Crouse, Pietucha and Poindexter Earn Top Honors

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May 5, 1999

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Ann Crouse (women’s track and field), Shamek Pietucha (men’s swimming) and Anthony Poindexter (football) were honored as the University of Virginia’s top female and male athletes for the 1998-99 academic year at Virginia’s annual awards dinner Wednesday (May 5) at University Hall. Crouse received the IMP Award as the top female athlete, while Pietucha and Poindexter were co-recipients of the WCHV Award as the top male athletes.

Crouse, a senior from Old Mystic, Conn., won the javelin throw at the 1999 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Championships last month and earned All-Conference honors with a throw of 50.60 meters (166 feet). Her victory marked the third time she has won the ACC Championship in the javelin. She established an ACC and UVa record while winning the javelin throw at the Raleigh Relays in March with an effort of 57.38 meters (188 feet, 3 inches).

Her throw at the Raleigh Relays is the top collegiate mark in the country and automatically qualified her for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Boise, Idaho, in June. Crouse established a school indoor record in the weight throw with a distance of 17.08 meters (56 feet, 1/2 inch) at the Kroger Indoor Invitational in Blacksburg, Va., in February. She earned All-ACC recognition after finishing second in the weight throw at the 1999 ACC Indoor Championships.

Pietucha, a senior from Edmonton, Alberta, earned All-America honors by winning the 200-butterfly at the NCAA Championships with an ACC and UVa-record time of 1:43.50.

He is the first UVa male swimmer to win an individual event at the NCAA Championships and his time of 1:43.50 is the fifth fastest time in NCAA history. He also earned All-America honors as a member of Virginia’s 400-medley relay team which finished eighth and honorable mention All-America honors with a 13th place finish in the 100-backstroke.

Pietucha won both the 100-butterfly (47.59 seconds) and the 100-backstroke (48.67 seconds) at the 1999 ACC Championships. He won both the 100-meter (53.49) and the 200-meter (1:59.08) butterfly at the Canadian National Championships. He had seventh place finishes in both the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly at the World Championships, establishing a Canadian record in the 200-meter butterfly.

Poindexter, a senior defensive back from Forest, Va., earned first-team All-America honors for the second consecutive season and was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 1998 despite missing the last four games of the regular season and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl with a knee injury. He was one of five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Award, given annually by the Football Writers Association of America to the nation’s best defensive player, and earned first-team All-ACC honors for the third time.

Poindexter finished the 1998 season with 73 tackles, including three quarterback sacks. He also intercepted three passes, recovered two fumbles and caused two fumbles. He finished his Virginia career ranked seventh on Virginia’s career tackles list with 342 and fifth on the Cavaliers’ career interceptions list with 12.

Doyle Smith, associate media relations director at UVa and a member of the athletic department staff for 31 years, received the Bus Male Service Award for his years of service to Virginia athletics. Smith is retiring later this year.

Pietucha and Lori Mastropietro (Richboro, Pa.) of the field hockey team received Virginia’s ACC Scholar-Athlete Awards. Charlotte Quesada (South Freeport, Maine) of the women’s rowing team received the Jettie Hill Memorial Award as the senior female student-athlete with the highest scholastic average through her four years at UVa. She also received the Ernest H. Ern Award for outstanding contributions to student life at Virginia. Noah Kaufman (Alexandria, Va.) of the wrestling team received the Gus Tebell Memorial Award as the senior male student-athlete with the highest scholastic average through his four years at Virginia.

Angela Lee (Somerset, N.J.) of the women’s track and field team received the Craig Fielder Award for overcoming adversity and Austin Ramirez (Brookfield, Wisc.) of the men’s swimming and diving team received the Ralph Sampson Scholarship Award.

Tes Sobomehin of the women’s basketball team was the recipient of the Bob Goodman Memorial Award for her service to Virginia athletics as a team manager and Kelli Frye received the Tim Abbott Memorial Award presented to the assistant trainer most dedicated to and possessing empathy for the student-athletes. Mary Frances Scott (Phoenix, Ariz.) of the volleyball team received the Virginia Athletic Department’s Distinguished Student-Athlete Scholarship Award.