Aggies reveal 2020 HoF inductees
Eggert, Hansen, Runas, Kulovitz and Sumpter to be honored during September ceremony
A class of five former UC Davis student-athletes will enter the Cal Aggie Athletics Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony on Friday, September 4, Director of Athletics Kevin Blue announced.
Alphabetically, the 2020 induction class consists of water polo player Carmen Eggert, golfer Matt Hansen, gymnast Michelle Kulovitz Alencar, golfer Demi Runas, and distance runner Sarah Sumpter.
The CAAHOF selection committee also chose recipients of the Aggie Legacy Award, which honors former student-athletes for their post-UC Davis achievements in athletics; and the Special Recognition Award, bestowed upon those for their volunteer service to the Aggie intercollegiate athletics. The recipients of those two awards will be announced next week.
Eggert earned three ACWPC All-America honorable mentions and three All-Big West Conference awards during her career from 2010 to 2013. Entering the 2020 season, she ranks third in
career goals (189) and total points (279), fourth in steals (163), and sixth in assists (90). Eggert, originally from San Rafael, also joined CAAHOF enshrinee Tiffany Hodgens as the only Aggies ever to score 80 goals in a season. She finished her career by becoming the first player in the program’s varsity era to earn a spot with the U.S. Senior National Team.
Hansen launched his Aggie career with a Big West Conference Freshman of the Year nod in 2010-11 and an NCAA Southwest Regional title. The Los Osos product went on to earn three more All-Big West accolades and invitations to the Patriot All-America Invitational, then culminated his career with a Golfweek All-America honorable mention, a PING AllWest Region award, the Big West Conference individual championship, and the Colby E. “Babe” Slater Award as the university’s top male athlete of the year in 2013-14. Hansen went on to play professionally on Canada’s Mackenzie Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour while remaining close to his alma mater as a volunteer assistant coach for two seasons.
Kulovitz was UC Davis’ final national champion in the USAG Collegiate Division, capturing the 2006 all-around title as a sophomore — one of her four total USAG All-America performances. The Anaheim, California, and South Coast Gymnastics alumna later earned four All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation awards and a share of the 2008 MPSF vault championship. In that final season, she also helped the Aggies win its first conference team title, garnering Co-MPSF Gymnast of the Award acclaim, then earned an individual atlarge berth at the NCAA West Regional in Corvallis. Kulovitz, now Dr. Michelle Alencar, earned her Ph.D. in kinesiology from the University of New Mexico.
Runas, originally from Torrance, was the first golfer to earn the Hubert Heitman Award as the university’s outstanding female athlete of the year, and now will become her program’s first inductee into the CAAHOF. From 2009-10 through 2012-13, she earned three Big West Conference Player of the Year awards and four straight All-Big West firstteam nod, capping her career with All-America accolades from the WCGA (second team) and Golfweek (third team). Runas, who still holds the program record for scoring average, then became the first UC Davis player to earn an LPGA Tour card. She played on that tour for three seasons and continues to compete on the Symetra Tour.
Better known for her nickname “Stump,” Sumpter captured the Big West Conference title and Athlete of the Year award in cross country, then earned a spot in the NCAA West Prelims in the spring of her redshirt freshman season before tragedy struck: she was diagnosed with a brain tumor on the eve of the 2010 cross country season. She was sidelined for that entire school year to recover. Incredibly, Sumpter not only returned to action but did so at the highest levels: two Big West Conference runner-up finishes in cross country, three Big West individual championships in the 5,000 and 10,000 races, a Big West Track Athlete of the Year award, an NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance, and subsequent second-team All-America finish, then a spot in the 2013 USATF Outdoor Championships after her senior year. Entering 2020, Sumpter still holds the school record for the outdoor 10K and indoor 5K, while ranking second in the outdoor 5K.
Sumpter continued to run after college with the hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Trials but had to withdraw from the 2015 NYC Marathon when her health began to deteriorate. She died that September. Sumpter’s memory remains strong in the UC Davis Athletics department as the namesake for the Sarah Sumpter Perseverance Award (inaugurated in 2017), and the Stump Invitational cross country meet (inaugurated 2019). She will be the first posthumous induction into the CAAHOF since legendary athletics director and coach Vern Hickey entered in 1996.
For more information about the CAAHOF, including past honorees and information on how to nominate, please visit the link above. The induction ceremony is open to the public. Tickets and RSVP information will be available at ucdavisaggies.com, while questions about the event may be directed to caahof@ucdavis.edu.