EAST LANSING – The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2009-10 school year have been announced.
Among them were Buchanan’s Torie Eger.

The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a post-season tournament.  Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Award, and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient.

Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, 6 female and 6 male; 8 scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, 4 female and 4 male; 6 scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, 3 female and 3 male; and 4 scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, 2 female and 2 male.
In addition, there will also be 2 at-large honorees which are also part of the general judging process, may come from any classification, and are designated by their school at the time of entry.

Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in their classification, and could have more than one finalist. Thirteen schools had two or more finalists this year.   Battle Creek Lakeview, Grosse Pointe South,  Midland Dow and Yale each have three finalists; while Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Birmingham Seaholm, Engadine, Frankenmuth, Gladstone, Grand Rapids Christian, Norway, Okemos and Oxford each have two finalists.

Multiple-sport participation continues to be the norm for this year’s applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.44, while the average of the application pool was 2.01. There are 61 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field. All but five of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors post-season tournaments are represented in the finalist field.

A school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in their classification. Of 432 schools which submitted applicants, 65 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,835 applications were received. All will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement.

The applications were judged by a 69-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools, from which the 120 finalists were selected.

The selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February.  Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced on February 9; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced on February 16; and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced on February 23. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing on March 27.

To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and have previously won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a post-season tournament. Students were also asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and submit a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.