EAST LANSING, Mich. - Feb. 23 - The Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award program has selected its seven scholarship recipients for the 2000 spring sports season. Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 11th year of sponsoring the award, will give a $1,000 college scholarship to each of the seven 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 25. Commemorative plaques will be given to other finalists in recognition of their accomplishments. The seven Scholar-Athlete Award honorees for the 2000 spring sports season are: Aaron Johnson, Flint Powers Catholic, baseball; Jennifer Petzko, Coldwater, girls golf; Laura Wolohan, Saginaw Nouvel, girls soccer; Katie Cramer, Frankenmuth, softball; Steven J. Jackson, Harbor Beach, boys tennis; Garrett James Dawe, Mio, boys track and field; and Carolyn Hammer, Allegan, girls track and field. Overviews of the seven scholarship recipients of the spring Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay is also included:
Essay Quote - "Sportsmanship is just as important as just as a fan as it is a player. It is easy for a spectator to criticize an official or heckle an opponent. Unfortunately, this happens often. We must realize that these actions are damaging the games we love. Without sportsmanship, where would athletics be today?"
Essay Quote -- "What began as a mere fascination with the game became an integral part in influencing and shaping the individual I am today. The game helped build my character with the elements of integrity, responsibility, and patience. In golf as in life, I've learned it's the follow through that makes the difference. That follow through is sportsmanship."
Essay Quote -- "When the game is over, the field is empty, and the athlete has completed his season, there is one thing that continues to work, and that is the mind. What we take away from an athletic competition, what is learned, and what is remembered with clarity are determined by sportsmanship. Without it, school sports mean little; they are hollow shells of victory or loss."
Essay Quote - "Regardless of what happens in my future, I know that I will rely on the values I have learned from playing sports. When I am older, it will be essential for me to be able to deal with a variety of situations in a positive manner and with self-control. These are two important lessons that sportsmanship has taught me. Playing sports isn't always fair, for often bad calls are made and cheap shots are taken, but the mature athlete can handle these situations with dignity. Life isn't always fair either, so the person who will succeed in life will have the same qualities as the mature athlete."
Essay Quote -- "A true sportsman demonstrates a top-notch work ethic, interacts positively with his teammates, shows proper respect to officials and coaches, rises to the occasion at crunch time, and overcomes adversity; he is the consummate team player and competes as graciously in victory as defeat."
Essay Quote -- "It is very easy to congratulate our opponents on a game well played when we come out the victors. It is very difficult, on the other hand, to congratulate our opponents when we come out the losers. However, it is this character, this sportsmanship, that holds high school athletics together and makes them enjoyable for everyone."
Essay Quote -- "Clearly, we don't run this race or any other for money, or for our parents or even for our coaches. We run for our competitors and for ourselves. It is this dedication to our athletic pursuit, this love of the game, which lies at the heart of good sportsmanship." Other spring finalists by sport for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Baseball -- Jonathon Kowalski, Warren DeLaSalle; Joseph R. Mierkowicz, Trenton; Ryan Stoianowski, Clinton; Robert Westerman, Gaylord St. Mary; David Wine, Olivet; Stephen Wright, Cassopolis. Girls Golf -- Cara Christeson, Rochester; Brianna Widener, Midland Dow. Girls Soccer -- Lindsay E. Farrer, Kalamazoo Hackett; Larissa Hotra, Birmingham Marian; Jackie Neal, Harrison Township L'Anse Creuse. Softball -- Stephanie Allsopp, Bay City John Glenn; Erin Nicole DiMaggio, Grosse Pointe North; Michelle Doran, Southfield Christian; Katherine Eustice, Cheboygan; Amber Leigh Gorton, Vandercook Lake; Rachel Whitney Koller, Niles Brandywine. Boys Tennis -- Daniel Karmel, Birmingham Groves; Jeffery A. Ponders II, Detroit Renaissance; Kabir Seth, Stevensville Lakeshore. Boys Track & Field -- John Achterhoff, Whitehall; Jason Karbowski, Three Rivers; Nicholas Morgan, Flint Northern; Zachary Sine, Napoleon; Stephen Stamatis, Southgate Anderson; Donald Wine II, Detroit Country Day. Girls Track & Field -- Jessica Balon, Bellaire; Elizabeth Beck, Fenton; Sarah Kostrzeba, Center Line St. Clement; Meredith Palen, Ovid-Elsie; Stacy Putnam, Dearborn Edsel Ford; Sarah Ziegler, Litchfield. 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: Lauren M. Bramos, Grosse Pointe North, girls basketball; Charles Stamboulian, North Farmington, boys cross country; Erin Maureen Randall, Clio, girls cross country; Rick Bolhuis, Jenison, football; Jeffrey Craig Melville, Jenison, boys golf; Brian Horr, North Farmington, boys soccer; Michelle C. Miller, Trenton, girls swimming & diving; Kathryn Berger, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, girls tennis. Winter honorees were Seann Duffin, Carney-Nadeau, boys basketball; Jennifer Mosack, Armada, girls competitive cheer; Laura Barker, Menominee, girls gymnastics; Bryan R. Dery, Livonia Stevenson, ice hockey; Scott Bell, Rochester Adams, boys skiing; Martha Grant, Mt. Pleasant, girls skiing; Bradford Andrew Flora, St. Joseph, boys swimming & diving; Georgianna Golematis, Brownstown Woodhaven, girls volleyball; and Zachary Sine, Napoleon, 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 conducted in
12 sports for girls and 12 sports for boys which attract approximately
1.3 million spectators each year. |