March 26, 2008

The three male and female finalists for the 2007-2008 Anchor Award have been announced and voting is currently in the process with all members of the Southwestern University community able to take part in the voting.

Qualifications taken in to account for the Anchor Award include character/quality as a human being, dedicated member of the team, respected and committed student, community involvement and engagement, international travel, internships, off-campus studies, work/employment and "sporting behavior." The Anchor Award symbolized the individual(s) who keeps the seas calm in times of turmoil and strife. The anchor holds the group together when teammates might be soul-searching or gripping to find answers. A lot of what the anchor does occurs behind the scenes, but the influence and guidance is indisputable.

The three female finalists are sophomore volleyball player Samantha Lingamfelter (New Braunfels, TX/New Braunfels HS), senior soccer player Amanda Gunzelman (Houston, TX/Cypress Springs HS) and senior cross country/track and field runner Jessica Ratcliffe (Coppell, TX/Coppell HS). Ratcliffe was a finalist for the award in 2007.

For the men, the finalists are senior soccer player Cory Fujimoto (San Antonio, TX/Reagan HS), baseball player Jamie Herrmann (Houston, TX/Westside HS) and basketball player Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Westside HS).

Each student-athlete's qualifications can be seen here: 2008 Anchor Finalists

All members of the SU community can vote by sending an email voting for your men's and women's choice to either suttonj@southwestern.edu or gregoryd@southwestern.edu.

Last year's winners were senior Jameson Otto and junior Mandy Smith.

Voting will end April 4th with the Awards Ceremony being held Tuesday (Apr. 8) at 12:00 pm in the Bishop's Lounge of the McCombs Campus Center.