June 10, 2009
rizona State University senior softball player Kaitlin Cochran and senior basketball player Jeff Pendergraph have been selected as ASU's recipients of the 2008-09 Tom Hansen Conference Medal, the Conference announced Wednesday. This award, recently renamed to honor Commissioner Tom Hansen who is retiring at the end of June, is awarded to each member institution's outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.
Cochran helped lead her team to the Women's College World Series every season in her prestigious career. With Cochran, one of the nation's most feared hitters, the Sun Devils won their first NCAA title in 2008. Cochran led the nation in on base percentage this past season and ranked in the top 10 in batting average, slugging percentage, home runs, home runs per game and runs brought in. She has broken every ASU offensive career and single-season record. She is a four-time First-Team Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-American and four-time First-Team All-Pac-10 choice. Cochran also succeeded in academics during her time at ASU and has been named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First-Team three times.
Pendergraph established himself as one of the most efficient and productive players in school history throughout his four years at ASU. He set school records for games played (126) and started (120) while his 1,588 career points (12.6 per game) are good for sixth on the school career list. With Pendergraph as the team's senior leader, the Sun Devils' 2008 season was one of their most successful in recent history. In his senior year he earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors and shot 77.9 percent from the foul line (113-of-145) in addition to leading the nation at 66-percent field goal shooting. Pendergraph posted 11 double-doubles and averaged 16.1 points and 9.0 rebounds in the final 15 games as ASU posted 25 wins for just the third time in school history and for the first time since 1974-75. He helped lead ASU to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in 14 seasons and for just the fourth time in 28 seasons. The Etiwanda, Calif., native earned his B.A. in economics in just three and a half years.
Both Cochran and Pendergraph will be honored at the State Farm Pride of the Pac-10 Breakfast held in Los Angeles in conjunction with the Pac-10 Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments next March.