ROHNERT PARK, Calif- The Sonoma State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is proud to announce the 2007 induction class of the SSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Amy Apodaca, Derek Bell, Christina Difani, Jann Thorpe, John Volpi, Christopher Ziemer, and Ernie Jensen will be honored for their athletic excellence and contributions to the history of Sonoma State University athletics.
Amy Apodaca holds the distinction of being the only student-athlete from a team sport to earn All-American honors in three different years at Sonoma State. A womens soccer star from 1996 to 1999, Apodaca was the CCAA Player of the Year in 1998 and earned First Team All-Conference and First Team All-West Region honors as a sophomore, junior, and senior. Her finest season was 98 when she scored nine goals and helped lead Sonoma State to the NCAA Division II National Championship game.
By far the most dominant hitter in SSU baseball history, Derek Bell joins the Hall of Fame after a superb three-year career from 1998-2000. The schools all-time leader in home runs (41), hits (228), doubles (48), runs batted in (176), runs scored (161), and walks (105), Bell was a First Team All-American in 2000. That season he hit .382 and set the school record with 23 home runs. He was also named West Region Player of the Year, CCAA Player of the Year, and following the season Bell signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco Giants.
Undoubtedly one of the top volleyball players ever at Sonoma State, Chris Difani (1995-98) holds school records in kills (1,429) and kills per game (3.69). Second place on SSUs kills list is a whopping 241 behind. Difani is also in the schools top ten list in attempts, digs, games played, and hitting percentage. An All-West Region pick in 1997, Difani was the NCAC Player of the Year as well that year after leading the Cossacks to an 11-1 conference record.
Jann Thorpe, All-American. The banner in SSUs gym says it all. The only All-American in Sonoma State womens basketball history (in 1998-99), Thorpe holds just about every career record at SSU. The leader in scoring (1,575), rebounds (1,172), steals (167), field goal percentage (.511), and double-doubles (54), Thorpe earned Conference Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, junior, and senior. She led SSU to a 23-5 record in 1998-99 and owns the four best single-season rebounding totals in school history as well. Following her outstanding four-year career (1995-99), Thorpes No. 20 was retired and currently hangs on the wall at Seawolf Gym.
A two-year star on the Sonoma State football team, John Volpi ranks in the top five in school history in six different rushing categories. He also set the school record in 1983 with 1,043 yards rushing, becoming the only player in school history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. His career total of 1,678 years is over 500 more than the second-best rusher in Sonoma State history. Volpi earned All-NCAC Second Team honors following the 1983 season.
Christopher Ziemer, the youngest of the four soccer-playing Ziemer brothers, really had two different careers at SSU. Ziemer arrived at Sonoma State in 1990 and scored 10 goals and 12 assists as a freshman. He followed that season up with an All-American campaign in 91 in which he helped lead the Cossacks to the national championship game with four goals and 12 assists. Ziemer returned for his junior season six years later, but didnt miss a beat, earning Second Team All-American honors as a junior. It was in this second stretch that he was also named the CCAA's Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 1997-98, the highest scholastic honor an athlete can achieve in the conference. He is currently the schools all-time leader in assists with 29 and he ranks 5th in school history with 77 points.
Ernie Jensen was the long-time president of the University Athletic Association. Through his hard work, Jensen was able to organize work groups that helped construct the stadium club/press box and concession stand at Sonoma States football stadium. The structure would eventually bear his name. He was also instrumental in many other improvements to the athletic deparment at Sonoma State, including the dugouts at Seawolf Diamond.
The induction ceremony will be held on November 11th, 2006 at the Fountaingrove Inn in Santa Rosa. For ticket information or more details, contact the Sonoma State Deparmtent of Athletics at (707) 664-2701.
