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 June 2, 2016)
Allison Miller can find the positive in just about any situation. Coach Scott Ludlow laughs when he recalls a conversation with his softball team during the District One AAA Tournament. “Before our game on Friday (of Memorial Day weekend), we talked about the potential of rain and having to play Saturday if we got rained out on Friday,” the Golden Bears’ coach said. “A lot of the girls were – my family is going here, my family is going there,’ and Allie’s like, ‘I have a lot of room in my house. You can all stay with me if you want.’ That’s her whole approach on things. She’s just a real positive kid. She’s one of those kids – you never see her in a bad mood. She’s just that positive role model for everybody.” Miller was a four-year starter for the varsity softball team, anchoring the infield at third base. Last year, Miller earned first team all-league and second team all-state honors. “She’s the cornerstone of our defense,” Ludlow said. “And absolutely is a huge part of our lineup as far as runs batted in, extra base hits.”
While Miller brings her obvious talents to the softball diamond, that’s not what sets her apart. Rather, it’s her positive approach that Ludlow keeps going back to when he talks about his senior captain. “She’s just one of those kids that’s always energetic, always out there for the team,” the Bears’ coach said. “On the sidelines, she’s always positive, she’s always trying to pick kids up, she never gets down on herself or anybody else. She leads by example on and off the field the way she practices, the way she plays. It’s kids like her that keep me coming back every year. It really is.”
Miller will be attending the University of Delaware and has not ruled out playing softball at the club level. As for her major, she admits she can’t decide. “I honestly would say that it’s not that I don’t know what I want to do,” she said. “It’s just that I want to do too many things.” An excellent student, Miller is a member of the National Honor Society and boasts a grade point average of 94-95 on a scale of 100. She is involved in the school’s Key Club, Spanish Club, Ski Club and student council. During the summer, she teaches tennis to youngsters at Manufacturers’ Country Club.
To read Miller’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/allison-miller-0062794
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of June 2, 2016)
While June 15 is circled on the calendar of John Starr, it remains unclear what color sharpie he has used to designate the date of William Tennent’s Class of 2016 graduation. “I want to move on, but I don’t want to leave,” he said. If that sounds like a thought that comes from one with the soul of a poet, it is not by happenstance. Starr, the school’s top singles player on the tennis team as a senior, was asked to deliver the senior poem at the annual Night of Reflections. It is an honor that caps a significant impact in his four years at Tennent. For John Senske’s tennis team, Starr converted from a longtime baseball player to a freshman barely contributing to the varsity squad to third doubles as a sophomore to third singles as a junior to first singles and an honorable mention all-league nod as a senior. “Leading by example, John includes all his teammates in drills and games,” Senske said of his two-year captain. “He is generous with his time and he shares his knowledge of tennis with everyone.”
Tennis only tells a part of the John Starr story. The Tennent senior, whose passions include singing and playing several instruments, has taken eight AP classes the last three years and 11 honors classes in the last four. He scored 2240 in the SAT and his weighted GPA of 4.14 has earned him a class rank of fourth. The president of the National Honors Society and vice president of student government, Starr visited Stanford last summer on an internship for a pharmaceutical company. Although it was always presumed he would major in molecular biology and become an optometrist, all of that changed one day in the library when he was drawn to the poetry section and a collection of poems by William Carlos Williams that was ‘so magical’ Starr would not be the same.
By March, the incoming freshman at the University of Pittsburgh decided he would not major in any of the sciences but in English. His plan – which could change – is to follow through to getting a doctorate and teaching poetry at the college level. Starr now writes daily, and although new to the craft, he won the school’s Kyle Quinn Spirit Award (named for a poetry-loving Tennent student who passed away) last May, a month after discovering Williams in the library.
To read Starr’s compete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/john-starr-0062793
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