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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-January 15, 2003
Contact: John Johnson or Randy Allen
517.332.5046 or www.mhsaa.com

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Jan. 15 - The finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2002-03 school year have been announced.
The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, honors 24 individuals, one in each sport in which the Association sponsors a post-season tournament. Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Award, and presents a $1,000 scholarship in each sport. This year, 2,583 applications were received from 444 schools.

Every MHSAA member high school is allowed to select one student-athlete to represent it in each sport, and an individual may be nominated and be a finalist in more than one sport. Twenty-one schools had two or more finalists this year. Okemos leads the way with five finalists, Ann Arbor Pioneer has four finalists; Grosse Ile has three finalists; and Houghton Lake, Bronson, Petoskey, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, Potterville, Suttons Bay, Detroit Western International, Avondale, Kalamazoo Hackett, Beverly Hills Wylie E. Groves, Livonia Stevenson, Colon, Trenton, Hamilton, Caro, Otsego and Essexville-Garber have two.

The applications were judged by an 80-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools, from which the 114 finalists and 24 scholarship recipients were selected. Fall sports scholarship recipients will be announced on February 4; winter sports recipients on February 11; and spring sports winners will be announced on February 18. To honor the 24 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing on March 22.

To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and have previously won a varsity letter in the sport in which they are applying. Students were also asked to shown involvement in other school and community activities, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

2002-03 MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists

Fall Sports

Girls Basketball
Chelsea Grozenski, Pontiac Notre Dame Preparatory School
Ashley Hart, Onekama
Candace Knight, Otsego
Jamie Lucas, Big Bay de Noc
Maggie Schaberg, Okemos
Linsay Marie Singer, Unionville-Sebewaing
Katherine Kristen Thomas, Dexter

Boys Cross Country
Torrey Henry, Detroit Western International
Jeffrey Dean Houtz, Bronson
Trevor James Kalfhoff, Roscommon
Matthew Osher, Beverly Hills Wylie E. Groves
Kyle Smith, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
Jason Trzcinski, Midland

Girls Cross Country
Arianne Baker, Dowagiac
Danielle Bryde, Lansing Sexton
Sarah Jaquith, Petoskey
Lauren Nicole Laethem, Caro
Catherine Vaughn, Harper Woods Regina
Ashley Wolf, East Grand Rapids

Football
Jerry A. Birchmeier Jr., New Lothrop
John K. Feldkamp, Saline
Scott Ibbotson, Suttons Bay
Paul David Jackson, Avondale
David. J. Loney, Garden City
Justin M. Long, Portland St. Patrick
John C. T. Westra, Sturgis

Boys Golf
Andrew Byberg, Livonia Stevenson
Robert Grobbel, Essexville-Garber
Andrew Scott Krei, East Grand Rapids
Jonathan Oltersdorf, Suttons Bay
Kirk Ryan Pentecost, East Lansing
Jeff Sachs, Macomb Dakota

Girls Swimming & Diving
Michelle Lee Decker, Clawson
Julie Nordstrom, Painsdale Jeffers
Erin Jolie Thompson, Trenton

Boys Soccer
Benjamin James Anderson, Waterford Kettering
Brian Jbara, Kalamazoo Hackett
Trevor Keyes, Bay City Central
David P. Minnick, Grosse Pointe South

Girls Tennis
Emily Everingham, Grosse Ile
Andrea Halverson, Bloomfield Hills Sacred Heart
Jennifer Michelle Quirk, Traverse City Central
Carly Sims, Kalamazoo Hackett

Winter Sports

Boys Basketball
Brian Joseph Burton, Garden City
Nathan Alan Cregeur, South Lyon
Michael Davis, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Seth William Griffin, Coloma
Nicholas George Jacqmain, Freeland
Scott Secor, Lake Odessa Lakewood
Nathaniel Lee Teuscher, Charlevoix

Competitive Cheer
Kristen Dazy, Trenton
Debbie Johnson, Bad Axe

Gymnastics
Emily Junck, Ann Arbor Pioneer
Amy Schmidt, Grand Ledge

Hockey
Andrew Francis Eggert, Detroit Catholic Central
Brian Tomczyk, Big Rapids

Boys Skiing
Alexander Paul Lundy, Iron Mountain
Chad Michael Wozniak, Okemos

Girls Skiing
Andrea Boes, Okemos
Adrienne Hooper Call, Benzie Central

Boys Swimming & Diving
Matthew K. Storey, Okemos
Nicholas James Smith, Caro
Victor Wakefield, Ann Arbor Pioneer

Volleyball
Elizabeth Engle, Colon
Andrea Godfrey, Petoskey
Elise Jury, Houghton Lake
Lindsay Kronzer, Southfield Christian
Allison Elizabeth Rogers, Mason
Kelli Marie Zoellner, Harper Woods Lutheran East
Jana Zoet, Hamilton

Wrestling
David Echelbarger, Negaunee
Kevin Mathew Hankinson, Grand Rapids Northview
James C. Hunter III, Grosse Ile
Paul David Jackson, Avondale
Jonathan Michael Lindsey, Bronson

Spring Sports

Baseball
Brian Joseph Burton, Garden City
Matthew Dillion, Reading
Andrew C. Hyde, Evart
James Alan Kleiber, Troy Athens
Kenneth Cody Luzynski, Potterville
Derek Bernhard Larson, Orchard Lake St. Mary
Michael Joseph Morosi, Essexville-Garber

Girls Golf
Kristen Polanski, Livonia Stevenson
Holly Sneller, Hamilton
Anne Marie Ziegler, Forest Park

Softball
Nicole Dingman, Bellevue
Elizabeth Engle, Colon
Jamie Ferrel, Bloomfield Hills Lahser
Lucy Frye, Midland Dow
Chelsea A. Gerding, Owosso
Candace Knight, Otsego
Colleen O'Brien, Canton

Girls Soccer
Elise Jury, Houghton Lake
Robyn Jensen, Okemos
Kelli Kazmier, Linden
Dayna Michelle Rinke, Utica Stevenson

Boys Tennis
Beau Anderson, Norway
Matthew William Christian, Birmingham Brother Rice
Sean Jesse, Buchanan
John Seyferth, Ann Arbor Pioneer

Boys Track & Field
Ryan M. Davis, Cadillac
Torrey Henry, Detroit Western International
Michael Salciccioli, Beverly Hills Wylie E. Groves
Kurt Schimpke, Maple City Glen Lake
Kyle Smith, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern
Thomas Andrew Sunderland, Monroe St. Mary
Kyle Walsh, Ubly

Girls Track & Field
Julie Elizabeth Brusie, North Branch
Tina Michelle Camilleri, Grosse Ile
Lauren Fairbanks, Rogers City
Katie Forsyth, Bath
Jesslyn Galbreath, Potterville
Courtney Kersten, Yale
Lisa Winkle, Grand Rapids South Christian

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,300 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.

MEDIA ADVISORY -- A complete list of scholarship nominees for the Scholar-Athlete Award can be found on the MHSAA Web Site. Please scan that list for the names of student-athletes from your area. Information about finalists and scholarship recipients will be posted on the MHSAA Web Site according to the schedule listed in this release, and media in the markets of the scholarship recipients will be notified by fax the day before the public announcement.

Farm Bureau Insurance and MEEMIC Insuarnce
are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners