MISSOULA — As the high school calendar winds to a close, as we do every year, it’s time for the annual KPAX-Scheels Sports Awards that honor local outstanding student-athletes.
Every year, the honors court nominates a male and female student-athlete from the five high schools in Missoula, and on May 14 at the sports awards banquet, we'll announce the winners, which include a $1,000 scholarship.
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Over the next several days, we'll highlight these nominees, and we begin over at Valley Christian, with the nominees of Sydney Schneider and Ethan Wornath.
Schneider is a three-sport athlete for the Eagles in volleyball, basketball and track and field.
She was a captain in volleyball and basketball, and is also the senior class president at Valley Christian, and is a leader for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
A 4.0 student who is a National Honor Society member, Schneider has served on a number of service projects, and after high school, she'll head to Montana Tech to compete in track and field and also study exercise and health science.
"It's a small community, I've really had a cool group of people supporting me," Schneider said. "I've had a bunch of successes, I've had a bunch of failures. I've had some fun times, some difficult times. I think Valley's just been a good place for me to kind of grow. It's been a good environment for me to grow and I think it's definitely given me a solid base not only in life but also in my faith. I think that's really important as I start that next chapter of life, just having that good foundation."
Wornath has competed in four sports in his time at Valley Christian in football, basketball, track and field and tennis.
He helped the Eagles reach the 8-Man playoffs this past season in football, and in the classroom, he's the student body president and a member of the National Honor Society.
He's a 4.0 student and also served on a number of mission trips, and after high school, he'll head to Phoenix where he'll attend Grand Canyon University to study business management.
"I just fell in love with all of the sports and the team that comes with it and the community," Wornath said. "It was always somewhere I could go to when I was struggling, just like a brotherhood with the football team and even with the basketball team, so sports have been great at Valley. It's a tight-knit community, so you always have a place to go and people to run to and teammates and coaches to care for you."
