EAST LANSING, Mich. - Feb. 20 - The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award program has selected its seven scholarship recipients for the 2001 spring sports season. Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 12th year of sponsoring the award, will give a $1,000 college scholarship to each of the spring sport winners. Farm Bureau will present a total of 24 scholarships, one for each sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Each of the scholarship recipients will be honored at halftime ceremonies of the Class C Boys Basketball final game at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing on March 24. Commemorative plaques will be given to other finalists in recognition of their accomplishments. The seven Scholar-Athlete Award honorees for
the 2001 spring sports season are: David M. Omenn, Ann Arbor
Huron, baseball; Laura Beauchamp, Dexter, girls golf; Amy Myers,
Cadillac, girls soccer; Amy Fleming, Grand Rapids Forest Hills
Central, softball; David Litwiller, Ithaca, boys tennis; Steven
I. Lockwood, Alpena, boys track & field; Megan Elizabeth
Dana, Saginaw Heritage, girls track & field.
Essay Quote - "If you look at the great teams across all sports, you can see that they all have great unity and a great respect for each other and for the game. This is the ultimate goal; you must play hard, play respectfully, and play as a team. This is what sports ought to be about. Those who play for their love and passion for the game with good sportsmanship make a sport a truly wonderful experience."
Essay Quote - "An athlete does not have to perform at the college or professional level to become a role model: many of today's youths are influenced by the people in their everyday lives. As a result, conduct and sportsmanship not only affect the values of athletes themselves, but also develop the values of their peers outside of the athletic arena."
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship doesn't always relate to sports, sometimes one has to be a good sport in a work related environment. One has to accept others ideas and even compromise to make them better. It takes teamwork to accomplish a task well and sportsmanship to maintain healthy relationships with coworkers."
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship is a lesson that athletes carry on into their lives. They learn to be competitive, friendly, and respectful at the same time. I have been fortunate to have many coaches who have taught me how to play the games competitively and aggressively while still maintaining that high level of sportsmanship we all should have. Learning good sportsmanship early ensures that it will continue throughout an athlete's career as well as in their life beyond sports."
Essay Quote - "Is there more to sports than winning? This is the big question in competitive sports today. All athletes are out to win, but some will cross the line and cheat or play dirty to win. Athletes like this don't care how they win. What is the joy of winning if a person doesn't have the personal satisfaction of being a good sport along with the win? I believe winning is important, but how you win is even more important."
Essay Quote - "Years ago, concerns about sports centered around safety issues to protect young athletes. In the new millenium, let's extend those safety concerns to address a new issue - maintaining good sportsmanlike behavior on and off the playing field. Mandatory classes for athletes and parents will only serve to reinforce the idea we've been taught all along - that sports themselves are merely the vehicle we use to learn the valuable life lessons good sportsmanship teaches us."
Essay Quote - "School sports are offered to teenagers for fun, for competition, and for growth. Day after day of practicing can build confidence, maturity, and self-discipline in any athlete with a good attitude. Every drop of sweat may be complemented by the satisfaction of improvement." Other spring finalists by sport for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Baseball -- Oliver J. Wolcott, Plymouth Canton; Jared Stasik, Frankenmuth; Jeffery James Courter, Rockford; Joe Hawley, Bloomfield Hills Lahser; Jeff Salling, Mesick; Collin O'Keefe, Grand Ledge. Girls Golf -- Christina J. Slupek, Plymouth Canton; Courtney Ann Hyun Rheinhardt, Clio. Softball -- Angela N. Nue, Plymouth Canton; Mari Doremire, Fruitport; Erin Sigelko, Reese; Cynthia Blaszak, Lake City; Amy Chelovich, Bloomfield Hills Lahser; Stacey Meyers, Adrian Lenawee Christian. Girls Soccer -- Jessica Betel, West Bloomfield; Molly K. Wickenheiser, Monroe St Mary Catholic Central; Rondi Lounds, St Johns. Boys Tennis -- Brian Doughty, North Farmington; David J. Hiniker, Ann Arbor Pioneer; Luke Ruse, Allegan. Boys Track & Field -- Neil Marshall, Litchfield; Michael Lusardi, Troy Athens; Travis Young, Leroy Pine River; Joel Clark, Warren Woods-Tower; Robert Ross Coleman, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern; Jacob Grice, Sandusky. Girls Track & Field -- Trisha Matelski, Harbor Springs; Colleen Ann Brady, Jonesville; Deborah Michelle Lada, Birmingham Groves; Carolyn Adamson, Big Rapids; Jessica Schore, Grosse Pointe North; Laura Ketchum, Otsego. Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average, and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics. Fall honorees were: Becky A. Stepp, Waterford Kettering, girls basketball; Tom Hakim, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, boys cross country; Karen Elizabeth Latus, New Buffalo, girls cross country; Kevin Christopher Cleary, Grosse Pointe North, football; Jack McKinnon, St. Ignace, boys golf; Robert Ross Coleman, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, boys soccer; Kathryn Ladewski, Ann Arbor Pioneer, girls swimming & diving; Priya Malviya, Holland, girls tennis. Winter honorees were: Reed J. Langton, Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central, boys basketball; Antonette Bitonti, Pontiac Notre Dame, girls competitive cheer; Christine Victor, Grosse Pointe North, girls gymnastics; Christopher Weier, Warren DeLaSalle, ice hockey; Kirk Anderson, Negaunee, boys skiing; Kate Quirk, Traverse City Central, girls skiing; Jeremy R. Backus, West Bloomfield, boys swimming & diving; Amy Lyn King, Pigeon Laker, girls volleyball; Justin Alan DeLay, Roscommon, wrestling. 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. RL01-053 Farm Bureau Insurance & Little Caesars Pizza are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners |