KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA released their Daktronics Scholar-Athletes throughout the 2025-26 academic year, honoring student-athletes across the country. The Soka University Lions had fifty-one student-athletes named Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes in their respective sports.
Women's soccer led all Soka teams with 13 Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Men's cross country followed with five, while women's cross country added three. Men's and women's swimming & diving contributed seven. Men's track and field added four, and women's track and field added three. Men's soccer added six scholar-athletes, men's golf added three, women's golf added four, and men's volleyball rounded out the list with three.
In order to be nominated by an institution, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, must appear on the eligibility certificate for the sport, and have attended two full years as a non-transfer student or one full year as a transfer student.
The full list of Soka University Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athletes for the 2025-26 academic year is as follows:
Men's Cross Country: Daiki Katsukawa, Eiichi Takemura, Gabriel Orozco, Lev Nakamura, Mark Pliushchanskii.
Women's Cross Country: Jasmine Lorenzo, Miki Kawamura, Yuko Hashimoto.
Men's Soccer: Aidan Sandoval, Elm Pentinat Llurba, Hope Suka, Justin Wu, Luca Aiello, Mateus Seiki Rosa.
Women's Soccer: Anahi Aranda, Arlene Yepez, Ashley Aranda, Jeanna Ceja, Lillian Dukes, Luzemely Yepez, Mackinzie Stenstrom, Mallorie Barteau, Micaela Stockton, Nicole Salazar, Samantha Barrera, Sienna Gomez, Thalia Daugherty.
Men's Swimming: Gabriel Orozco, Junior; Jaeger Frazier, Senior; Ren Rydberg, Rion Kunimoto.
Women's Swimming: Beatriz Ulian Vilanova, Kriti Ghimire, Mizuki Yano.
Men's Golf: Nobuaki Mita, Seongyun Kim, Tse-Shiun Ho.
Women's Golf: Beini Tang, Linnea Yamamoto, Mariah Brooks, Mizuki Yano, Junior.
Men's Track & Field: Daiki Katsukawa, Eiichi Takemura, Lev Nakamura, Mark Pliushchanskii
Women's Track & Field: Mili Fukada, Jasmine Lorenzo, Miki Kawamura.
Men's Volleyball: Aiden Chen, João Pedro Silva Araujo, Mateus Quesada.
