followed his father Mark’s footsteps to the links, as he was the 1990 All-Big Eight selection in his season competing for the Kansas Jayhawks.

“Cooper is well deserving of this honor as he has stayed locked in to all aspects of school and athletics,” added Otters’ head men’s golf coach Jason Owen. “His commitment to balancing everything is exceptional and something I try to instill in all of the men’s golf team. Congratulations to Cooper.”

Now in its fourth season, the CCAA Championship Scholar Award program recognizes the academic and athletic achievement of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the conference championship level in his or her sport, while also excelling in the classroom.

The Championship Scholar Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the final CCAA championship site in each conference-sponsored sport. For the 2020-21 academic year, all participating student-athletes in each sport will receive consideration for the award.

This year’s slate of nominations for this prestigious academic distinction in the sport of men’s golf included Christopher Colla (Chico State), Jared Edillor (Cal State San Bernardino), Connor Nelson (Cal State San Marcos), Dylan Otto (Sonoma State), Fraser Owenson (Cal State East Bay), and Brad Sparrer (Stanislaus State).