34 Awards / Scholarships and Over $100K Awarded at Annual Sr. Scholar Athlete Awards Event
Jane “Merrill” Dickerson and Jordan McCants Receive Top Scholarships at Pensacola Sports’ Sr. Scholar Athlete Awards 34 Awards / Scholarships and Over $100K Awarded at Annual Event
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Each year, Pensacola Sports brings together the top senior student-athletes in each sport from Escambia and Santa Rosa County schools for a scholarship recognition program. This year’s has changed, but the celebration stays the same. The 2021 Sr. Scholar Athlete Awards event had 227 senior nominees that were introduced during last night’s even held at Olive Baptist Church.
“This might be our best event we do,” said Pensacola Sports President Ray Palmer. “There are some tremendously smart and talented young adults growing up in our school districts and we get to meet and recognize them at this event. It is a great night for everyone involved.”
Jane “Merrill” Dickerson from Washington High School volleyball and Jordan McCants from Pensacola Catholic High School baseball, won the overall female and male scholarships, respectively. Pensacola Sports awarded these two individuals each with a $4,000 scholarship.
Other awardees were:
Dr. Alec Kessler Memorial Scholarship – named for Dr. Alec Kessler, a standout basketball player at University of Georgia and Miami Heat and later an orthopedic surgeon at the Andrews Institute before he passed away suddenly at the age of 40. This scholarship is awarded to students of good character who excels in academics and sports and involved in the community.
Riley Poggi Pace
Tailor Ernst Navarre
Levi Cherek Pensacola
Timothy Burman Navarre
Prosser Crow Tate
University of West Florida Scholarship – Awarded to a student-athlete who is attending UWF in the coming year.
Jillian Thornton Jay
Super Star Multi-Sport Scholarship – Awarded to two students who excelled in the classroom and in more than one sport their senior year.
Landry Cato Jay
Chance Outten Escambia
Additionally, Pensacola State College awarded 24 individual sport winners with a one-year renewable scholarship.
The individual sport winners are:
Baseball Hunter Pierson Escambia
Girls Basketball Kinsey King Catholic
Boys Basketball Trenton Moye Central
Cheerleading Ashlyn NeSmith Tate
Boys Cross Country Christopher Bissell West Florida Tech
Girls Cross Country Mira Helms Gulf Breeze
Football Brennan Smith Escambia
Girls Golf Meredith McGhee Northview
Boys Golf Maxwell Page Catholic
Girls Lacrosse Lauren Thompson Gulf Breeze
Boys Lacrosse Joseph Snider Gulf Breeze
Girls Soccer Kendall Blackmon Tate
Boys Soccer Jackson Hamrick Catholic
Softball Kariana Williams Escambia
Girls Swimming Paige Connors West Florida Tech
Boys Swimming Jack Rowell Pace
Girls Tennis Adele Dorion Pensacola
Boys Tennis Kyle Kizilbash Pensacola
Girls Track De’Aundra Johnson Pine Forest
Boys Track Abe Pasion West Florida Tech
Volleyball Willow Sinkus-Blackburn Pace
Girls Weightlifting Kaitlyn Fretwell Jay
Boys Weightlifting Kevin Vannice Tate
Wrestling Brody Andrews Pace
Schools in both Escambia and Santa Rosa nominate their senior athletes for each sport. A selection committee made of educators, community leaders, and Pensacola Sports board members reviews the anonymous applications and select the best person’s credentials for each sport. Those are the individual sport winners. Then they select the overall male and female winners from the individual sport winners.
About Pensacola Sports
Pensacola Sports is a private 501(c)3 not-for-profit sports management agency that focuses on education, inspiration and participation in various team, individual, amateur and professional sports activities. Learn more at www.pensacolasports.org.