Oct. 28, 2003

Tallahassee, FL - Florida State University recognized it's top student-athletes on Monday night at the13th annual Golden Torch Gala. The black-tie affair is sponsored annually by the FSU Athletics Department along with the Seminole Boosters. The Gala is recognized as one of the few ceremonies of its kind in college athletics

Men's cross country runner Shawn Patterson was the overall Male Golden Torch Award Winner with a perfect 4.000 grade point average for the 2002-2003 academic year. Five different women earned a perfect 4.0 gpa during the 2002-2003 academic year and they tied for the overall Female Golden Torch Award. The winners were: Margaret Colley and Tonya Rasor, from swimming & diving; soccer players Jennifer Garcia and Erin Preston, and Mihaela Moldovan from tennis. The team award for the highest GPA went to the women's tennis team with a 3.686 cumulative team grade point average. It was the seventh year in a row that the women's tennis team won the award. The men's team Golden Torch Award went to golf for having the highest GPA among all men's teams over the past academic year.

Individual Golden Torch Awards were given to the student-athlete on each team with the highest grade point average over the 2002-2003 academic year. The winners were:

Sport	       Athlete           Major                    Coach
Baseball       Aaron Cheesman    Finance & Real Estate    Mike Martin
Basketball     Holly Johnson     Communication
               Orenn Fells       Sport Management         Leonard Hamilton
Cross Country  Elaine Skislak    Psychology               Bob Braman
               Shawn Patterson   Biological Science
Football       Wyatt Sexton      Communication             Bobby Bowden
Golf           Caroline Larsson  Biological Science        Debbie Dillman
               Andrew Lewis      Sports Management         Trey Jones
Soccer         Jennifer Garcia   Communication Disorders   Patrick Baker
               Erin Preston      Business
Softball       Natasha Jacob     Exercise Science          Dr. JoAnne Graf
Swim/Dive      Margaret Colley   Accounting                Neil Harper
               Tonya Rasor       Psychology
               Matt Wheeler      Public Relations
Tennis         Mihaela Moldovan  Communication             Lise Gregory
               Romain Jurd       Public Relations          Dwayne Hultquist
Track          Carrie Crandall   Elementary Education      Bob Braman
               Garrett Johnson   Political Science
Volleyball     Jennifer Anderson English Education

The members of the ACC Honor Roll were also recognized at the Gala for their achievement of maintaining a 3.0 gpa over the course of the previous year. Over 40 percent (161) of the overall student-athlete population at Florida State earned the distinction. In addition, eight of 17 teams ranked 1st or 2nd in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the number of ACC Honor Roll members.

Derrick Brooks, a member of the Board of Trustees at Florida State University and the 2002 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, was the keynote speaker for the evening. Dr. T.K. Wetherell - President of FSU, Dave Hart, Jr. - Director of Athletics, Andy Miller - President of Seminole Boosters, Dr. Karen Laughlin, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Mark Meleney - Director of Athletic Academic Support, and head coaches from all sports, were in attendance. Several other University Trustees, Vice Presidents, Faculty Members, and Booster Board Members also attended the event.