Athletes Worth Watching | Eastern Shore | June 2009
By Andrew Keatts Photos By Tony Lewis Jr.
Clayton Anderson (Andy) Mitchell Jr.
St. Michaels High School
Soccer, baseball
Andy Mitchell received all-Bayside conference honorable mention and 2nd-team honors in soccer and baseball, respectively, during his sophomore year. In his junior year, the conference-wide recognition didn’t come so easily. Winning the 2008 1A State Championship in baseball made it easy to overlook his being snubbed individually. “It’s fine. I’m really not worried about winning awards,” he says. Still, he won’t turn down the individual platitudes when they come his way. He received 2nd-team all-Bayside conference honors in soccer this fall, in addition to winning the team’s MVP award. He has received the school’s scholar athlete award in each of his four seasons at SMHS, as well as its scholar athlete senior award this year. Carrying a 3.6 grade point average and scoring a 1740 on his SAT, he is also a four-year member of the honor roll, has been a peer mentor since his sophomore year, and is a member of the National Honor Society. This fall, Mitchell is set to attend Salisbury University. He hopes to walk-on to the soccer team and plans to major in either pre-law or business administration. As of press time, the team was preparing for the start of playoffs, and Mitchell is hopeful for a repeat of last year’s state championship. “We’re the second seed in the playoffs, just like last year. As a team, we’re right where we were a year ago. Now, it’s just about finding a way to deliver, like we did a year ago,” he says.
Stacy Helgasonv
St. Michaels High School
Field hockey, softball
Stacy Helgason has carved a substantial role for herself at SMHS, one that’s unlikely to be filled by any one student in the near future. A four-year member of the field hockey team, she won the team’s unsung hero award during her sophomore year and the most valuable player award this year as a senior. As a freshman, she was the named the team’s most improved player; the next year, she was a captain and won the team’s leadership award. She’s a multiple-time winner of the school’s scholar athlete award, and is a member of a small army of extracurricular groups: band, National Honor Society, Students Helping Other People, yearbook, drama club, French club, student government (vice president), and the Tri-M Music Honor Society. With only a few weeks remaining in her senior year, she says her primary role with the softball team is to “set a good example for the youngins.” Once the season ends, though, she’ll be left to prepare to play field hockey at Salisbury University in the fall. “I’ll definitely need to work on my stick skills. They play on turf instead of grass, which is an adjustment, and they’re just generally more advanced.” She plans to major in Biology, hoping to eventually become a veterinarian.
Tyler German
Queen Anne’s County High School
Football, basketball, lacrosse
Nearing the end of his sophomore year, Tyler German looks to be doing justice to his family’s QACHS legacy. His father, Clark German, is a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame due to his years as the school’s starting quarterback. As a sophomore, the younger German, also a quarterback, was named 2nd-team all-Bayside conference. He also received all-Bayside conference honorable mention for basketball and 1st-team honors for lacrosse after his freshman year. A well-built athlete at any level (6’0”,190 pounds), Tyler expects to play Division I college lacrosse two years from now. “I’m playing for a high-level club team this summer and attending Nike Blue Chip 105, so that should get the recruiting process started,” he says. The premiere recruiting camp in the country, Blue Chip 105 is attended by nearly every Division I NCAA lacrosse coach in the country. “Right now, I really don’t have any idea where I’d like to go to college,” Tyler says. “I’ve got plenty of time to sort that out, but I know I want to play D-I ball.” He expects to finish the season with close to 80 points, which would make him a shoo-in to be named 1st-team all-Bayside conference for the second consecutive season. He carries a 3.5 grade point average and has been a member of the honor roll since he started at QACHS.
Emily Smith
Queen Anne’s County High School
Cross country, lacrosse
Emily Smith was the goalie for 2007’s 2A East Regional Championship lacrosse team. After looking at the team’s draw for this year’s playoffs, she says they can go even further. “We’ve got great matchups all the way through. We really should be able to go all the way.” Earlier this school year, Smith was named to the all-Mid Shore cross country team. She ran in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 state cross country championships, and the QACHS cross country team won the 2A East Regional Championship in 2007. Her impressive athletic record is rivaled by an academic record that includes being president of the QACHS chapter of the National Honor Society, receiving honorable mention as a Maryland Distinguished Scholar, winning the leadership award from the West Point Society of Annapolis, participating in the Appalachia Service Project, and remaining active in the Centreville United Methodist Church. In the fall, Smith will attend the University of Maryland at College Park where she’ll major in Physiology and Neurobiology. “I’ve wanted to be a physician since the 8th grade,” she says. “I love the pressure, and I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in the medical fields.”
Tags:
Emily Smith
St. Michaels HIgh School
Clayton Anderson
Tyler German
Queen Anne County
Stacy Helgason
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