PENSACOLA — Top senior student-athletes from Escambia and Santa Rosa County schools have received more than $100,000 in scholarships.
Pensacola Sports’ 38th Annual Senior Scholar Athlete Banquet, presented by Sacred Heart Health System, had a record of 227 senior nominees and over 700 attendees during the May 9 event at Olive Baptist Church.
Santa Rosa’s top award recipients included Heather Kling from Pace High School (Whataburger Books Scholarship), Logan Green from Gulf Breeze and Richard Fisher from Pace (Papa Jay Memorial Scholarship).
Additionally, Pensacola State College awarded 24 individual sport winners with a scholarship.
Individual sport winners are:
- Baseball: Brennan Vasquez, Milton High School
- Girls Basketball: Maddie McCurdy, Gulf Breeze
- Boys Cross Country: Austin Epstein, Navarre
- Girls Cross Country: Haley Kling, Pace
- Football: Tristan Covell, Gulf Breeze
- Girls Golf: Katrina Boteler, Pace
- Boys Golf: Brian Richards, Gulf Breeze
- Girls Lacrosse: Michaele Dunne, Gulf Breeze
- Girls Soccer: Emily Madril, Navarre
- Softball: Destiny Herring, Jay
- Boys Swimming: Jacob Chambers, Milton
- Boys Track: Charles Orth, Navarre
- Girls Track: Jorja Agrait, Jay
- Volleyball: Jordan Taylor, Gulf Breeze
- Boys Weightlifting: Antonio Gibson, Pace
- Girls Weightlifting: Savannah Diel, Navarre
- Wrestling: LeLand Knoch, Pace
Escambia and Santa Rosa schools annually nominate senior athletes for each sport and submit the paperwork to Pensacola Sports. A selection committee, made of educators, community leaders and Pensacola Sports board members, reviews the anonymous applications and select the best person’s credentials for each sport. Those are the individual sport winners. Then they select the overall male and female winners from the individual sport winners.
“Our community is fortunate to have so many outstanding students. These students don't just "balance" everything from athletics, academics, social life, volunteer hours and family, but they excel in everything they are part of,” said Cindi Bonner, Pensacola Sports Foundation Chairperson. “After 38 years, the Pensacola Sports Foundation continues to recognize the best of the best at our Senior Scholars Banquet.
“The accomplishments (of) each student during their high school careers left me dumbfounded as to when they possibly have time to manage it all while continuing to maintain nearly perfect grades and test scores.”
Contact Pensacola Sports, 434-2800, for more information on the Senior Scholar Athlete Banquet, how to get involved, or to support next year’s event.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa student athletes win scholarships