Around Campus

Women’s Athletics Announces year-end academic and sports awards at annual banquet

Junior Marshevet Hooker, pictured with UT assistant women’s track and field coach Rose Brimmer, received the Darrell K Royal Endowed Presidential Scholarship
Senior Cat Osterman received the Texas Exes Leadership Award and the V.F. “Doc” Neuhause Endowed Presidential Scholarship

The 32nd annual University of Texas Women’s Athletics All Sports Awards Presentation took place on Tuesday evening, April 25th at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. The night featured 12 “Awards of the Highest Honor” and 82 endowed scholarships and also recognized the Most Valuable Players and the Academic MVP’s from all Longhorns women’s teams. The Awards presentation was underwritten by the University Co-op.

The Women’s Athletics Department’s highest endowed scholarship honor - the V.F. “Doc” Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship honor - went to 2004 Olympian and All-American Cat Osterman for the second year in a row. Established in 1976 as the first endowed scholarship in women’s athletics, the Neuhaus Presidential Scholarship honors both athleticism and academics.

Additionally, Osterman received the Texas Exes Lifetime Award as the 2006 female recipient (football’s David Thomas was the UT male recipient). The Texes Exes award goes to a male and female student-athlete annually who have displayed outstanding leadership and academic and athletic success, with each recipient gaining lifetime membership into the Texas Exes Association.

The 2005-06 Big 12 Conference Scholar-Athlete Award is given to the senior who exhibits the greatest combination of performance in athletics, academics and community achievement. This award went to co-winners, who, ironically, are both track and field standouts who graduated from the same high school in Houston: All-America sprinters and relay specialists Sheretta Jones and LaTashia Kerr, who hail from Forest Brook HS.

The Lorene Rogers Scholar-Athlete Award, presented to the senior student-athlete with the highest overall grade point average over her four-year UT career, went to co-recipients as well. Soccer goalkeeper Melissa Androuny (Monte Sereno, Calif./St. Francis HS), a member of the Academic All-Big 12 First Team, carries a 3.7 GPA in chemistry, while rower Courtney MacIntosh (St. John’s, NL/Newfoundland HS) has a 3.7 in education.

The Jill Sterkel Leadership Award, given to the student-athlete whose exceptional athletic accomplishments have brought attention to The University, went to junior Petra Dizdar from tennis. Dizdar (Split, Croatia/ Vladimir Nazor HS) is a three-time All-Big 12 singles standout who played a huge role last spring in leading Texas to its NCAA National Championship second-place finish, as she upset three top-10 ranked opponents in a row at No. 1 singles to help propel UT to the title match.

Other special department individual awards went to sophomore softball pitcher Meaghan Denny (Crowley, Texas/Crowley HS), recognized as the 2005-06 Big 12 Community Champion as UT women’s athletics top community service volunteer; and eight student-athletes who claimed Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Awards, which are given to minority student athletes who carry a GPA of 3.2 or higher by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. They are: Kerr; volleyball junior Dariam Acevedo, an education major and Big 12 All-Academic First Team standout; junior Leah Avilla, an education major, Big 12 All-Academic First Team selection and Honorable All-America swimmer; sophomore Delia Huang, a swimmer and a business major.

Also: senior soccer performer Jullie Gailey, a kinesiology major and a Big 12 All-Academic First Team member; sophomore Temeka Kincy, an All-Big 12 track and field sprinter and biology major; senior basketball guard and corporate communications major Nina Norman; and junior diver Nikki Triplett, a public relations major.

In addition to the Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship, there are six other endowed scholarships which are considered among the “Awards of Highest Honor”. They are as follows, with the 2005-06 recipient listed:

Darrell K Royal Endowed Centennial Presidential Scholarship, awarded to volleyball sophomore Michelle Moriarty (Houston, Texas/Stratford HS, education major); two Darrell K Royal Endowed Presidential Scholarships (to All-America and NCAA track and field champion junior Marshevet Hooker from San Antonio/Southwest HS, a corporate communications major; and to soccer junior Karen Haight, business honors major from Beaverton, Ore./St. Mary’s HS).
The Barbara Jordan Endowed Scholarship went to junior track and field standout Michelle Carter (Ovilla, Texas/Red Oak HS), and education major and All-America and NCAA Champion in the shot put; The Donna Lopiano/Jean Kaspar Endowed Scholarship was given to softball senior Tina Boutelle (Katy, Texas/Taylor HS), an All-Midwest and All-Big 12 standout and education major; and The Cunningham/Kaspar Endowed Scholarship, awarded to All-Big 12 soccer defender and sophomore Stephanie Logterman (Austin, Texas/Westwood HS), a sociology major.