The annual Leo B. Murphy awards recognized students athletes for their outstanding accomplishments in character, athletics, and academics in the MHS Large gym on May 25, Athletic Director Jeff Lam said. Families, staff, and coaches gathered to celebrate the recipients, he said.
This year, the Leo B. Murphy award recipients were Darren Foronda and Cindy Duong, Lam announced. Leo B. Murphy was an outstanding individual and principal at Ayer High School so the highest award was named after him, Lam stated. Afterwards, the awards continued at MHS in 1981.
“There are minimum GPAs they [the athletes] have to have,” Lam said. “Class athletes of the year have to play a minimum of two sports, and probably would have to have excelled in at least one of them, and not necessarily both of them to be considered,” he stated.
Class Athletes of the year have to play a minimum of two sports, Lam said. The athletes of the year include Freshmen Franklin Do and Melissa Nunes, Sophomores Justin Scrempos and Skylar Pitrie, Juniors Tariq Bracy and Brooke Indihar-Loo, and Seniors Andy Buchanan and Claire Dela Cruz, he announced.
“Other major awards include the Bill Bebout Award, Ned Mciver Scholar Athlete Award, Jim Ferguson Award, and Team Sportsmanship Award,” Lam explained. “The Bill Bebout award winners were Juniors Kaito Hashimoto and Brianna Williams,” he announced.
The Ned Mciver Award winners were Seniors Ronald Chin and Jennifer Le, Lam explained. These accomplished athletes played on four varsity teams, but not necessarily all different teams, and also have the highest cumulative GPA upon graduation, he said.