(Midway, Ky.) – During the state high school soccer tournament in the fall, Midway University and the KHSAA presented the Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award to Grace Anne Badarak, a senior at Breathitt County High School. After spending most of her career playing offense, Badarak switched to goalie in her junior season, quickly earning recognition as one of the best goalies in her region.
Away from the field, she juggles several volunteer and extracurricular activities with her studies. “Grace has not only excelled on the soccer field over the last four years of high school, she has also been a great leader to her teammates and other classmates all while maintaining a high GPA and attending college classes throughout her junior and senior year,” said Breathitt County Head Coach Jessica Hamblin.
Badarak is an active participant in Future Business Leaders of America and serves as a Sunday School teacher. She is also on track to receive an Associate’s Degree from Morehead State University.
“Grace Badarak is an outstanding athlete, but even more importantly, she’s a tremendous young lady,” said Sherrill Smith, head women’s soccer coach at Midway University. “It’s a great honor to present this award to such a well-rounded student and competitor.”
About the Midway University/KHSAA Female Student Athlete of the Year Awards
Nomination Process:
School administrators and/or coaches can nominate any qualified female high school student-athlete. Players can be nominated and win in more than one sport and are eligible to be nominated and win in multiple years of competition.
Judging Criteria
A panel of judges selected by Midway University and the KHSAA will review all nominations and make the selection of each individual sport Female Student-Athlete of the Year. The nominations will be judged on 60 percent weighting of overall athletic achievement, 20 percent academic achievement and 20 percent community service/leadership. In the event of a tie, the judges will have the discretion to select the final winner. Individual winners in each sport will be eligible for the overall Athlete of the Year Award, which will presented in May 2017.
Nominees must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher to qualify and be academically eligible to play in the season in which they are/were nominated.