The Columbus State University Athletic Department Partners with Career Athletes

Kansas City, Kan. – Columbus State University Athletics recently agreed to a multi-year partnership with Career Athletes. The partnership between Career Athletes and the Columbus State athletic department provides a national representation of unique networking opportunities and career development resources for current and alumni athletes.

Jay Sparks, Athletic Director at Columbus State University said, "I am happy that we have chosen a partnership with Career Athletes.  They have a great service that not only will help our alumni and current athletes, but will aid us in tracking down and communicating with some alumni that we have lost touch with.  Columbus State has had some major improvements and facelifts and all need to see and learn about them." 

The Columbus State online Career Athletes Community Network will provide benefits such as mentoring, professional networking, virtual career coaching and 12 years of best practices from the leading and largest career services organization assisting athletes, athletic departments and campus career centers. 

The athletic department's Foundation Marketing Director at Columbus State, Heather McGowan said, "I'm excited about the opportunity Career Athletes is offering the student-athletes and alumni of Columbus State University Athletics. As we revamp our department, Career Athletes will be a great asset to keep our alumni up-to-date with our program as well as providing a career networking tool that has proven itself successful."    

The Columbus State Community Network consists of current and alumni athletes from the institution as well as local, regional and national employers all managed and monitored by Career Athletes at its home office in the Kansas City area.  Individual members of Career Athletes are also able to network with more than 65,000 community members from across the nation while having access to more than 5,000 career opportunities exclusive to www.careerathletes.com. 

Career Athletes also provides Columbus State Athletics the unique ability to enhance fundraising and recruiting efforts while offering a revenue share program that allows the university to receive additional monetary resources.

"We are pleased to assist Columbus State Athletics with its commitment toward career development of athletes, but it is also just as important to recognize the program's culture of achievement in community service, academic performance and athletic success," said DJ Washington, Vice President, Career Education and Training for Career Athletes.

Columbus State University is no stranger to success as indicated by additional achievements during the 2009-2010 academic year:

• 70 Columbus State University student-athletes were named to 2009-2010 Peach Belt Conference Presidential Honor Roll
• Men's and Women's Cross Country received U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team Award
• Five individual Cross Country team members received U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association All- Academic Award as well
• Women's Soccer received National Soccer Coaches Association of America Team Academic Award
• Women's Soccer had one Academic All-American and four All-Region honorees
• Columbus State had six All-Americans, 19 All-Region, and 26 All-Conference Student-Athletes
• Baseball set school record 21-game winning streak
• Seven Columbus State teams competed in NCAA Tournament
• Baseball was named 2010 Peach Belt Conference Tournament Champions
• Women's Soccer was named 2009 Peach Belt Regular Season Champions
• Men's Tennis hosted and won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional and advanced to the semi-finals of the NCAA DII Tennis Championships
• Women's Tennis finished with a 19-6 record earning a final national ranking of 12th
• The CSU Cheer squad won their 6th consecutive Peach Belt Title. The Small Coed team finished runnerups at UCA Nationals while the Large Coed squad finished 4th
• Columbus State University will be serving as the host for the 2011 host NCAA Rifle Championship
• Frank Suarez of Men's Tennis was named All-American by ITA
• Jonathan Hall won the 2010 NCAA Air Rifle Championship (set NCAA scoring record)
• Jason Rogers was drafted by Milwaukee Brewers in 2010 MLB Draft
• Jason Rogers was named 2010 Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year (Baseball)
• Phebe Smith was named 2010 Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year (Women's Basketball)
• Meshack Koyiaki (Men's Cross Country) & Brittany Skiles (Women's Cross Country) were named 2009 Peach Belt Conference Runners of the Year; Kelli Arnold (Women's Cross Country) was named PBC Freshman of the Year
• J.D. Evilsizer was named 2009 Peach Belt Conference Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year and Southeast Region Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year

Columbus State student-athletes participated in several community service projects the previous school year. A few of the projects included: Arthritis Walk, Boys & Girls Club of America Day, Habitat for Humanity, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Hosting several Think Pink games a year to promote Breast Cancer Awareness, and the Ronald McDonald House.

For more information on Career Athletes and to sign up for your FREE account, please visit: www.careerathletes.com

About Career Athletes, LLC:

Career Athletes is the leading provider of a wide range of dedicated career development services and software within collegiate athletics. Since the inception of our roots back in 1998-to-date, athletes in every sport, from over 1,200 individual colleges and universities nationwide, have utilized Career Athletes as a valuable tool in their transition from athletics to the workplace.

Career Athletes possesses the largest member based community of current/alumni student-athletes, representing a growing legion of athletes, athletic departments and hundreds of national, regional and local employers. Today, our on-campus training and development seminars to student-athletes are the most relied upon in the nation, with over 900 seminars conducted and over 260,000 student-athletes educated on-campus within college athletic departments at the NCAA, NAIA and Junior Colleges level.