SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Nov. 9, 2011)
Victoria Miskel is a track standout who quietly contributed to the success of Pennsbury’s state championship cross country team this fall. “You need your middle of the pack people that push and work hard and don’t complain and want to get better and show up all the time,” coach Don Little said. “Winning is nice, but I’d take a team full of Miskels and be very satisfied.” As a junior, Miskel – a sprinter on the track team -went out for the cross country team for the first time, entering the world of some elite runners like Ann Herman (third in the state) and Sara Sargent (seventh). “I liked the challenge,” Miskel said. “I tried really hard even though I knew it wasn’t my area of expertise.”
By pushing herself, Miskel, according to her coach, helped set a higher team standard. “She was a good role player/character girl,” Little said. “She was always positive and worked hard in the workouts. She wanted to become better at running distance even though she never looked at herself as a distance runner. To be 10th on our team, she could maybe be sixth or seventh on somebody else’s team.” In track last spring, Miskel qualified for districts in the long and triple jumps along with the 4x100 relay and has set a goal of reaching states this spring.
Miskel’s work ethic carries over to the classroom where she carries a 4.4 GPA. She is a member of the National Honor Society and is chair for the Prom Committee. She is the secretary of the Pink Ribbon Club, which raises awareness for breast cancer research. For the past three summers, she traveled to West Virginia for a week on a mission trip with her church.
Miskel is being recruited by Rider and Lafayette for track. She is also considering Bentley and Pitt. She plans on majoring in economics.
To read Miskel’s complete profile, click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/victoria-miskel
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Nov. 9, 2011)
Matt Warden is described as the consummate scholar-athlete by his cross country coach. The Cheltenham senior, according to coach Tom Sexton, was the only senior in his team’s top 10 runners and regularly finished in the top three of this squad. Beyond his contributions on the cross country course, Warden the perfect captain of a young Panther squad this season. “He’s just a natural leader and has very high standards,” Sexton said. “If the kids aren’t doing what he knows they should be doing, he’ll point it out to them. As a coach, I totally trust his judgment. I know I can totally depend on it because of the kind of kid he is.”
Warden opted go out for cross country to get in shape for tennis, and he admits he didn’t like it initially. He was the 15th runner on the jayvee team as a freshman, but it wasn’t long before he was hooked on running, going on to become one of his team’s top runners as a senior.
Warden, who shies away from the spotlight, is reluctant to talk about his resume off the cross country course, but it is an impressive one. He is ranked third in his senior class and has been taking college courses since the second semester of his sophomore year. This year he is taking classes at both Arcadia and the University of Pennsylvania. His course load is filled with AP classes, and last year he took 10 AP classes, receiving the top mark of five on nine of those and four on the 10th. “It’s incredible,” Sexton said. “He’s such an outstanding student, but he doesn’t like attention brought to himself.”
Warden is the editor of the school newspaper, and he is a member of the National Honor Society. He has applied early decision to the University of Pennsylvania where he hopes to get into the school of arts and sciences. He is undecided on a major but boasts enough credits to complete his college education at Penn in three years. Running will be part of Warden’s future, although he does not plan to run competitively.
To view Warden’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/matt-warden
- Log in to post comments
