National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- December 21, 1998 Class of Top VIII honorees includes champions from 10 sports An elite collection of student-athletes that includes the NCAA Woman of the Year, four individual national champions, a member of three national championship teams, and a top football and soccer player has been selected as this year's Today's Top VIII. The Today's Top VIII, selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, recognizes distinguished student-athletes from the preceding calendar year for athletics, academic achievement, character and leadership. This year's selections are Margaret H. Boutilier of the University of Virginia, field hockey and lacrosse; Kristin Folkl of Stanford University, volleyball and basketball; Henry A. Gerten, Augsburg College, wrestling; Vera S. Ilyina, University of Texas at Austin, swimming and diving; Jamie McDaniel, Ashland University, swimming and diving; Emily Stauffer, Harvard University, soccer; Matthew Stinchcomb, University of Georgia, football; and Kevin R. Sullivan, University of Michigan, track and field and cross country. The Today's Top VIII will be recognized at the honors dinner January 10 during the NCAA Convention in San Antonio. Following are biographical sketches of Today's Top VIII:
Margaret "Peggy" H. Boutilier
Active internationally in both sports, she was a member of the 1998 U.S. national team and the 1996 U.S. national developmental team in lacrosse. In field hockey, she played on the 1994-95 U.S. under-21 team and was on the gold-medal team at the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1993 and 1994. The 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference women's lacrosse player of the year also was all-ACC in 1997. She was the team's most valuable player twice in lacrosse and once in field hockey and set school records by starting 71 consecutive lacrosse games and 88 straight field hockey games. An NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner, Virginia's 1997-98 Outstanding Female Athlete also was honored with the school's Gray-Carrington Scholarship.
A founding member of the university's student council athletic student affairs committee, Boutilier was a member of the school's Raven Society, which recognizes excellence in academics and school service.
Kristin Folkl
A three-time member of the Division I women's volleyball all-tournament team, she was named most outstanding player at the 1996 NCAA Pacific Regional. The 1994 national volleyball freshman of the year also was a first-team volleyball all-American in 1994 and 1997 and earned second-team honors in 1995 and 1996. In 1995, she toured with the U.S. national volleyball team. In basketball, Folkl earned all-American honors from Kodak, Top 5 Boost/Naismith, the United States Basketball Writers Association and Associated Press. She also made the Pacific-10 Conference first team in 1998. She was all-conference in volleyball four times, as the Cardinal teams on which she competed amassed a combined 210-19 record. The 1997 GTE Academic All-American Volleyball Player of the Year also was a first-team GTE Academic All-American in basketball in 1998 and a second-team GTE volleyball honoree in 1996.
A recipient of the Al Masters Award, which is Stanford's highest honor for outstanding athletics accomplishments, high academics and leadership, Folkl was a three-year member of the school's Captains Council and did volunteer work for the Stanford Youth Olympics.
Henry A. Gerten
Gerten posted a career record of 104-7, giving him a school-record winning percentage of .937. He holds the school's longest individual winning streak at 64 straight from 1996-98. As part of that streak, he became the first Augsburg wrestler to complete an undefeated season, going 44-0 in 1997. A transfer from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he earned a varsity letter as a freshman, the two-time National Wrestling Coaches Association Scholar All-American graduated cum laude as an elementary education major.
A member of Augsburg's Fellowship of Christian Athletes, he coaches youth wrestling at Eastview High School and is an assistant coach for the Minnesota/USA Wrestling Cadet freestyle wrestling team. During the 1998-99 season, Gerten is serving as an assistant wrestling coach for his alma mater.
Vera S. Ilyina
Ilyina is a two-time NCAA female diver of the year and a four-time national collegiate champion. The 1997-98 Big 12 Conference female athlete of the year holds conference records for both the one- and three-meter events. One of the most decorated student-athletes in Texas history, she won all 11 one-meter competitions in which she competed in two years with the Longhorns and won all but one of the three-meter events in which she competed.
An international business major, Ilyina was a GTE Academic All-American in 1997-98, was twice named to the academic all-Big 12 Conference team, and was presented with Texas' Big 12 Scholar-Athlete Award, the athletics department's highest student-athlete honor.
Jamie McDaniel
She was the 1998 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference female swimmer of the year and is the conference record-holder in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. She also is a four-time individual and two-time relay GLIAC champion. While at Tennessee, McDaniel was a Southeastern Conference finalist in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races. Recognized as Ashland's 1998 Female Athlete of the Year, she owns three individual school records and is part of three freestyle relay school records.
McDaniel was a College Swimming Coaches Association of America all-academic honoree in 1997 and 1998, and is a dean's list elementary education major.
Emily Stauffer
The 1995 and 1996 Ivy Group player of the year and 1994 rookie of the year, Stauffer was all-Ivy four times while guiding the Crimson to three league championships and three NCAA tournament appearances. Harvard's all-time assists leader led the Crimson to a 50-13-5 overall record and a 24-1-3 Ivy mark during her four-year career. A GTE Academic All-American, Stauffer won the Michigan Book Award in honor of excellence in English and the Williams Book Award in honor of integrity, leadership, excellence in academics and extracurricular activities.
Stauffer took a leave of absence during her senior season (1997) to donate bone marrow for her brother, Matt, a standout player for Williams College, who was battling leukemia (and died in January 1998), before returning this fall to complete her eligibility. She has served as public service committee chair for "Evening of Champions," a figure skating show that benefits the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Matthew Stinchcomb
First-team all-Southeastern Conference in 1997, Stinchcomb was a four-year starter, helping lead Georgia to a Peach Bowl berth as a senior captain. He was voted 1998 NCAA Division I Athlete of the Year by the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. A National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Postgraduate Scholarship recipient in 1998, he was a first-team GTE Academic All-American in 1997 and was named an all-District III Academic All-American twice. Stinchcomb was one of 10 scholar-athletes to receive Georgia's Ramsey Endowed Scholarship in 1997 and 1998. He is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Business Honor Society and Who's Who in American Colleges of Business.
Stinchcomb was a member of the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team for the past two years and the SEC Good Works Team in 1996 and 1997. He also was a recipient of the Peach of an Athlete Service Award from the Atlanta Boy Scouts of America and the 1997 NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference.
Kevin R. Sullivan
He also is the former Canadian record-holder for the outdoor 1,500 meters and mile. He was a silver medalist in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in the 1,500 meters, an event in which he finished fifth at the 1995 World Track and Field Championships and 13th in the 1997 World meet. Sullivan set the NCAA record for the indoor mile in 1995 and was a member of the national champion indoor distance medley relay team that same year. A 10-time track all-American, he won his second NCAA indoor mile in 1998. A four-time cross country all-American, he finished second in the Division I championships in 1997, eighth in 1995, third in 1994 and fourth in 1993. Sullivan was a 12-time Big Ten Conference track champion and four-time cross country champion, and was a three-time indoor and two-time outdoor conference track and field athlete of the year. He received the 1998 Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor form Michigan, and was a three-time GTE Academic All-American and five-time academic all-Big Ten selection. A weekly volunteer at Mott's Children's Hospital, he was active in the student-athlete organization Michigan Peers Advisors Creating Trust (M-PACT) and assisted with the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Council projects. |
The 1998 NCAA Woman of the Year was the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) national player of the year in 1997 and 1998. Boutilier also was a two-time south regional all-American in field hockey in 1994 and 1997. Boutilier led the Cavaliers' lacrosse team to national runner-up finishes in 1996 and 1998, earning all-tournament honors each year. In field hockey in 1997, she led Virginia to its first NCAA semifinal appearance.
A four-time all-American in volleyball and a 1998 all-American in basketball, Folkl was a member of three national-champion volleyball teams and two basketball teams that advanced to the NCAA Women's Final Four.
A two-time Division III champion in the 118-pound weight class, Gerten helped lead the Auggies to the Division III championship as team co-captain in each of the last two years. The team finished second in 1996, when he finished fourth individually.
A silver medalist in one-meter diving at the 1998 World Championships, Ilyina won the gold medal in the European Championships the previous year. A Russian national team member since 1996, she has won numerous other international competitions, including one-meter diving at the 1997 European Championships, one- and three-meter diving at the 1995 edition of the same meet, and three-meter diving at the 1994 Goodwill Games.
The Division II female swimmer of the year in 1998, McDaniel is a three-time Division II national champion and the division's record-holder in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. A nine-time Division II all-American, McDaniel was a two-time Division I all-American before transferring to Ashland from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
A four-time all-American and two-time finalist for the Hermann Trophy, which honors the most outstanding collegiate soccer player, Stauffer was a three-time finalist for the Missouri Athletic Club Sports Foundation Collegiate Soccer Award, which recognizes the top American-born or naturalized college player. A member of the 1997 U.S. national team pool, she was a member of the U.S. women's youth national team from 1991-96 and was an Olympic Festival all-star team selection in 1995.
A Outland Trophy candidate and one of 12 finalists for the Lombardi Award, both of which recognize the nation's outstanding lineman, Stinchcomb was a 1997 first-team coaches all-American and was a preseason all-American for seven different organizations this fall.
The Canadian record-holder for the indoor mile, Sullivan was the U.S. Track Coaches Association's 1998 indoor athlete of the year.