May 25, 2010

Partenheimer and Clyne honored with Coleman Lew Awards

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - UNC Greensboro's Jenn Partenheimer and Andy Clyne were among 23 Southern Conference student-athletes named Monday as recipients of the fifth annual Coleman Lew Leadership Award.

The Southern Conference and Coleman Lew & Associates, Inc., a national executive search firm, announced Monday the selection of the 23 student-athletes who will be recognized at the Southern Conference Honors Dinner on Tuesday, June 1, at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Hilton Head, S.C. The dinner coincides with the conference's annual meetings.

The award recognizes student-athletes from each of the Southern Conference's 12 member institutions. Coaches, faculty athletic representatives and senior women administrators nominate prospective candidates based on leadership, academic excellence and athletic achievement in both the college environment and the community. Athletic directors and representatives from Coleman Lew & Associates conducted one-on-one interviews with the finalists before determining the award winners.

The award winners are given congratulatory plaques to recognize their achievements. During their search for post-graduation employment, each of the award winners has access to Coleman Lew consultants for advice and counseling. Coleman Lew prepares the students' profiles based on their individual interviews and resumes, and provides this information to a list of well respected companies. To these companies, the award winners represent the pre-screened, highly qualified group of successful student-athletes graduating from fine educational institutions in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.

"Coleman Lew & Associate has been a valued partner for the past five years and these awards are testimony to their commitment to the Southern Conference," said Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino. "The recipients are among the best and brightest student-athletes to be found in a member institution's program."

"Our firm has a strong educational partnership with the Southern Conference," said Kenneth D. Carrick, Jr., partner-managing director.  "We are proud to present the fifth annual Coleman Lew Leadership Award to these outstanding student-athletes who have excelled in academic performance, athletic skill, community service and leadership ability."

Both Partenheimer and Clyne will be seniors next year at UNCG. Partenheimer is a midfielder on the women's soccer team. A native of Apex, N.C., she is majoring in kinesiology. Clyne is a runner on the men's cross country team. The Washingtonville, N.Y., native is an accounting major.

Coleman Lew & Associates, Inc., founded in 1979 and headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is a national retained executive search firm that recruits board members, officers and senior level executives for national and international companies, academic institutions and non-profit organization. The firm also provides customized leadership development services to organizations seeking to maximize corporate performance.

The Southern Conference, in its 89th season of intercollegiate competition, is a national leader in emphasizing the development of the student-athlete and helping build lifelong leaders and role models. The conference has been on the forefront of innovation and originality in developing creative solutions to address issues facing intercollegiate athletics. From establishing the first conference basketball tournament (1921), tackling the issues of freshman eligibility (1922), developing women's championships (1984) to becoming the first conference to install the three-point goal in basketball (1980), the Southern Conference has been a pioneer. The Southern Conference is the nation's fifth-oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association. 

The 2010 Coleman Lew & Associates Leadership Award recipients are:
Name (Institution)                                             Sport                            Academic Major
Darryl Smith (Appalachian State)                        Football                         Accounting
Kristina Reese (Appalachian State)                     Track & Field                 Communications
Branko Gavric (College of Charleston)                  Soccer                          Biology
Kristi Lyn Woodall (College of Charleston)            Softball                         Business Administration
Blaine McAlister (The Citadel)                             Volleyball                      Business
Danny Weiss (Davidson)                                     Baseball                       English
Allison Drutchas (Davidson)                                 Soccer                         Philosophy
Christopher Shafto (Elon)                                     Football                       Business Administration
Amanda Jones (Elon)                                          Soccer                         Communications
Richard Furman (Furman)                                    Football                        Economics
Shannon Cantwell (Furman)                                 Track & Field                Economics
Logan Blondell (Georgia Southern)                       Golf                              Finance
Caroline Bevillard (Georgia Southern)                   Swimming & Diving        Sports Management
Andy Clyne  (UNC Greensboro)                        Cross Country               Accounting
Jenn Partenheimer (UNC Greensboro)              Soccer                         Kinesiology
Gary Cramer (Samford)                                       Baseball                       Sports Medicine
Hillary Fountain (Samford)                                   Volleyball                      Childhood Education
Gordon Davis Rudell (Chattanooga)                      Tennis                           Biology|
Annie Green (Chattanooga)                                 Tennis                           Communications
Zachary Michael Jaynes (Western Carolina)         Football                         Business
Emily Clarke (Western Carolina)                          Volleyball                      Psychology
Jamar Diggs (Wofford)                                        Basketball                     Business Economics
Lauren Cozzarelli (Wofford)                                 Soccer                          Accounting and Spanish