The Richmond Region’s finest high school athletes were rewarded for their hard work in scholastics and athletics last night at the 17th Annual Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner at The Jefferson Hotel. 

Top honors and $7,500 scholarships went to Amarachi Eseonu, of Maggie Walker Governor’s School, and Clarke Gottwald, of St. Christophers.  The $4,000 runner’s up scholarships went to Katie Blow, of Mills Godwin, and Christopher Daly, of Collegiate School.  The remaining 16 scholar-athletes won scholarships of $2,000 each.

They were:
GIRLS:
Katie Blow — Godwin HS—Virginia Tech
Samantha Dow— Midlothian HS—Virginia Tech
Amarachi Eseonu— Maggie Walker—Harvard
Casey Fowler—Freeman HS—Wake Forest
Carrie Jaeckle— Thomas Dale HS—UVA
Kristin Lescalleet— Atlee HS—University of Richmond
Courtney Long— Hanover HS—Longwood
Alexandra Modisett— Collegiate School—UVA
Hannah Schul—James River HS—UVA
Ana Tucker— Powhatan HS—UVA

BOYS:
Andrew Belcher—LC Bird HS—Hampden-Sydney
Michael Blankenbecler—Thomas Dale HS—Virginia Tech
Christopher Daly— Collegiate School—UVA
Clarke Gottwald — St. Christopher’s—UNC’s honors program
John Austin Hicks—Goochland HS—UVA
Will Roberts—Maggie Walker—UVA
Kirk Rohle—Hanover HS—Hampden Sydney
Cameron Scales — Steward School—Elon
Ronnie Shaban— Cosby HS—Virginia Tech
Jason Witt— Midlothian HS—BYU

The Sports Backers also presented boys and girls Team of the Year awards, sponsored by Williams Mullen, for the first time.  All state championship winners were considered for the award.  The boys’ selection was the St. Christopher’s wrestling team, which won its seventh consecutive private school state title. The girls’ winner was the Midlothian girls cross country team, which won the Virginia High School League title for the third consecutive year.  Each winning school will be awarded $1,000.

Recently-retired Virginia Union University Men’s Basketball Coach Dave Robbins was the keynote speaker.  He lauded the kids for their achievement and advised them to thank parents, coaches, teachers and family members for their love and support. 

CJW Sports Medicine also presented its male and female Comeback Athletes of the Year at the dinner for the first time. Each winner receives a $1,000 scholarship, and the schools receive $500. The awards recognize high school athletes who have overcome major injuries or illnesses during their careers and returned to playing their sports. The male winner is multiple sports standout Kirk Rohle of Hanover. Cayla Toups of Lee-Davis and Taylor Thornton of Patrick Henry, both volleyball players, are co-winners on the girls side.  CJW Sports Medicine’s $4,500 awards bring the evening’s total scholarship amount to $61,500.

This is the seventeenth year of the Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers program, which has now awarded a total of $423,000 to 315 outstanding student-athletes from the Richmond area.

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