LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's Division of Intercollegiate Athletics honored its tremendous student-athletes on Monday night at its annual awards banquet with Nevaeh Asiasi and Jonathan Manuel receiving the top honors in ceremonies at the Sheraton Los Angeles/San Gabriel Hotel.

Asiasi earned the Billie Jean King Award as the top female athlete after a historic season. She became the first player in women's basketball program history to earn California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year honors after leading the Golden Eagles to a program-record 24 wins and a first-ever CCAA Tournament title. She also earned CCAA Tournament Most Valuable Player honors and became only the sixth player in program history to earn WBCA All-America honors. Asiasi led the CCAA in scoring with 19.4 points per game.

Manuel earned the Frank J. Candida Award as the top male athlete. He earned first-team All-CCAA honors on Monday after being the top two-way baseball performer in the conference. He leads the Golden Eagles on the mound with seven wins and he also leads the team with a .381 batting average. He and the Golden Eagle baseball team will be competing in the CCAA Tournament beginning on Wednesday in San Bernardino.

The Golden Awards featured team and department awards and was made possible by the exceptional planning and execution by Alexis Crimes, Dr. Demetrus Caldwell, Raymond Castillo, Dameion "Lucky" Smith and members of Cal State LA's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The event itself was led by student-athletes, who presented the major department awards, and by tennis star Maldini Simic and track and field conference champion Sinaiah Pointer, who served as the hosts.

The Golden Eagles celebrated a 2025-26 campaign that has seen them achieve some outstanding accomplishments.

So far this year, with some spring sports still finishing up, Cal State LA student-athletes have won 3 All-America awards, 4 All-Region awards, 1 CCAA MVP award, 6 CCAA individual championships and 36 All-Conference awards. Nine teams competed in CCAA Tournaments and the Golden Eagles had a program-record 39 student-athletes earn CCAA Fall Academic Honor Roll recognition. The winter and spring honor rolls will be announced later this year.

Damian Bonds won the conference's Elite 13 Award for academic achievement in the sport of men's track and field.

In addition to the top male and female Athlete of the Year awards, several other awards were handed out by the division. Damian Bonds (cross country and track and field) and Madison Juarez (women's soccer) won the Academic Achievement Awards and Sinaiah Pointer (women's track and field) and Cesar Chavez (baseball) won the Dr. Hal Charnofsky Awards that are given by the CCAA for athletic and academic achievements.

Angel Sandres (men's soccer) won the Male Freshman of the Year award, while Bailey Martinez (women's soccer) won the Female Freshman of the Year award. Wallace Aflamah (men's track and field) and Summer Stevenson (women's track and field) were named the Newcomers of the Year and Adam Axtell (baseball) received the Lori Rudd Courage and Spirit Award.

Torino Johnson of women's basketball was named the Coach of the Year and women's basketball was named the Team of the Year.

The evening also included touching and meaningful tributes to the departing men's basketball head coach Jim Saia, women's tennis head coach Richard Gallien and sports information director Paul Helms.

The complete list of award winners follows:

2026 Cal State LA Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Division Awards

Frank J. Candida Award (Male Athlete of the Year)
Jonathan Manuel, Baseball

Billie Jean King Award (Female Athlete of the Year)
Nevaeh Asiasi, Basketball

Academic Achievement Award (Male)
Damian Bonds, Cross Country/Track & Field

Academic Achievement Award (Female)
Madison Juarez, Soccer

Dr. Hal Charnofsky Award
Sinaiah Pointer, Track & Field
Cesar Chavez, Baseball

Freshman of the Year (Female)
Bailey Martinez, Soccer

Freshman of the Year (Male)
Angel Sandres, Soccer

Newcomer of the Year (Female)
Summer Stevenson, Track & Field

Newcomer of the Year (Male)
Wallace Aflamah, Track & Field

Lori Rudd Courage and Spirit Award
Adam Axtell, Baseball

Coach of the Year
Torino Johnson, Women's Basketball

Team of the Year
Women's Basketball