The NCAA Honors Committee has announced the selection of three recipients of the Inspiration Award.

Kaia Jergenson, a former women's basketball student-athlete at Lipscomb University; Michelle Thomas, a cross country and track and field student-athlete at the University of Oklahoma; and Macharia Yuot, a cross country and track student-athlete at Widener University, will be recognized Sunday, January 9, at the Honors Dinner, held in conjunction with the 99th annual NCAA Convention in Dallas.

This is the fourth year for the award, which is presented to a coach or administrator currently associated with intercollegiate athletics, or to a current or former varsity letter-winner at an NCAA member institution, who when faced with a life-altering situation overcame the event through perseverance, dedication and determination and now serves as a role model, giving hope and inspiration to others in similar situations.

The Inspiration Award is not automatically presented annually; however, there have been recipients selected in each of the award's four years.

Following are brief descriptions of each recipient and the adversity they overcame to earn the award.

Jergenson

One of the characteristics of a true champion is heart, a trait that Jergenson, a former women's basketball student-athlete at Lipscomb, displayed when she survived a near-fatal battle with meningococcal septicemia, or bacterial meningitis. She now inspires others with her determination to reach her dreams.

Jergenson averaged 12 points and six rebounds a game for Lipscomb as a part-time starter who saw action in the first 15 games of her freshman season in 1999-2000. But after returning from the holiday break and resuming practice, Jergenson fell ill overnight and was rushed to the hospital with no blood pressure or pulse. She was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and after lapsing into a coma was given little hope for survival.

Jergenson emerged from the coma, but she faced a drastically altered existence. As a result of the severity of the disease, doctors amputated both of her legs below the knee and four fingers on her right hand. She also endured multiple skin grafts and a muscle transplant in her right forearm and was left with partial use of her left arm and hand.

She spent months recovering and rehabilitating, but buoyed by a positive attitude and determination to reach her goal of majoring in pre-medicine and becoming a physician, she returned to classes at Lipscomb in the fall. Still, things that had been simple before -- getting in and out of bed, getting to and from class and going to the school cafeteria for meals -- were more complex and time-consuming as she had to manage a wheelchair and, later, prosthetics.

But Jergenson withstood the test. She learned to care for herself as she lived on campus and developed methods to take notes and tests. She also learned to use a voice-activated computer to continue going to school. Jergenson has excelled in the classroom, and she is on track to graduate in May 2005 and work toward her goal of attending medical school. She also returned to the basketball court, serving as the team manager for the past four years.

A number of awards have been named after Jergenson. In 2001, the Nashville Sports Council established the Kaia Jergenson Award, which is presented annually to a recipient in the middle Tennessee area. She was the recipient of the Athena Award for Tennessee, an annual honor that recognizes women who have been an inspiration to those around her. Jergenson has been nominated for the national Athena Award as well.

Thomas

As a member of the Oklahoma women's cross country and track teams, Thomas can run with the best of them. But when confronted with a chain of potentially devastating circumstances, she stood her ground and now serves as an example of courage and determination.

Last fall, Thomas, along with her twin sister Kim, took over the task of raising two of their nieces. The nieces' mother, the twins' older sister, was in prison. The girls, ages 5 and 7, lived with Thomas and her twin throughout the school year. In spite of the challenging situation, Thomas, a senior microbiology major and chemistry minor, was able to maintain her grades as well as her practice and competition schedule. In fact, she turned in the highest grade-point average of her academic career at Oklahoma.

An already challenging situation took an unexpected turn in the middle of January 2004 when her twin sister, who also was a senior at Oklahoma, began having complications with her pregnancy and eventually lost her child. Worse, doctors were concerned that Kim may have developed cervical cancer. Though in mourning, Thomas ran in a meet on the day of the funeral for her sister's child.

In another tragic twist just days after the burial, Thomas was at an early morning practice when she was notified that her oldest sister Kia had been shot and killed. Kia had no life insurance and the rest of the family was unable to provide any financial assistance. However, Thomas and her twin had just received their Pell Grant money. Without hesitation, they used the money to fund funeral and burial arrangements for their sister.

The selfless act left Thomas without necessary financial support, a situation that was quickly resolved with the assistance of her coach, the athletics department and school's financial aid office. As it turns out, Thomas' grades were good enough for the university to award her an academic scholarship. She is scheduled to complete her degree in May 2005 and plans to pursue a graduate degree in microbiology.

Yuot

While Yuot didn't begin running cross country and track until he was a senior in high school, the late start wasn't daunting to someone who already had walked nearly 1,000 miles.

Yuot was one of 26,000 young boys orphaned by a two-decade religious civil war in his native Sudan. About 9 years old at the time, he and the rest of the so-called Lost Boys of Sudan fled the country on foot and trekked through the sub-Saharan heat, braving hunger, dehydration, fatigue and a continued threat of violence. They found brief refuge in Ethiopian refugee camps, but the eruption of more violence in 1991 forced them to head back through Sudan, and an additional 400 miles into Kenya, where they eventually settled at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in 1992.

Yuot spent several years at Kakuma. There he received most of his education, including learning Arabic, Swahili and English. It also was at the camp where Yuot heard about, applied and was accepted as part of an ambitious relocation program launched by the United States to begin transplanting about 3,600 Lost Boys, including Yuot, to various U.S. cities.

Yuot landed in Pennsylvania, and with the assistance of the Lutheran Church, he enrolled in high school as a junior and joined the soccer team and eventually the track team. Yuot wanted to further his education, and Widener was appealing, not only because a close high-school friend already had committed to the school, but also because he had established a relationship with Widener head track and field coach Vince Touey.

In order to gain admission to the university, Yuot had to pass English as a Foreign Language and secure financial assistance. Yuot worked with tutors tirelessly over a three-month period to strengthen his grasp of the English language and successfully pass the test. In addition, a financial aid counselor helped open the door for Yuot to attend Widener.

The five-time letter-winner is doing well academically. He is on his way to becoming one of the most highly decorated track and field and cross country student-athletes in Widener history. Last September, he joined the cross country team and, in addition to earning all-America recognition, he won the Middle Atlantic Conference individual title and was named as conference runner of the year. After qualifying for the national meet by finishing fifth at the Mideast regional, Yuot turned in a surprising second-place finish at the 2003 NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championships. In track, he finished fifth at the 2003 conference indoor meet and earned a silver medal at the league's outdoor championships.