7 athletes to be honored at Homecoming

Seven Tufts athletes, including a professional baseball player and the best pitcher in the history of the softball program, will be recognized at the annual Distinguished Achievement Awards Ceremony during Homecoming Weekend.

The seven students, who were selected for the athletic department's annual awards for excellence during the 2001-02 academic year, will be honored on September 27, starting at 7:30 p.m., in Cohen Auditorium. Their recognition will precede the presentation of the 2002 Distinguished Achievement Award to Lisa (Stern) Lax, J86, an Emmy Award-winning Olympic Sports producer for NBC.

The student honorees are:
• Senior Dan Callahan, winner of the Clarence "Pop" Houston Award as best male athlete. Callahan is currently playing baseball for the South Bend (Ind.) Silver Hawks in the Class A Midwest League after the world champion Arizona Diamondbacks drafted him in June. That capped a great senior season in which the right fielder hit .404 with nine doubles, seven triples, five home runs and 10 stolen bases. He graduated in May with an international relations degree and eight Tufts baseball records, including career hits (219), runs (153) and runs batted in (130).

• Senior Jodie Moreau, winner of the Hester L. Sargent Award as best female athlete. Moreau graduated in May as the best softball pitcher in Tufts' history, with 13 season and career records to her name. She was 54-16 with a 1.42 era and 436 strike outs in 537 innings over four years. In her senior year, Moreau was the best pitcher in New England, compiling a 20-3 record, 0.56 earned run average and 140 strike outs in 149.1 innings.

• Sophomore Jessica Trombly of the soccer and track teams and junior Evan Zupancic of the football and baseball teams were honored with the Rudolph J. Fobert Award as best multiple-sport athletes. Trombly is one of Tufts sports' rising stars. She led the soccer team in scoring with four goals and was a national qualifier in the heptathlon during the outdoor track season. Her conversion to the heptathlon happened just this year. In just her second meet competing in the event, she broke the school record with 4,399 points to automatically qualify for nationals. She went on to finish 12th at the NCAA National Championships. A football cornerback, Zupancic intercepted three passes last fall to lift his career total to 13, two shy of the team's all-time record of 15 set by Scott Burnham (1979-82). Playing an excellent center field for the baseball team, he set the team's single season records for home runs (11) and runs batted in (47).

• Mara Schanfield and Mike Prindiville, both soccer players, received the Murray Kenney Award for leadership and perseverance. Schanfield personified positive attitude and persistence as a member of the women's soccer team for four years. She was the backup goalkeeper behind All-American Randee McArdle for her first three seasons, appearing in just nine games. Not many players stick around for three years of sitting on the bench to finally achieve their goal as a senior, but Schanfield did it with a smile and a personal contribution to the team. She became the #1 keeper in 2001 and posted 1.45 goals against average in 14 games. Prindiville had one of the more remarkable senior seasons in Tufts soccer annals. After trying to find his place on the team during his first two seasons, he was asked by Head Coach Ralph Ferrigno to consider transferring to another school where he would play more. He recommitted himself to playing at Tufts and in NESCAC, and he emerged as a team leader during the 2000 ECAC Championship season. In 2001, he stepped to the forefront as one of New England's best players.

• Senior Jon Japha of the Tufts Daily was honored with the Timothy J. Horgan Award as best student sportswriter. Japha was at the Daily for eight semesters and was a sports editor for three years. He wrote a weekly column and at one point or another covered 17 different Tufts teams.

Callahan, Moreau and Prindiville also have been recognized for their scholarship with placement on the Verizon All-Northeast Academic Team.