April 17, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB Athletics Department held its annual Senior Banquet on Monday evening at the Wynfrey Hotel. The event serves as a time to gather and celebrate and honor the accomplishments of UAB's 2007 Senior Class.

In addition to awarding the seniors with their senior gift, individual post-eligibility scholarship awards were handed out throughout the evening. Those awards included:

Lillyan Fahy Scholarship - Samrin Tanzeem (Women's Tennis)

George "Snoozy" Jones Scholarship - Trey Chaney (Football)

Jerry & Barbara Hallerman Memorial Scholarship - Mo Gibbs (Men's Basketball)

Wayne "Smitty" Smith Memorial Scholarship - Tony Haynes-Dalton (Football)

Dr. Jerry D. Young Memorial Scholarship - Lindsay Stanley (Softball)

Gene Bartow Scholarship - Katie Forbis (Women's Soccer)

Old Boys Scholarship - Chris Hanson (Men's Soccer)

Dorsey-Gallichio Endowed Athletic Scholarship - Levi Patmon (Baseball) and Zac Ward (Baseball)

Harry "The Hat" Walker Memorial Scholarship - J.R. Bond (Baseball)

SAAC Award - Sara Petrov (Synchronized Swimming)

Also earning accolades that evening were Jennifer Thompson and Lukasz Kwapisz, who were named the Female and Male Athlete Scholar Athletes Of The Year, respectively, for the highest GPA of the class of 2007.

Thompson, a four-year letterwinner for the Blazers' track & field and cross country teams, has an overall grade point average of 3.96 as a biology major. In addition, she has earned UAB's Presidential Honors every semester since the spring of 2004 and has been named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll all four years.

Kwapisz has earned four varsity letters on UAB's men's soccer team while also earning a perfect 4.0 in chemistry. An ESPN First-Team Academic All-America honoree and C-USA's men's soccer top scholar-athlete in 2005, Kwapisz has also earned UAB's Presidential Honor, along with the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll during his tenure as a Blazer.

In addition to honoring the outgoing senior class, UAB also recognized a trio of honorary letterwinners, including Richard Margison, Carney Crick and Richard Crick.