O'Neill, Call Earn Top Scholar-Athlete Awards
Richmond, VA – The Richmond Region’s finest high school scholar-athletes were rewarded for their hard work last night at the Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner at The Jefferson Hotel. 2016 celebrates the 25th anniversary of the program that honors area scholar-athletes for their outstanding achievement in the classroom and in athletic competition.
Top honors and $7,500 scholarships went to Noah O’Neill of St. Christopher’s and Emma Call of Maggie Walker. The $5,000 runner’s up scholarships went to Ted Schubert of Patrick Henry and Shanthi Hiremath of Maggie Walker. The remaining 16 scholar-athletes won scholarships of $2,500 each. They were:
Girls Boys
| Annemarie Beran | J.R. Tucker | Reid Chenault | Goochland | |
| Ashley Brown | Henrico | Matthew Cousins | Midlothian | |
| Kayla Hugate | Manchester | Justin Dyke | Matoaca | |
| Jordan Lipinski | Lee-Davis | Coleman Greene | Douglas Freeman | |
| Annie Snead | Trinity Episcopal | Canaan Mills | Dinwiddie | |
| Sydney Whitaker | Deep Run | Noah Murdock | Colonial Heights | |
| Raine Wilson | Atlee | Eric Rohr | Atlee | |
| Seeley Yoo | St. Catherine’s | Darrell Woodard, Jr. | Varina |
HCA Virginia Sports Medicine also presented its male and female Comeback Athletes of the Year at the dinner. The awards recognize high school athletes who have overcome major injuries or illnesses during their careers and returned to playing their sports. The male winner was Hayden Keener, a wrestler and lacrosse player at Lee Davis, and the female winner was Claire Robinson, an indoor and outdoor track and field athlete at Clover Hill. They each received a $1,000 scholarship and a $500 donation to their respective high school.
The 2016 Sports Backers Sportsmanship Award, which recognizes a student-athlete that demonstrated an act of honesty and integrity that went beyond the norm or committed an act of selflessness or kindness that lifted up a teammate, coach, or opponent, went to Bobby Oldfield from Trinity Episcopal. He will receive a $1,000 scholarship upon graduation and will be eligible to win one of the St. Louis Sports Commission’s Stan Musial Awards on November 19 in St. Louis.
Williams Mullen will also be awarding a $1,000 scholarship to the male and female Teams of the Year as well as a $500 scholarship to the runner-up teams. These winners will be announced at the conclusion of the spring sports season.
The Scholar-Athlete Awards program has now awarded a total of $958,000 to 494 outstanding student-athletes from the Richmond since its inception in 1992.
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