At tonight’s Student Activities Awards Banquet that was held at the Everett Holiday Inn, the Male & Female Athletes of the Year were announced.  They are Sophomore Alex O’Brien and Sophomore Jamie Foote.  Alex plays on the Men’s Baseball Team and Jamie plays on the Women’s Softball Team. 

This year’s Male Athlete of the Year is someone that is very deserving of the award.  I’ve had the opportunity to not only watch him play baseball for the last two years bur also supervise him as a student-worker and get to know him.  He is an Everett native who is the two-year starting shortstop on the Trojans Baseball Team, a scholar in the classroom and a leader both on and off the field.  Last month, the Everet Herald ran a full page article on him entitled “Hard Work Pays Off” and it definitely has.  There are many words taht one could use to describe him - hardworking, go getter, a leader honest, team player, thoughtful, respectful and a great guy and friend.  If you as his coaches, and I have, they would all say that he’s the type of student-athlete you want because you can build your program around him.  Through his hard work and dedication he has earned a scholarship and signed a letter of intent to play at Albertson College in Idaho which is one of the top NAIA baseball programs in the country.  Coach Lacey is confident that he will be successful there and that he will contiue to make Everett Community College proud of his accomplishments.  He has a 3.25 GPA, a .265 batting average, a .377 on base percentage, with 21 runs batted in and 36 hits.  He will be leading the team tomorrow as they travel to Mount Vernon to play Skagit Valley College in a 2 out of 3 playo ff game, with the winner advancing to the NWAACC Championship Tournament next weekend.   He will not only be missed one the baseball team but also as a solid supported of other Trojan Athletics.  If you have ever been to a volleyball or basketball game you would have seen him over in the corner on a chair yellin at the refs and officials, the other team and cheerin for our team.  He is one of the best workers I have ever had to supervise and I will greatly miss him. I’m pleased to announce that this year’s winner of the Male Athlete of the Year Award goes to Alex O’Brien. 

Jamie was unable to attend the banquet because she along with the rest of the team are down in Portland, OR playing in the NWAACC Softball Championship Tournament. Jamie plays 3rd base for the Trojans and hits in the 3rd or 4th spot in the line-up due to her powerful left handed batting.  She leads not only her team in many categories but is a leader in the NWAACC too; being 4th in Batting Averages with a .540; 5th in Runs Batted In with 71; and 6th in Homeruns with 17.  Jamie also gets things done in the classroom. She holds a 3.53 GPA and plans on transferring to the UW to major in Biology then transferring to WSU to attend Veterinary School.  The Herald did an article on the softball team yesterday and there was a picture of Jamie batting on the front of the Sports page.  This is the second year that Jamie has wond this award and that says alot about her as a student and athlete.  Athletic Director, Larry Walker will be presenting Jamie with her award tomorrow at the Championship Tournament. 

Congratulations to both Alex and Jamie for being named the 2006-07 Athletes of the Year!