Westside honors top scholar athletes

The Westside Scholar Athlete and Spirit Awards Banquet, hosted by WAC (Westside Athletic Club) was held on Wednesday, April 19 at the Scott Conference Center on the UNO campus. This annual event honors student athletes, who participated in one or more varsity sports with a grade point average above 3.5. Throughout the banquet, many speakers spoke about their experiences with the students, and how they were involved in their athletics.                           

1993 Westside graduate Kristin Whitted Fasbender was the keynote speaker at the banquet. She was a three-sport athlete, who competed in volleyball, basketball, track, and cheerleading. Fasbender lettered in all three of her sports, where she won District titles in volleyball and basketball. After graduation she attended University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she lettered in track and field and cross country. Fasbender is currently the Director of Championships for the NCAA and is responsible for Division I Volleyball Championships, Men’s Hockey Frozen Four and the National Beach Volleyball Championships. Fasbender had a message for the scholar-athletes.

“You persevere and that’s why you are here,” Fasbender said.

The teams with the highest grade point average were honored for their outstanding work in the classroom. The girls bowling team had the highest GPA, with an outstanding 3.885. The boys tennis team had the top GPA with a 3.845. 

Student athletes were given two different awards, the Heart of a Warrior and the Masterson Award. The Masterson Award is an award that shows great involvement, not just in their sport, but in the community. The male and female recipients of this award were Alex Kugler and Kensington TeKrony. 

Kugler is a student that excelled on and off the tennis court. He has stayed actively involved with DECA as a youth group Regional President. Kugler is highly involved with Westside’s Dance Marathon, in which he is the Vice President. The senior shows outstanding leadership not only in school, but also in his Jewish community youth group. Kugler started as a singles player, but ultimately showed Westside’s “team mentality” to become a doubles player. He shows great leadership and plans of going to the University of Michigan. Kugler was thrilled with winning the Masterson award.

“The award means a lot being a Westside student athlete for four years, and being able to represent them in a good way means a lot,” Kugler said.

TeKrony has participated in track throughout middle school and was expected to do it as a freshman, but her talents went to volleyball. The Dartmouth recruit had many ups and downs throughout her senior season, including overcoming a major injury. TeKrony also showed great leadership in DECA, Student Council and Student Advisory Board. Once TeKrony was able to come back after healing from her injury, she showed great leadership and helped the Warriors to a runner-up finish in the State Volleyball Championships. TeKrony is very thankful to accept the Masterson Award.

“Being recognized for what I do off the court just means so much, and it is so much greater than only being an athlete at Westside,” TeKrony said.

The Heart of a Warrior Award is given to any student athlete that shows their love for Westside, their teammates, and community. The student-athlete must have shown that they can fight through adversity, and can stick with Westside’s “team first” mentality. The third criteria created for the award was for the athlete to show, all while competing at a high level, that they want to further their college career. The recipient of this award was Ty Keifer, who lettered in football and track. The senior came back from two ACL injuries to help Westside win the state football championship. Keifer will play football at Wayne State University.

A total of 258 Westside student athletes were honored for a grade point average of 3.5 or better. This was the 28th year for the annual Scholar Athlete and Spirit Awards Banquet.