Senior Athletes Shine at Annual Awards Banquet

The 25th annual senior athletes banquet was held at the Grand Summit Hotel Tuesday night to honor the accomplishments and participation of 117 seniors who left their mark on Summit sports.

Organized and sponsored by the Summit Schools Booster Association, the annual event was packed with parents, coaches and athletes with speeches from Summit resident and Summit High School Alumni Gil Owren, Athletic Director Mike Sandor, and a heartfelt welcome from Michelle Kennedy, president of the Boosters Association.

The evening, however, belonged to all the student athletes, statisticians, team managers and cheerleaders who were applauded for their determination, school spirit and athletic achievements and were awarded an Alumni shirt and a plaque to commemorate their time at Summit High School.

Each student athlete was greeted with cheers as they all came up to receive their awards, while athletic trainer Karen Manista read out their names. Every sport from bowling to wrestling was represented. 

Later, the recipients of the 2011 Howard S. Anderson Scholar Athlete Award were presented by Pete Tierney and Bob Kisch, two educators and coaches who combined for an amazing 70 years of coaching and teaching Summit students. Both are retiring from teaching this year.

The eight 2011 Howard  S. Anderson $1,000 scholarship recipients are:

• Christina Ciaravalli: cheerleading, basketball, lacrosse (Wake Forest)
• Thomas Chin: cross country, winter/spring track & field (Georgetown)
• Kelli Houck: volleyball, swimming, Boys volleyball statistician (University of Delaware)
• Mark Jones: winter/spring track & field (University of Colorado)
• Terry McKenna: soccer, basketball, lacrosse (College of the Holy Cross)
• Kathryn Stuke: lacrosse, field hockey (Georgetown University)
• Michael Stuke: lacrosse  (Cornell University)
• Kathrine Watson: cross country, winter/spring track & field (University of Texas)

The closing highlight of the evening was a video tribute to the class of 2011 produced by Natalia Angelo and Jackson Stuckey, featuring photos and video clips of the past year in Summit High School sports and the all the athletes who participated.