The NCAA News - News and Features

Maria Abatjoglou excels academically, and she has applied the same type of zeal to her efforts on the tennis court for Kansas. Her team reached the final round of the 1998 NCAA team competition and was the regional team champion.

Abatjoglou won the singles title at the Washington Invitational and earned second place at the 1997 Ohio State Invitational.

A two-time first-team GTE Academic All-American, Abatjoglou served as president of the Kansas Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for two years and was a member of the KU Athletic Corporation Board. She also has done volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity and the Social Service League.

Kellee Booth

Golf

A member of three Arizona State NCAA championship women's golf teams, Booth also finished fourth individually at the 1998 tournament.

Booth received the 1997-98 Honda Award for Golf and also was named the 1998 Marilyn Smith Award Winner, an honor that goes to the top female college senior golfer in the nation.

An NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient, Booth also has chaired the student-athlete advisory council and served as a student-athlete representative to the intercollegiate athletics board. She also has raised funds and assisted with public relations activities for the All Saints Catholic Newman Center.

Merritt Booth

Gymnastics

Merritt Booth is an experienced NCAA championships competitor. As captain of the Alabama gymnastics team, she led the squad to a third-place finish in the 1998 championships. She also helped Alabama finish first in 1996, second in 1995 and ninth in 1997.

A three-time first-team all-American and three-time second-team all-American, Booth also is a four-year all-academic choice.

Booth also has instructed young gymnasts at the Alabama Gymnastics Camp, worked with handicapped children at the Stallings Rise Center, and helped raise money for Project Angel Tree, which purchases and delivers holiday gifts.

Peggy Boutilier

Lacrosse/Field Hockey

As team captain and most valuable player in lacrosse, Peggy Boutilier led Virginia to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 1998 and a runner-up finish in the NCAA championship.

A member of the 1998 United States National Team, Boutilier twice was named the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Player of the Year.

She also was Virginia's field hockey captain and most valuable player, leading the team to its first NCAA semifinal appearance.

She received the university's Gray-Carrington Scholarship, awarded to a student who excels in the areas of personal integrity, achievement, leadership and humility.

Boutilier also is a founding member of the university student council's athletics student affairs committee, which promotes interaction among athletes, other students and the entire university community.

Amy Steele Gant

Volleyball

Amy Steele Gant won just about every available Western Athletic Conference volleyball honor during her career at Brigham Young.

She was named WAC Player of the Week seven times, 1997 WAC Tournament most valuable player, 1997 first team all-WAC and 1997 WAC Player of the Year. She was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year twice, in 1995 and 1997, and this year was invited to play on the U.S. National Volleyball team.

In addition to her WAC athletics honors, Gant also was an all-WAC academic selection in 1995 and 1997.

She organized the Brigham Young volleyball team's participation in food drives and visits to retirement homes, and she also taught weekly church youth classes. In addition, Gant volunteers at volleyball clinics for youth groups.

Heather Heitsenrether

Field Hockey

As a sweeper for Wooster's field hockey squad for four years, Heather Heitsenrether earned first-team all-American honors in 1997 and was a second-team selection in 1996.

Heitsenrether was named North Coast Athletic Conference defensive player of the year in 1997 and played in the North/South All-Star Game the same year.

In 1998, Heitsenrether won the NCAC Scholar-Athlete Award and the David Guldin Award for the Outstanding Female Scholar Athlete.

At Camp Milestone, Heitsenrether helped emotionally disturbed children. She also was a church school teacher at Westminster Presbyterian Church and volunteered in the classroom to help autistic children.

Nada Kawar

Track and Field

Nada Kawar has gone the distance in the NCAA championships, the World Championships and the Olympics. She finished third in the shot put in the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a personal best throw of 58 feet, 4 1/2 inches, and she also placed sixth in the discus.

Kawar represented Jordan in the shot put at the World Championships in 1997, and she placed 24th in the 1996 Olympics, also competing for Jordan.

A 1998 first-team GTE Academic All-American, Kawar also is a member of the UCLA Pre-Med Society and the Golden Key National Honor Society. She worked as a camp counselor and coach at the UCLA Throwing Camp for three summers and has spoken to several youth groups.

Katherine Kearns

Cross Country and Indoor/Outdoor Track and Field

An outstanding runner for Northwest Missouri State, Katherine Kearns won the three-kilometer indoor race at the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association conference championships in 1997 and 1998 and was a member of the conference champion 4 x 800 relay team in 1994 and 1995. She also won the outdoor 10-kilometer conference championship in 1998 and was an NCAA Division II cross country all-American in 1996 and 1997.

A two-time GTE Academic All-American, Kearns also was named a United States Track Coaches Association Division II cross country all-academic choice.

She was a two-year president of the Northwest Student Dietetic Association and completed several undergraduate research projects. At the senior center meal-site lunch program, Kearns assisted the elderly, and she also visited residents at the Parkdale Manor through the Adopt-A-Grandparent program.

Janina Morusiewicz

Volleyball

Janina Morusiewicz is a member of Barry's 1995 Division II national championship team and the 1997 national runner-up team. Her sister, Marya, also a volleyball player at Barry, was a Woman of the Year finalist in 1996. Janina was team captain and was named to an NCAA regional tournament team in 1997.

Morusiewicz was selected the university's 1997-98 outstanding biology major and won Barry's Female Scholar/Athlete of the Year honors twice.

She was named a GTE Academic All-American in 1997-98 and graduated in May 1998 as a pre-veterinary student with a minor in chemistry.

During her senior year, Morusiewicz volunteered at the Dade Animal Clinic, tutored in the biology mentor program, and was a campus tour guide. She also has worked as the publicity coordinator for the campus hunger awareness committee.

Anne West

Rowing

Anne West began her rowing career at Iowa as a freshman walk-on, but by 1997 she had been named an all-American. She was a member of the fours team, which placed fourth in the 1997 NCAA championships, and served as team captain during the season.

She was the volunteer coordinator for the women's rowing team for two years and a member of the Women's intercollegiate Sports Council.

During the summer of 1997 and the following term, she worked as a student academic adviser for the Iowa's Office of Orientation, leading classes for entering students during orientation programs. West also spent time reading to a kindergarten class once a week in the Rock and Read program and visited with residents at the Ecumenical Towers Retirement Center.