UVA Announces Top Athletes for 1997-98 Academic Year
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April 29, 1998
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Peggy Boutilier (field hockey and women’s lacrosse) and Shamek Pietucha (men’s swimming) were honored as the University of Virginia’s top female and male athletes for the 1997-98 academic year at Virginia’s annual awards dinner Wednesday (April 29) at University Hall. Boutilier received the IMP Award and Pietucha the WCHV Award.
Boutilier, a senior from Baltimore, Md., is a captain of both the field hockey and women’s lacrosse teams and has earned Academic All-America recognition in both sports. The lacrosse team is currently ranked number one in the nation and the field hockey team was ranked number one during the 1997 season.
Boutilier is the female recipient of the 1997-98 Division I ECAC/Robbins Scholar Athlete Award and is a finalist for a National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Preseason Games Scholar-Athlete Postgraduate Scholarship. She is enrolled in the Five-year Teacher Education Program in Virginia’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Curry School of Education. Boutilier received a Weaver-James-Corrigan Scholarship from the ACC, is the recipient of Virginia’s Gray-Carrington Scholarship and has been selected to live in one of UVa’s prestigious Lawn rooms during the 1998-99 academic year.
She is the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in lacrosse, and was the 1997 National Player of the Year and a first-team All-America selection. She has been an All-ACC and an All-ACC Tournament selection each of the last two years. UVa won the 1998 ACC women’s lacrosse championship.
Boutilier established a UVa record with 88 consecutive starts for the field hockey team. Virginia reached the semifinals of the 1997 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament.
Pietucha, a junior from Edmonton, Alberta, earned All-America honors in 1998 after finishing third in the 200-yard butterfly at the NCAA Championships. He also earned honorable mention honors with a ninth place finish in the 100-yard butterfly and a 15th place finish in the 100-yard backstroke.
He earned All-ACC recognition by finishing second in both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, and third in the 100-yard backstroke at the 1998 ACC Championships. He was also a member of the Cavaliers’ 800-yard freestyle relay team that won the ACC Championship and snapped North Carolina’s streak of eight consecutive conference championship victories in that event.
Pietucha swam Virginia’s fastest times of the 1997-98 season in the 100-yard freestyle (44.80), 200-yard freestyle (1:38.20), 100-yard butterfly (47.29), 200-yard butterfly (1:44.28) and 100-yard backstroke (48.11). He established school records in the 100-yard butterfly, the 200-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke.
Pietucha won the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter butterfly at the 1997 United States Open in December of 1997. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly and a bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly at the 1997 World University Games last August.
Jeff Roberts, the equipment manager in Virginia’s University Hall, received the Bus Male Service Award for his years of service to Virginia athletics.
Boutilier and Andriy Shapowal (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) of the men’s soccer team received Virginia’s ACC Scholar-Athlete Awards. Shapowal also received the Gus Tebell Memorial Award as the senior male student-athlete with the highest scholastic average through his four years at Virginia. Tania Jovanovic (Colesville, Md.) of the women’s soccer team received the Jettie Hill Memorial Award as the senior female student-athlete with the highest scholastic average through her four years at UVa.
Amy Burns (Bath, N.Y.) of the rowing team received the Craig Fielder Award for overcoming adversity and Andrea Brotto (Carimate, Italy) of the golf team received the Ralph Sampson Scholarship Award. Boutilier and Amy Mitchell (Amarillo, Texas) of the volleyball team were co-recipients of the Ernest H. Ern Award for outstanding contributions to student life at Virginia.
Keysha Council 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 Dennis Mendoza received the Tim Abbott Memorial Award presented to the assistant trainer most dedicated to and possessing empathy for the student-athletes. Charlotte Quesada (South Freeport, Maine) of the rowing team received the Virginia Athletic Department’s Distinguished Student-Athlete Award.