Alta athletes named to Academic All State teams

Running and academics must be a good mix, as six Alta cross country runners have earned state Academic All State awards this year.

The six are part of eight Alta athletes receiving the award for fall sports.

Earning an Academic All State in girls cross country are Brooke Stacey, Carolyn Webber, Sierra Murri, Devrie Rozsa and Michelle Staples.

Taylor Swallow picked up the award as a member of the boys cross country team, while Whitney Minnick earned it in girls volleyball and Nathan Lant was honored in boys golf. All eight athletes currently carry a perfect 4.0 grade average.

“We are very good friends and have been for a long time,” said recipient Webber about her fellow award winners in cross country. “We are a close group of girls that help push each other in both cross country and studies.”

Webber, daughter of David and Cecilia Webber of Sandy, plans on studying journalism at the collegiate level. She is considering the University of Utah as well as some East Coast schools with good journalism programs.

Rozsa, daughter of David and Karen Rozsa of Draper, is considering BYU for her next level of studies. She is thinking of engineering, either bio medical or aerospace.

“I know those are on both extremes of engineering, but they both appeal to me,” she said.

She also agreed it was the work of all five girlfriends that helped them succeed in running and academics.

“It was a goal of ours to get 4.0 grades,” she said. “We would push each other after running practice to get our homework done.”

Swallow, son of John and Suzanne Swallow of Sandy, competed for the first time this year in cross country.

“I just decided to do it, so I worked hard in training through the summer and made the varsity team at our second meet,” he said. “It was tough to keep the grades up because I had a lawn business on the side. So I would have to go to school, then cross country practice, mow lawns and then get my studies done. It was a big challenge to juggle all of it.”

Swallow, who also carried a 4.0, plans on an LDS mission before returning to either BYU or University of Utah to study engineering.

Minnick, daughter of Jay and Tami Minnick of Draper, played four years as a setter in Alta’s volleyball program, with two years on the varsity squad. She plans on going into the medical field with studies at BYU.

“It is tough to play a sport and keep a 4.0,” she said. “You just have to manage your time and make sure you have time to get homework done after practice.”