By Phil Blackwell
Sports Editor
Though the last three months of the 2019-20 area high school sports season got wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, Section III still got a chance to honor the top student-athletes in the area.
Held since 1988 with more than 3,000 young men and women selected, the annual Scholar-Athlete awards recognize the top male and female student-athletes from each of the 106 high schools in the section with a $100 scholarship and plaque.
As a substitute for its annual dinner, awards were handed out last Thursday in a drive-through ceremony at the section’s headquarters for a television program that aired Monday night on WSTQ (CW6).
More than $25,000 in college scholarships were awarded to student-athletes who maintained a cumulative grade point average of 90 or better and participated in varsity competition, with other factors such as community service, citizenship and other extracurricular activities taken into consideration.
Among the many top scholar-athletes in its Class of 2020, C.W. Baker High School chose Kathryn Nice and Jack Michaels for the Scholar-Athlete Award.
Nice took part in varsity cross country, track and field and lacrosse during her four years at Baker, and will attend Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Michaels was a standout in cross country, plus indoor and outdoor track and field, and is on his way to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Bishop Ludden selected Sarah Thompson and Noah Kerwin. Thompson, a cross country and track and field athlete, is going to Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City as Kerwin, who took part in soccer and golf, goes to Siena College near Albany.
Jordan-Elbridge chose Meghan Whalen and Erik Ryan. Whalen competed in tennis, softball and golf as Ryan played football, basketball and lacrosse. Both are going to the University at Buffalo in the fall.
At Marcellus, the honors went to Amy Francesconi and Aidan Shea. Both ran cross country in the fall, with Francesconi also taking part in spring track and field on her way to St. Lawrence University and Shea a top baseball player headed to the University of Rochester.
The two honorees from Skaneateles were Georgia McSwain and Max Capozza. McSwain ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track before choosing to go to Washington & Lee University in Virginia, with Capozza, a lacrosse standout, on his way west to UCLA.
Solvay recognized Isabella Lambert and Trevor Lee. Lambert took part in volleyball, track and field and softball, will attend Ithaca College in the fall, while Lee, who also ran track to go with soccer, is going to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
The nominees from West Genesee included Anna Cahalan and Eric Leubner Jr. Attending Fairfield University in Connecticut, Cahalan played soccer and helped with Unified bowling and basketball as Leubner took part in golf and basketball before he earned a spot at Yale University.
And Westhill honored the duo of Emily O’Reilly and Jacob Fricano. Both of them were stars in cross country and track and field, with O’Reilly choosing to go to Le Moyne College and Fricano headed to Rochester Institute of Technology.
The honorees for Liverpool included running standout Jenna Schulz, who in cross country and track and field accumulated all kinds of sectional, state and national honors. Schulz will go to North Carolina State University.
Kyle Caves was Liverpool’s other choice. He played football in the fall, basketball in the winter and lacrosse in the spring while at the school, and Caves will concentrate on lacrosse at Le Moyne College.
For Cicero-North Syracuse, Madeline Thorne and Alexander Nobles were honored.
Thorne was a standout for C-NS’s girls swimming and diving teams all through her high-school career. When she goes to college in the fall, Thorne will attend St. Bonaventure University in Olean.
As for Nobles, he helped on the Northstars’ string of Section III Class AA football championship teams, along with wrestling and lacrosse. He is going to Clarkson University this fall.
