Work and teamwork are emphasized by winners of $7,500 scholarships

Scholar-Athlete of the Year winners Amarachi Eseonu and Clarke Gottwald have much to be proud of on the playing fields and in the classroom.

Among their achievements, then, which impresses each the most?

“I worked over the summer, and I missed a lot of the preseason. So coming into field hockey I was way behind everyone else,” Eseonu said. “I had to work extra hard after practice and practicing all the time, and it paid off because I was regional player of the year.”

Said Gottwald, “This Scholar-Athlete Award is definitely a huge deal. It’s not just me winning it. There are so many people behind me [a point emphasized by guest speaker Dave Robbins]. It sums up my high school experience because I’ve had so many people pushing me in athletics and the classroom.”

Eseonu, from Maggie Walker Governor’s School, and Gottwald, from St. Christopher’s, were honored along with 18 others last night at The Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete of the Year banquet at The Jefferson Hotel.

Eseonu and Gottwald received $7,500 scholarships. The runners-up, Katie Blow of Mills Godwin and Chris Daly of Collegiate, received $4,000 scholarships. The other 16 finalists were awarded $2,000.

The Sports Backers also dispensed $1,000 awards for the Williams Mullen teams of the year. The first-time honors went to the Midlothian girls cross country team and the St. Christopher’s wrestling team of which Gottwald was a member and the state champion at 171 pounds.

CJW Sports Medicine, which has presented comebackathlete-of-the-year scholarships for seven years, partnered with the Sports Backers for the first time and handed out awards at the banquet. Kirk Rohle of Hanover was the boys winner. Cayla Toups of Lee-Davis and Taylor Thornton of Patrick Henry were co-girls winners.

Eseonu has excelled in field hockey and received numerous accolades. Central Region player of the year and first-team all-state were among them.

When the time came for her to choose a college, the list consisted of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Cornell and the VCU guaranteed medical program. She chose Harvard and will major in biomedical engineering. Why Harvard?

“Because my brother went there, and I’ve been there so many times and I saw the environment and I saw what it produced in my brother, so I thought Harvard would be a good place for me, too,” said Eseonu, who compiled a 4.6 GPA.

The Saints’ wrestlers won the Virginia Independent Schools state title each of Gottwald’s high school years. He was 118-35 in his career.

Saints wrestling coach Frank Kiefer was heard to say during the season that to put together a winning team, he would gladly take 14 Gottwalds four years apart and all different weights.

Gottwald played football and was a three-year starter on the defensive line. He was all-Prep League and all-state.

Gottwald (4.4 GPA) is headed to the University of North Carolina, his mom’s alma mater. He is the middle brother of five. His greatest ambition?

“I didn’t work as hard as I should have in the ninth and 10th grade, and I really want to be able to graduate from UNC knowing that there is nothing I could have done to work harder.”

Contact Arthur Utley at (804) 649-6559 or .

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