April 19, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Athletics Department held its 2005 Scholar Athlete Dinner Monday night which honored its top student-athletes in academics, performance and community service. Included in the honors were women’s track and field that was recognized as Women’s Team of the Year, senior captain Shevon Stoddart as Female Athlete of the Year and capping off the evening was the recognition of the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholarship Winners, USC’s Scholar Athletes of the Year, John Chappell and women’s cross country and track athtlete Jenny Lake.

Women’s track and Field, recognized as Team of the Year, finished fifth indoors and fourth outdoors at the 2004 SEC Championships and finished in the top 10 at both NCAA Championships, collecting 24 All-American honors for the year. USC won the national title in the 4X400 relay at the 2005 Indoor Championships, while finishing fifth overall, and totaling 11 All-American honors indoors.

Shevon Stoddart, Female Athlete of the Year, was a 2004 Olympian who competed for her home country Jamaica. A 2005 team captain, Stoddart is an eight-time All-American, 2002 national champion and member of the winning 4x400m relay at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championship. Majoring in advertising, Stoddart has been very active in several community service projects.

The Scholar Athlete of the Year Jenny Lake is a 2005 team captain and maintains a 4.0 cumulative GPA in Mathematics. The Geneseo, Ill. native is a CoSIDA Academic All-American and broke the school record in the 3,000-meters event with a time of 9:41.77. Lake was the lead runner for USC and finished her cross country career as the top runner on the team at every meet for four years in a row.