FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (8/04)
Contact: Dr. David Hoaas, 318-869-5148; David Pratt, Sports Information Director, 318-869-5092; or Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

The (Shreveport) Times Column about Centenary's Anja Schmidt

Mid-Con Selects Centenary's Anja Schmidt for League's Highest Honor: Scholar-Athlete of the Year

	Anja Schmidt

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary student-athlete Anja Schmidt has been chosen by the Mid-Continent Athletic Conference for the most prestigious individual honor given by the league -- in recognition of performance in athletic competition and in the classroom.

Schmidt and Justin Langan of Western Illinois University were selected by the conference’s faculty athletic representatives as the female and male recipients of the 2003-04 Mid-Continent Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year designation.

Just a sophomore, Schmidt has enjoyed tremendous successes in her first two years as a tennis player and student at Centenary. As a freshman in 2002-03, Centenary's final season playing as an independent, Schmidt was named both the Independent Player and Newcomer of the Year, as well as a member of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-Louisiana first team. She went a step better in 2003-04, earning Mid-Con Player of the Year honors with a 23-3 overall record, including a perfect 9-0 mark against league foes. A five-time Mid-Con Athlete of the Week honoree, she repeated as an All-Louisiana first team pick, and was ranked among the nation’s “Top 100” by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

The Gifhorn, Germany, native has been a member of the Dean’s List all four semesters and carries a 3.91 grade point average as an economics and business administration double major. Schmidt, who has posted a perfect 4.00 GPA in each of her last three semesters, is a candidate for departmental honors in economics, for which she is completing an extensive research project. She is scheduled to present the results of her research at the Federation of Business Disciplines annual meeting next March, where she will be one of very few undergraduate students presenting. Schmidt is on pace to graduate from Centenary in just three years.

Langan is a two-sport star at his school. Langan has starred for both the Leatherneck soccer and football teams, earning achievements on and off both playing fields.

Other Mid-Con Scholar-Athlete of the Year nominees included: Chicago State’s David Comiskey (men’s cross country/track and field) and Loretta Ellul (women’s basketball); UMKC’s Dion McNeal (women’s track and field), Oakland’s Ryan Rzepka (men’s soccer) and Shelley Aurit (women’s swimming and diving); Oral Roberts’ Dennis Bigley (baseball) and Candice Satow (women’s golf); Southern Utah’s Cody Moat (men’s cross country/track and field) and Natalie Quilter (women’s cross country/track and field); Valparaiso’s Adam Paetznick (baseball) and Cyndi Norman (volleyball); and Western Illinois’ Kari Diem (women’s track and field).

The Mid-Continent Conference is comprised of nine member institutions - Centenary College of Louisiana, Chicago State University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), Oakland University, Oral Roberts University, Southern Utah University, Valparaiso University and Western Illinois University. The league offers championships in 19 sports.

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