FSCJ Female and Male Athletes of the Year and Scholar Athletes of the Year Named for 2020-21

FSCJ BlueWave Softball Player Breanna Swanson and Men’s Basketball Player Gianfranco Grafals were recently named FSCJ’s Female and Male Athlete of the Year for 2020-21 in recognition of their athletic achievements. 

Swanson has been a part of the BlueWave softball team for three seasons and was a second team all-conference player both in 2019 and 2021. She held a .375 batting average and fielded a .976 percentage playing the outfield. Swanson holds a perfect 4.0 GPA and graduated last May with an Associate in Arts. She is currently enrolled in FSCJ’s Business Administration Bachelor of Science program and has earned academic All-Conference, All-Region and First Team All-National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in 2019-20 and 2020-21. 

Grafals transferred to FSCJ to play his second season of college basketball and led the team with an average of 17 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game. He earned a 3.5 GPA during his two terms at FSCJ and will graduate with honors. He is an Academic All-Conference and Academic All-Region recipient as well. 

Indoor Volleyball and Beach Volleyball Student-Athlete Leah Mortensen and Cross Country Team Member John Bear were recently named FSCJ’s Female and Male Scholar Athlete of the Year for 2020-21 in recognition of their academic, athletic and civic achievements.

Mortensen holds a perfect 4.0 GPA and graduated this past May with an Associate in Arts. She is a two-time Academic All-Conference, All-Region and First Team All-NJCAA academic recipient. She has 500 volunteer hours with Southeastern Guide Dogs, training a puppy that will eventually be given to either someone who is visually impaired or a veteran.

Also named Mid-Florida Conference Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, Bear is working on his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences degree and continues to hold a perfect 4.0 GPA. He earned Academic All-Conference, All-Region and NJCAA First Team honors and was the GPA leader for his team this year and garnered fifth place with the NJCAA XC Coaches Association All-Academic Award.

Bear volunteered over 50 hours as an official for the Florida Striders races and at two UNF track meets. He has also volunteered for the YMCA kid’s track program. In addition, he volunteered to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine program, taking part in the original tests before it was distributed to the general public. 

Additional BlueWave team awards can be found here.