EAST LANSING, Mich. - Feb. 13 - The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award program has selected its nine scholarship recipients for the 2001 winter sports season. Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 12th year of sponsoring the award, will give a $1,000 college scholarship to each of the nine winter 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 nine Scholar-Athlete Award honorees for the 2001 winter sports season are: 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. Overviews of the nine scholarship recipients of the winter Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay is also included:
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship teaches athletes to play fair, be good losers, and gracious winners. Athletes can use these characteristics in their interactions with other people in situations in school, their job, and all other aspects of life. It is important that the participants as well as coaches do all that they can to make sportsmanship the major focus of educational athletics."
Essay Quote - "In cheerleading, sportsmanship is key to competing. It is such a great feeling to hear all the other teams cheering for you when you are out on the floor. That is why I love the sport of cheerleading so much. It gives you the opportunity to really show what sportsmanship is about. The cheerleaders are the ones who encourage positive behavior at all the sports events and use their role as 'leaders' to promote this."
Essay Quote - "Although society tends to only view and admire the talent of athletes, sportsmanship plays a far more superior role. The existence of sportsmanship among athletes separates those who qualify as role models against those who are bad influences on society. An athlete who demonstrates sportsmanship portrays the importance it upholds because its qualities can be applied to life also."
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship calls on all individuals to rise above the chatter and commotion, to play on with the same passion and emotion, but to remain temperate and even-keeled. The true and intelligent participant removes oneself from the altercations and strives to encourage other players to also recognize the problem and retain their composure."
Essay Quote - "Good sportsmanship isn't a uniform pulled on for the big game and then thrown into the laundry until the next competition. Instead, it is a part of a person's life and character. Good sportsmen conduct themselves responsibly even when the fans aren't watching. How an athlete acts when no one is looking is what makes a good athlete great."
Essay Quote - "It is the athletes themselves whose attitude will determine how they accept the outcome, win or lose. Those athletes who are dedicated to sportsmanship can pick up their heads after a hard-fought defeat, shake the hands of their opponents, congratulate them on a well-deserved victory, and walk away with a positive experience. In other words, the true competitor, the true sportsmen, is always just as gracious in defeat as he is in victory."
Essay Quote - "High school athletics cannot be separated from academic pursuits. The lessons learned in athletic arenas can be no less important than the lessons we learn in the classroom. While honing our technical skills in math class, our people skills are perfected on the sports field, pools and courts. Sportsmanship is a critical element in scholastic athletics"
Essay Quote - "Displaying good sportsmanship in athletic events is extremely important. In every competition someone will win and someone will lose. Being the victorious one is exciting and gratifying, but being part of a loss takes as much or more class to show good sportsmanship. The real winners are the ones who are positive in the end no matter the outcome."
Essay Quote - "If so much is worthy of regard in a simple athletic event, then it must be necessary in the rest of life. This is the connection that educational athletics strive to make. The field of play is a training ground for the real world. Just like in sport, there are the rules, the refs, the team and the opponent. And just like on the field, all these aspects demand to be held in high esteem." Other winter finalists by sport for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Boys Basketball -- Russell Gajos, Warren Fitzgerald; Marcus A. Reath, Wyoming Godwin Heights; Michael Wolking, Grosse Pointe South; Craig Emmert, Cass City; Nicholas William Marietti, North Muskegon; Christopher Euler, Indian River Inland Lakes. Girls Competitive Cheer -- Kelly Volker, Jenison. Girls Gymnastics -- Kelly Thompson, St Johns; Christine Victor, Grosse Pointe North. Ice Hockey -- Kahn Lee, Jenison. Boys Skiing -- John Goebel, Detroit Catholic Central. Girls Skiing -- Leah Sanders, Ortonville-Brandon. Boys Swimming & Diving -- Christopher Sarasin, Marquette; David Michael Weinberg, Ann Arbor Huron. Girls Volleyball -- Megan Erskine, Grand Ledge; Cindy Meyerand, Utica; Kathleen Elizabeth Morgan, Flat Rock; Erin C. Ackerman, Bridgman; Kelly O'Connor, Suttons Bay; Karen Kaye, Saugatuck. Wrestling -- Christopher Litvin, Redford Thurston; Jordan James Earley, East Kentwood; Christopher T. Hannasch, Holt; James Ranger, Lapeer West. 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. Spring sports scholarship recipients will be announced on Feb. 20. 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. 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. RL01-048 Farm Bureau Insurance & Little Caesars Pizza are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners |