Skye Thompson lands UM President’s Award

MISSOULA — Flathead High graduate and Montana soccer player Skyleigh Thompson is one of four recipients of the President’s Award for the top overall GPAs in Grizzly athletics this year.

Thompson was among several honorees at the 29th annual Grizzly Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet Tuesday at the UC Ballroom. A two-time Academic All-Big Sky Conference selection, Thompson, who also landed the David and Goldie Enger Athlete Scholarship at Tuesday’s banquet, played in all 40 of Montana’s matches over the last two seasons at forward, getting 28 starts. She will go into her junior year in the fall with five career goals, and two career assists, and holds a 4.0 grade-point average in finance.

Also honored were Polson product Beatrix Frissell, a cross country standout; women’s tennis player Rosie Sterk of Allan, Scotland; and senior track and field athlete Jethro Thorne of Florence.

Sterk, who maintains a 4.0 GPA, and Frissell are two-time President’s Award winners. Frissell is a 10-time Academic All-Big Sky selection and two-time qualifier for NCAA regional meets. She’s also a recipient of the Marshall Scholarship, which will fund her studies in the United Kingdom.

For the fifth straight year the Montana men’s tennis team posted the highest cumulative GPA (3.74) of any team under the Grizzly Athletics umbrella to earn the Dusten Hollist Award.

Of the more than 350 Grizzly student-athletes to suit up in the last calendar year, an impressive 116 -— one-third — earned their way onto the Dean’s List. As a group Montana’s student-athletes averaged a 3.44 GPA over the course of the last two semesters, and 31 posted perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Thanks to the generosity of dozens of donors, 49 different scholarships were divided between 66 deserving student-athletes. The list includes a handful from the Flathead Valley and Northwest Montana.

Glacier High product and Griz softball player Kynzie Mohl received a General Athletic Scholarship; Libby’s Jay Beagle was a recipient from the Ronald and Julia Blake Memorial Fund.

Glacier’s Drew Deck, a Griz safety, received the Kole Swartz Legacy Scholarship; and Eureka’s Garrett Graves, a Montana safety, was awarded the Ken Staninger Memorial Scholarship.