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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Feb. 1, 2005 Fall Scholar-Athlete Award Scholarship Recipients Announced EAST LANSING , Mich. - Feb. 1 - The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award program has selected its eight scholarship recipients for the 2004 fall sports season. Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 16th year of sponsoring the award, will give a $1,000 college scholarship to each of the eight fall sports winners, the first of 28 total scholarships to be presented, 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 19. Commemorative plaques will be given to other finalists in recognition of their accomplishments. The Scholar-Athlete Award honorees for the 2004 fall sports season are: Christina Ashley Maertens, Birmingham Seaholm , girls basketball; Jason Victor Hawley, Temperance Bedford , boys cross country; Kelly Nicole Sampson, Detroit Renaissance , girls cross country; Steve Short, Kingsford, football; Ross Osgood, Delton Kellogg , boys golf; Mark Weber, Grand Rapids Catholic Central , boys soccer; Emily Weslosky, Troy Athens , girls swimming & diving; Jenny Armstrong, Harbor Springs , girls tennis. Overviews of the scholarship recipients of the fall Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay is also included:
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship in educational athletics is extremely important; for it allows students to hone values that are necessary for the development of respect. Respect is a lifelong character trait that we all long to possess. Sportsmanship has led me to a high level of integrity. My life reflects on being a person of high integrity."
Essay Quote - "Good sportsmanship is often typified by the gracious acceptance of defeat or the humble celebration of victory, by the courtesy of the game or the amity between competitors. Sportsmanship, though, is much more; it is a pattern of behavior and not merely a set of abstract ideals or half-hearted obligations of good nature."
Essay Quote - "As in sports, in life there are losses. The protocol of sportsmanship that guides young athletes helps us remain dignified and gracious during those times of defeat. We learn that screaming and hollering is futile, and that scorning others because of their accomplishments is wrong. Most importantly, we learn that acting ugly and sore after a loss is the only thing that makes the first place athlete a loser."
Essay Quote - "One of the first things that you notice about an athlete on the field is their attitude and sportsmanship. When all is said and done, the people who have had the most fun and the people that were your best competition also had the best sportsmanship. They give you a hand when you are on the ground, and you help them up when you they fall."
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship is what maintains control during the game. It is what brings teams together at the end of a tough game. It's what makes the game fun for athletes and fans. Sportsmanship is playing fair and losing without complaint."
Essay Quote - "The art of sportsmanship is so much more than following the rules or keeping a tight lip to a referee -- it is a way of life. Sportsmanship is strength. It means the ability to thrive on adversity, to show humility in victory and graciousness in defeat, to uphold the highest standard of integrity on and off the ice and to respect that standard in an opponent, to face injuries with courage and conviction, and, finally, the ability to love the game for what it is: a game."
Essay Quote - "I have left the pool with more than a record of wins and losses. I have left the pool with a renewed sense of the importance of sportsmanship. To me, sportsmanship is the foundation to athletic success and competition; sportsmanship can be characterized by respect, acceptation, and humility."
Essay Quote - "When an athlete acts sportsmanlike, she has nothing to regret -- even if she lost. You see, the only regret an athlete should ever have is the failure to act sportsmanlike. It doesn't matter if she missed that shot, whiffed that swing, or lost by a point. If she had a positive attitude toward herself, her teammates, and her opponent, the she can chalk that contest up to a win." Other fall finalists by sport for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Girls Basketball -- Carrie Abdo, Riverview Gabriel Richard; Megan Clock, Houghton Lake ; Kristie Coplin, Litchfield; Jessica Ann Kennard, Hillman; Kelly Kathryn Ross, Caseville; Jennifer Waters, Grand Haven. Boys Cross Country -- Harvey Michael Elliott, Constantine; Bruce Kaszmarek, Bloomfield Hills Lahser; Phillip Peterson, Ellsworth; Jeremy Phan, Goodrich; Ben Wales, Otsego. Girls Cross Country -- Samantha Murray, Marcellus; Alison Nesbitt, Essexville Garber; Neela Rao, Bloomfield Hills Lahser; Amanda Claire Rudert, Mt. Pleasant; Anne Victoria Rush, Leroy Pine River. Football -- Stephen Denuyl, Clinton; Kelly C. Durr, Bad Axe; Matthew Ian Haughey, Bridgman; Jonathan M. Kiekintveld, Holland West Ottawa; Jeff Schuele, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; Michael Taylor, Redford Union. Boys Golf -- Korry Bates, Detroit Denby; Stephen Gardner, Bay City Western; Brian Norton, Rudyard; Jonathan Daniel Smith, Walled Lake Northern; Paul Wolcott, East Lansing. Boys Soccer -- Ashish Chaddha, Auburn Hills Avondale; David Leslie, Dearborn Divine Child; Andrew Wolohan, Saginaw Nouvel; Torin Yeager, Maple City Glen Lake. Girls Swimming & Diving -- Christina De Simone, Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central; Jennifer Jean Lombard, Kalamazoo Hackett. Girls Tennis -- Colette Buckberry, East Lansing ; Stephanie Chen, Troy ; Amelia Eaton, Ann Arbor Huron. 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. Winter sport scholarship recipients will be announced on Feb. 8, and spring sports honorees will be announced on Feb. 15. Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan 's major insurers, has a statewide force of 350 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors lifesaving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities. The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,500 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. -0- MEDIA ADVISORY -- A complete list of scholarship nominees and finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award can be found by clicking on the Recognition link on the home page of the MHSAA Web Site, and then clicking on Scholar-Athlete Award. Information about 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. For more information about Farm Bureau Insurance, contact Luke Schafer, Public Relations Manager, at 517.323.7000. You can download the MHSAA's Scholar-Athlete Award logo from the MHSAA Web Site - click on Forms & Graphics off the home page. RL05-043 Farm Bureau Insurance and MEEMIC Insurance are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners |