THOMAS_WRESTLING

CORVALLIS – Oregon State scholar-athletes Seth Thomas and Ruth Hamblin have been selected to receive the Tom Hansen Conference Medal, one of the Pacific-12 Conference’s most prestigious honors.

Named in honor of the former commissioner, Tom Hansen Conference Medals are awarded annually by each Pac-12 member to the outstanding senior male and female student-athletes who exhibit “the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership.”

Recipients must be seniors or graduate students who have completed their eligibility. Each school can honor only one male and one female.

 

Thomas, a former wrestler at Roseburg High School, was a 2015 and 2016 NCAA tournament participant and a two-time placer at the Pac-12 Conference championships. He was 82-38 lifetime in his four-year career, with a 32-2 record in matches decided by a pin.

He was a two-time, first-team Pac-12 All-Academic selection, and made the OSU honor roll eight times. He earned the wrestling team’s Academic Achievement Award and the Dale Thomas Hustle Award in 2016.

Thomas was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s All-Academic team and shared the team’s Chad Flack Most Improved Award in 2015.

His leadership and community service activities included volunteering in the OSU Global Medical Brigades; volunteering as a math tutor at College Hill High School in Corvallis; refereeing for the Orange Crush Wrestling Club; serving as a counselor at Camp Dermadillo, a camp for kids living with skin diseases, and assisting at a free healthcare clinic in rural Nicaragua for nine days.

“Seth is a good leader on the mat, and is a great student who is going to be a doctor someday,” OSU coach Jim Zalesky said. “He does all the right things and is the perfect example of a student/athlete.

“He’s been our team leader. He’s an in-state kid who sets a great example on and off the mat.”

Hamblin was a four-year letter winner in woman’s basketball from Houston, British Columbia. Now playing for Dallas in the WNBA, she will graduate in June with a 3.85 grade-point average in mechanical engineering.

Thomas was a four-year letter winner in wrestling from Myrtle Creek, Ore. He graduated earlier this year with a 3.74 GPA in biology and had a 4.0 GPA in his first term in graduate school.

Hamblin was one of OSU’s most decorated student-athletes in women’s basketball history. She was a two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year; a two-time Pac-12 first-team selection; a 2015 third-team Associated Press All-American, and a second-round selection by Dallas in the 2016 WNBA draft.

She is the Pac-12’s all-time leader in blocked shots; holds OSU’s career and single-season records for rebounds and blocked shots; was named the OSU Female Athlete of the Year at the 2015 Bennys, and has been invited to the Canadian Olympic Team trials for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

Hamlin was also a 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-American; a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection and a three-time Pac-12 all-academic selection. She received the “Elite 90” Award for having the top GPA of any student-athlete at the Final Four, and is a member of the OSU Experimental Sounding Rocket Association.

Her leadership and community service activities include being named a Senior CLASS Award All-American, and a 4-H, Boys and Girls Club of Corvallis and Habitat for Humanity volunteer. She also volunteered at the Cure Breast Cancer 5K and at “Kids” Day, and was a member of OSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Board Committee.

“Ruth is extremely cerebral, and has a dynamic personality,” OSU coach Scott Rueck said. “She’s one of the most efficient people I’ve ever known. Growing up on a farm instilled in her an incredible work ethic, and that helped her become successful in so many different areas.

“She can do anything she puts her mind to. It has been incredible to watch her growth both on and off the floor. The sky is the limit for her.”

Hamblin, Thomas and the 22 other Tom Hansen Conference Medal recipients will be featured in the Pac-12 Network’s second annual “The Pride of the Pac” television show. It will air this summer.

Oregon State Athletics