Valerie Siqueira Is Top Irish Student-Athlete Honored
Academic Excellence Awards honored 455 student-athletes who possess a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average or higher.

April 4, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Irish senior cross country and track distance runner Valerie Siqueira earned top honors Monday night at the eighth annual Academic Excellence Awards Dinner organized by the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Academic Services for Student-Athletes and sponsored by the Athletic Department.

The dinner, held in the concourse of the Joyce Center, honored the 455 student-athletes who possess a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average or higher. Also honored were the student-athletes on each varsity team with the highest cumulative GPA (trainers, managers and cheerleaders included), plus the teams with the highest combined GPAs in each semester.

Notre Dame executive vice president Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C., served as guest speaker.

Siqueira, a pre-professional major (in the College of Science) from Mishawaka, Ind., was honored as the graduating senior with the highest cumulative GPA (3.94). She’s a cross country letterwinner who also competes in track.

Twelve athletes were cited for earning 4.0 grade-point averages during the ’99 spring semester (class years for ’98-’99) — Cindy Harding (cheerleading, senior, Naperville, Ill.), Phil Murphy (soccer, senior, Brentwood, Tenn.), Mike Naumann (baseball, sophomore, Tucson, Ariz.), Nate Andrulonis (track, sophomore, Pittsburgh, Pa.), Katrina Ten Eyck (rowing, senior, Keystone, S.D.), David Cutler (soccer, senior, Seattle, Wash.), Ricky Buhrman (tennis, sophomore, Lighthouse Point, Fla.), Andy Warford (tennis, senior, Bismarck, N.D.), Tim Englehardt (track, senior, East Syracuse, N.Y.), Mike Greiwe (track, junior, Tampa, Fla.), Kelly Peterson (track, senior, Escondido, Calif.) and Siqueira.

Reaching the 4.0 mark in the ’99 fall semester were Jennifer Kleine (cheerleading, sophomore, Barrington, Ill.), Chris Sanabria (fencing, junior, Haughton, La.), Jennifer Sutton (fencing, sophomore, Orlando, Fla.), Mike Tribe (football, senior, Chicago, Ill.), Lauren Fuchs (golf, sophomore, Louisville, Ky.), Andy Jurkowski (hockey, senior, Madison, Wis.), Vanessa Pruzinsky (soccer, freshman, Trumbull, Conn.), Ray Fitzpatrick (swimming, senior, Doylestown, Pa.), Matt Hedden (swimming, junior, Westerville, Ohio), Jessica Johnstone (swimming, junior, Marietta, Ga.), Megan McCauley (track, sophomore, Aberdeen, Wash.), Naumann and Andrulonis.

Honored for having the highest cumulative averages among first-year students were Kathryn Anderson (rowing, Bremen, Ill.), Alan Lyskawa (soccer, Novi, Mich.), Cassandra Murphy (rowing, West Simsbury, Conn.) and Pruzinsky (soccer).

The teams with the highest combined GPAs were women’s fencing in the spring ’99 semester at 3.42 and women’s tennis in the fall ’99 semester at 3.363.

Here are the individuals with the top cumulative GPAs by sport (must have achieved upper-class status):