CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State scholar-athlete and former Roseburg High standout Seth Thomas has been selected to receive the Tom Hansen Conference Medal, one of the Pacific-12 Conference’s most prestigious honors, the Oregon State University Athletics Department said.

Named in honor of the former commissioner, Tom Hansen Conference Medals are awarded annually by each Pac-12 member to the outstanding senior male and female student-athletes who exhibit “the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership.”

Recipients must be seniors or graduate students who have completed their eligibility. Each school can honor only one male and one female.

OSU basketball player Ruth Hamblin was the female award winner.

Thomas was a four-year letter winner in wrestling from Myrtle Creek.

He graduated earlier this year with a 3.74 GPA in biology and had a 4.0 GPA in his first term in graduate school.

Thomas was a 2015 and 2016 NCAA tournament participant and a two-time placer at the Pac-12 Conference championships. He was 82-38 lifetime in his four-year career, with a 32-2 record in matches decided by a pin.

He was a two-time, first-team Pac-12 All-Academic selection, and made the OSU honor roll eight times. He earned the wrestling team’s Academic Achievement Award and the Dale Thomas Hustle Award in 2016.

Thomas was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s All-Academic team and shared the team’s Chad Flack Most Improved Award in 2015.

Related: Seth Thomas College Wrestling Bio

His leadership and community service activities included volunteering in the OSU Global Medical Brigades; volunteering as a math tutor at College Hill High School in Corvallis; refereeing for the Orange Crush Wrestling Club; serving as a counselor at Camp Dermadillo, a camp for kids living with skin diseases, and assisting at a free healthcare clinic in rural Nicaragua for nine days.

“Seth is a good leader on the mat, and is a great student who is going to be a doctor someday,” OSU coach Jim Zalesky said. “He does all the right things and is the perfect example of a student/athlete.

“He’s been our team leader. He’s an in-state kid who sets a great example on and off the mat.”

Thomas, Hamblin and the 22 other Tom Hansen Conference Medal recipients will be featured in the Pac-12 Network’s second annual “The Pride of the Pac” television show. It will air this summer.

(Photo by Scobel Wiggins/Oregon State Athletics)

(posted 6/16/16)