Bobcat Student-Athletes Honored at A.L.L. Banquet
5/11/2011 5:26:49 PM | General
The 2010-11 Academic year brought many wins from the playing surface and even more from the classroom and the community. On Thursday, April 28, the 2011 A.L.L. (Academics, Leadership, Life Skills) Challenge Banquet honored several Montana State student-athletes for their impressive accomplishments from the previous year. From a share of the Big Sky Conference titles, to sub-four minute miles, to spending time with children at a local elementary school, the MSU student-athletes have made time for it all.
Six academic and community honors were doled out in the annual event. The MSU Women's Basketball team nearly swept the competition winning four awards. Their first honor of the evening came for their performance in the classroom. With three student-athletes on the President's List and eight of 13 above a 3.0 grade point average, the Women's Basketball team was named the Top Academic Performance team.
Women's Basketball also won the award for Most Community Service Points which is based on team size and hours of service. They participated in events such as Jump Rope for the Heart, Big Brothers Big Sisters and volunteer coaching opportunities. Overall, they amassed 296 hours and 2,466 total points.
The Al Beye Memorial Trophy was also awarded to Women's Basketball, their third of the night. The Beye Trophy is given to the team with the overall highest score in the A.L.L. Challenge. The Bobcat basketball team won the award in 2010, as well.
Women's Basketball's final award of the night went to senior Lyndi Seidensticker who was named the A.L.L. Star of 2010-11. The award is given to the student-athlete who puts in the most hours of community service. This past year, she served as a Big Sister, tutored school children and helped raise money for Parkinson's Disease research, just to name a few activities the Spokane, Wash. native participated in.
The Bobcat Football team earned honors for the most number of raw hours of community service. MSU Football finished with over 700 hours volunteering for a wide variety of activities including Big Brothers Big Sisters, working on a local ranch and speaking engagements. Most recently, the football program participated in the Chief Joseph Middle School Fun Night on April 29, where students and players enjoyed basketball, ping pong and other positive interactions.
The final award of the academic/community portion of the presentation was for Most Improved, both in the community and academically. The Men's Basketball team earned the honors after improving their community service by over 100 hours and posting one of their highest grade point averages of the decade.
In addition to community service awards, five athletic prizes were awarded. The 2010 football team was named Best Men's Team performance after earning a share of the Big Sky Championships. The Women's Basketball team won their fifth award of the evening for Best Women's Team Performance for their 10-game win streak. For Best Individual Female Performance, Track and Field's Camille Marchand earned the honors after finishing second in the 100 and 200 meter dashes at Indoor Big Sky Championships. Denarius McGhee, the Big Sky Co-Offensive MVP for football took the award for Best Individual Male Performance. The final award of the night was for Most Inspirational which went to Mike Rider of the football team for his tremendous leadership.
The A.L.L. Challenge started at MSU in 2006. This team challenge was developed to give student-athletes the opportunity to develop life skills both on and off the competition field in the areas of academic achievement, community service and leadership. Over the five years of the program, the MSU student-athletes have volunteered more than 17,000 hours of their time to help others in the community. Teams are awarded points for academic achievement, community service and leadership opportunities.
