6 Ashe Sports Scholars; Jones, Chikhaoui on 1st team

NEW ORLEANS — Six student-athletes from Xavier University of Louisiana — including first-team selections Janelle Jones (women's track and field) and Samir Chikhaoui (men's tennis) — have been named Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars for the 2018-19 academic year.
     
Diverse Issues in Higher Education — a magazine based in Fairfax, Va., and sponsor of the awards since the mid-1990s — announced the honorees Thursday. Criteria for the awards include being a person of color with a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 through the fall 2018 semester. Honorees must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and have a demonstrated record of service to the campus or community.
     
Jones, a senior from Baton Rouge, La., and a graduate of Episcopal High School, was honored for the third consecutive year and made the first team for the second straight year. Another three-time honoree, all on the second team, is Brianna Pace (women's cross country/track and field), a senior from Junction City, Kan., and a graduate of Junction City High School.
     
Chikhaoui is a junior from Lille, France. His high school was St. Remi, and he also competed at two-year Eastern Florida State before transferring to XULA.
     
XULA's other three Ashe scholars all are two-time selections: Maya Trench (women's basketball third team), Yi Chen Pao (women's tennis third team) and Khalil McCoy (men's basketball second team). Trench is a junior from Edgard, La., and a graduate of West St. John High School, Pao is a junior from Taichung City, Taiwan and a graduate of National Shan-Hua, and McCoy is a sophomore from Suwanee, Ga. — it's his first year in the College of Pharmacy — and a graduate of Newnan High School.
     
Diverse Issues raised the minimum GPA from 3.2 a year ago.
     
The list of XULA's Ashe Sports Scholars:

Team	Name	Year*	Major	Hometown	Former School(s)
Women's Basketball
3rd	Maya Trench	Junior	Accounting	Edgard, La.	West St. John
Women's Tennis
3rd	Yi Chen Pao	Junior	Accounting	Taichung City, Taiwan	National Shan-Hua
Women's Track and Field/Cross Country
1st	Janelle Jones	Senior	Accounting	Baton Rouge, La.	Episcopal
2nd	Brianna Pace	Senior	Computer Science	Junction City, Kan.	Junction City
Men's Basketball
2nd	Khalil McCoy	Sophomore	Pharmacy	Suwanee, Ga.	Newnan
Men's Tennis
1st	Samir Chikhaoui	Junior	Finance	Lille, France	St. Remi/Eastern Florida
* 2018-19 athletic classification Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications Department of Athletics & Recreation XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  XULAgold.com twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold