Eight student-athletes compose stellar class

For the 31st consecutive year, the NCAA Honors Committee has selected student-athletes who have performed admirably on and off the fields and courts as winners of the NCAA's Today's Top VIII.

The group will be honored January 12 during the Honors Dinner at the 97th annual NCAA Convention in Anaheim, California.

The 2003 Top VIII includes Ann Marie Brooks, who competed in track and field for the University of Missouri, Columbia; Michelle Cottrell, who played basketball for Northern Kentucky University; Kari A. Groshek, who played basketball for the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point; Ryan Johnson, a football student-athlete from Montana State University-Bozeman; Stacey A. Nuveman, who played softball for the University of California, Los Angeles; Andreé N. Pickens, who competed in gymnastics at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Jonathan Stinchcomb, a University of Georgia football player; and Santa Clara University women's soccer player Aly Wagner.

Following are biographies of Today's Top VIII:

Ann Marie Brooks
University of Missouri, Columbia
Track and Field

A state NCAA Woman of the Year winner, Brooks was part of the champion indoor distance medley relay team in 2001 and also earned all-America honors in the 1,500 meters at the same meet. In spring 2002, she was an all-American in the outdoor 5,000 meters. Earlier that school year, she was an all-American in cross country. A member of the USA Track and Field National Under-25 team, she won this year's 5,000 meters at the North American-Central American-Caribbean Championships.

The NCAA postgraduate scholarship winner graduated summa cum laude with a degree in plant science and was an NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship runner-up. A two-time Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American, she also was a 10-time dean's list honoree.

Among her many community contributions, Brooks served on the Boone County Council on Aging for two years. Member of a student-faculty discussion group that each month brought together honors college students to discuss current events, she also assisted handicapped children and adults in safely riding horses at the Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Stables and did volunteer work at the University of Missouri Children's Hospital.

Michelle Cottrell
Northern Kentucky University
Basketball

A two-time Division II Bulletin National Player of the Year and a state NCAA Woman of the Year winner, Cottrell led Northern Kentucky to the 2000 Division II championship; the first for her alma mater in any sport. The three-time Kodak all-American led Northern Kentucky to the NCAA tournament four times, including three Elite Eight appearances. The most outstanding player in the 2000 Elite Eight was named Great Lakes Valley Conference player of the year three times and was named all-conference four times, leading her team to the regular-season conference title each year.

Cottrell graduated with a degree in physical education and was a recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. She received the GLVC-Richard F. Scharf Paragon award, which is given each year to one female student in that conference. Winner of the 2002 GLVC women's basketball scholar-athlete of the year award, she made the conference's all-academic team twice and was named to the Verizon/CoSIDA District IV all-academic team.

One of two student-athletes appointed to Northern Kentucky's Athletic Council, she participated in the Walk for Women's Athletic Scholarships for four years and helped with the WCET Action Auction, which raised funds for public television. She was nominated for her alma mater's "University Service Award" upon graduation in December 2002.

Kari A. Groshek
University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
Basketball

Named first-team all-America by D3hoops.com as a senior, Groshek was a finalist for Josten's Division III player of the year and led her team to the national championship her senior year, during which the Pointers became the eighth squad in Division III women's history to win 30 games in a season.

Named Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the year that season, she also made the first-team all-conference squad as a junior. She was her alma mater's female athlete of the year as a senior, finishing with 495 points, third on her school's all-time scoring list for a single season, and finished with the same rank among the school's career scoring leaders. Groshek also set school records for career games played and single-game scoring.

Recipient of her alma mater's distinguished achievement award for a senior biology major, she also received the WIAC scholar-athlete award for women's basketball. She also was a second-team Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American as a senior.

Her many community activities include volunteer work for Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity and her local church.

Ryan Johnson
Montana State University-Bozeman
Football

A finalist for the Walter Payton Trophy, the award given to the top player in Division I-AA football, as a senior, he was named third-team all-America by Football Gazette and was named second-team all-Big Sky Conference. His school's career rushing record-holder with 3,518 yards, Johnson also set the school record for rushing yards in a season with 1,537. He rushed for more than 100 yards 12 times as a senior, including four games in which he gained 200 yards, also a school record.

Johnson obtained his degree in pre-physical therapy and was named Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Division I-A and I-AA football. Named the Roland Renne award winner as the outstanding senior at Montana State, he is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society, Golden Key national honor society and National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He was named to the academic all-Big Sky team three times.

Among his many community activities, Johnson was president of his school's chapters of Athletes in Action and Campus Crusade for Christ, and he was a volunteer for the Bozeman Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Stacey A. Nuveman
University of California, Los Angeles
Softball

A member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, Nuveman was a finalist for the 1999 Sullivan Award, which recognizes the nation's top amateur athlete. She also was the 2002 American Softball Association/USA player of the year.

She holds the NCAA career home run record (90), and also set the career slugging percentage record as a senior. In 2002, she set the single-season slugging percentage record. Her career batting average of .466 is third best in NCAA history.

As a senior, Nuveman led the country with a .529 batting average. She was named all-tournament at the 2002 Women's College World Series and was named to USA Softball's World Championship team. A three-time Honda Award finalist, she was nominated for an ESPY Award as 2002's best female collegiate athlete.

A consistent member of the UCLA athletics director's honor roll, she graduated with degrees in sociology and public policy.

Among her many community activities, she worked as a volunteer for "I'm Going to College," escorting inner-city children at campus sporting events and encouraging them to think about higher education. A participant in UCLA's pen pal program, she also served as a coach/teacher at softball camps and clinics around the country, representing UCLA and the U.S. national team.

Andreé N. Pickens
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Gymnastics

A state NCAA Woman of the Year winner and the Honda Award winner for gymnastics, Pickens won the NCAA championship in the uneven bars as a senior and the balance beam in 1999, and was the first freshman to earn five all-America honors in one season.

Pickens also earned five first-team all-America honors as a senior, making her the first to do so in two different seasons. Pickens finished her career with 14 all-America honors despite not being able to compete in the 2001 championships due to injury. The 2002 Southeastern Conference female athlete of the year was selected as the SEC Gymnast of the Year for three consecutive years.

She graduated from Alabama with a degree in biology and was academic all-conference three times. Inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Sigma Pi national honor societies in 2001, she was appointed to her institution's president's university standing committee of academics and athletics, as well as being inducted into Gamma Beta Phi national honorary society.

Pickens was the female recipient of the 2002 SEC community-service award and was one of five women to receive honorable mention in Glamour Magazine's "2001-02 Top-Ten College Women." She participated in community events ranging from United Way Campaign kickoffs to speaking to children about reading and staying in school.

Jonathan Stinchcomb
University of Georgia
Football

A semifinalist for the 2002 Lombardi Award as one of the country's top linemen, the first-team all-Southeastern Conference performer earned second-team all-SEC honors in 2000. As a junior, he was a Football News second-team all-American. He was named a first-team freshman all-American by The Sporting News and Football News in 1999.

A 2001 first-team Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-American, Stinchcomb was a recipient of a National Football Foundation postgraduate scholarship. He also was a four-year recipient of a HOPE Scholarship from the state of Georgia.

A member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Blue Key and Golden Key honor societies, Stinchcomb was the male student-athlete representative to his university's athletics board of directors, and was recognized by the Georgia chapter of the Boy Scouts of America as a "Peach of an Athlete" in 2002.

Named to the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team, Stinchcomb did volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity, the American Heart Association and St. Mary's Hospital, and also served as a Barrow Elementary School reading program volunteer. A summer youth program volunteer, he also did work with the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia, Special Olympics and the Boys and Girls Club, among others.

Aly Wagner
Santa Clara University
Soccer

A starter for the U.S. women's soccer national team, Wagner won national player of the year honors from three different organizations as a senior and was named the Bay Area's female athlete of the year.

In leading Santa Clara to the 2001 Division I championship, she kicked the game-winners in her team's second- and third-round games as well as in the title game, and was named the outstanding offensive player for the Women's College Cup.

Named all-academic by both the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the West Coast Conference, she graduated with a degree in combined sciences.

Her community activities included serving as a HomeSafe volunteer, and helping with Santa Clara youth clinics and the Alzheimer's Activity Center.