Keil Named Student-Athlete of the Year at SMC

The 2010-11 Student-Athletes of the Year at Santa Monica College were announced Thursday and one of them is 2009 Palisades High graduate , who played middle blocker on the Dolphins' varsity volleyball team and won two City titles in her three seasons.

Annual awards are presented to a player from each of SMC's 16 sports programs that excels both scholastically and athletically. 

Keil began to play volleyball as a sophomore at Palihi in 2007 under former coach . She worked hard to improve her skills and earned a starting spot at middle blocker and opposite hitter the next season. In 2008 she racked up 100 kills and 24 blocks for the Dolphins, who won 25 matches and swept Venice to win the City title. As a senior in 2009, Keil had 93 kills and 26 blocks and Palisades defeated Granada Hills in four sets in the finals to repeat as champion.

Keil served as team captain for the women's team in the fall, learning new leadership skills and being named to the Western State Conference second team after finishing second on the squad in attack percentage and averaging eight kills per match.

A member of the SMC Scholar’s Program for honor students, Keil will make her life-long dream a reality next fall by attending UCLA, where she plans to study business as an undergraduate, then pursue her Master’s degree in business management.

Click here to watch a YouTube video of Keil's career highlights at Palihi.

SMC's other 2010-11 Student-Athletes of the Year are:

Haley Newell, women's basketball

DeShawn Stephens, men's basketball

Samantha Bozek, softball

Brian Hawthorne, football

Dayne Contarsy, men's water polo

Kailey Makuta, women's water polo

Sean Foley, men's volleyball

Melvin Guerrero, men's track & field

Ayana Robinson, women's track & field

Jen Hager, women's soccer

Spencer Hirahara, men's cross country

Mackenzie Shea Lee, women's cross country

Michelle Liu, women's swimming

Jeff Lum, men's swimming

Katerina Mozolyuk, women's tennis