UW-Platteville Hosts 2008-09 Athletic Honors Banquet

NCAA III all-Americans Jeff Skemp, Tera Burr and Jessica Scott were named UW-Platteville's Athletes of the Year at the Athletic Department's Honors Evening Wednesday in the Ullsvik Center.

Skemp, a senior from Hazel Green (Southwestern), earned both WIAC and NCAA III West Region Player of the Year as well as first team all-American honors. He led the Pioneers to a 23-6 record and a final national ranking of sixth. He scored 38 points, making 17-21 from the field, in his final game, an overtime loss to third-ranked Wheaton (Ill.) Skemp also scored 20 points to lead the Pioneers to an 84-79 win at NCAA I Bradley in November.

Burr, a senior second baseman from Shawano, and Scott, a senior cross country runner from Kiel, not only shared the Female Athlete of the Year, but also the two major academic awards. Burr earned the Scholar-Athlete Award, while Scott was the school's NCAA Woman of the Year nomination. Both were the WIAC Scholar-Athletes in their respective sports and have 3.75 grade-point averages.

Burr earned her fourth straight first team all-conference award after hitting .462 overall and raised her career batting average to .446, the best in WIAC history. Of the seven career statistical categories UW-Platteville tracks, Burr holds the top spot in six of them.

Scott earned all-conference, all-region and all-America honors in cross country. She placed 12th in the national meet with the third-best time in school history, 21:25. This spring, she earned two all-American honors in the national indoor championships and became the first Pioneer female ever to qualify for outdoor nationals in three events. She will compete May 21-23 in Marietta, Ohio.

Nathan Petesch (So., Bellevue, IA/Marquette) earned the Male Scholar-Athlete Award. He carries a 3.92 grade-point average with double majors in biology and geography. He earned all-WIAC and all-Midwest Region honors in cross country and has placed third or fourth in three different conference track events.

Seniors earning Pioneer Career Achievement Awards were:

• Two-time all-WIAC volleyball player Rachel Chapman (Endeavor/Portage)
• NCAA III All-American thrower Corey Digman (Platteville)
• Three-time all-WIAC running back Mike Genslinger (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley)
• NCAA III All-American runner Alison Glendenning (German Valley, IL/Forreston)
• NCAA III All-American wrestler Ryan Higgins (Oconomowoc)
• NCAA III All-American pole vaulter Scott Howard (Princeton, IL)
• All-time strikeout leader and all-WIAC pitcher Joe Lange (East Dubuque, IL)
• Two-time all-WIAC basketball player Charlie Lohoff (Oshkosh/North)

Other winners at the banquet were:

• Jeff Gard, basketball, assistant coach of the year
• Allen Cordingley, pep band director, award of thanks
• Brianna Klaas, basketball, Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Council Award
• Stephanie Dantoin, softball manager, Katie Vaassen Memorial Scholarship