Here are all of the 2020 Snyder Award winners — and what makes them so unique

The Snyder Awards were first introduced and awarded to Centre County student-athletes 62 years ago, and have become a community fixture ever since.

The awards are named after James H. Snyder, a former Centre Daily Times sports editor who was killed in an automobile crash in December 1957. These awards are meant to carry on Snyder’s legacy while celebrating students in the county who display admirable character as they strive for success.

The recipients earn the award based on their accomplishments in athletics, achievements in the classroom and contributions to the community. The awards have changed somewhat over the years, like adding a second honoree at each school after initially having only one, but the intent has stayed consistent. The Snyder Awards continue to honor the best and brightest student-athletes in Centre County.

The awards were initially handed out to just four students back in 1958, and that total has grown to 12 with the influx of schools in the area.

Winners have gone on to find great success in their lives. From doctors and lawyers to coaches and teachers, many have continued their community contributions long after they received the award.

It is with great honor that we announce the 2020 Snyder Award winners from across the county: Bald Eagle Area’s Grace Hugar and Luke Wilson, Bellefonte’s Carter James “C.J.” Funk and Mallorie Smith, Penns Valley’s Hannah Montminy and Aaron Tobias, Philipsburg-Osceola’s Lindsey Bordas and Keegan Soltis, St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Aidan Cross and Isabelle Warren, and State College’s Elly Haushalter and Elliot Sheehan.

Bald Eagle Area: Grace Hugar and Luke Wilson

Luke Wilson and Grace Hugar finished up their high school careers this week with an award to take with them to their next stops.

The pair were named this year’s Snyder Award winners from Bald Eagle Area. Their accomplishments academically and athletically put them in position to win the award, and they were proud to see each other win.

“I’ve always looked up to Luke academically,” Hugar said. “I know we both put in so much work on the field and off the field, so it’s nice to be rewarded for that.”

Added Wilson: “Grace is a very good person. She’s a very good athlete, too. She works very hard for what she’s gotten and she deserves all of it.”

Wilson ran cross country and played basketball all four years he was in high school. He started for the Eagles at small forward on the court in his final two years with the team, but his favorite memory in high school athletics came from the role he took as an upperclassman.

“The thing I enjoyed most about high school sports was trying to be a good role model for the younger students on my team,” Wilson said. “I was the only senior on the cross country team this past year, and really my job was to try to be a positive role model.”

Hugar’s prolific athletic career includes three all-state selections in volleyball, two Mountain League Most Valuable Player awards, and the 2017 CDT Female Fall Athlete of the Season. She and the Eagles accomplished plenty as a team, as well. Her most-valued achievement came when she and the rest of the volleyball team won the PIAA State Championship in 2018.

“I love all the hard work we put in together as a team,” she said. “Winning something like that means so much to the players, the fans and everyone that’s involved with the program.”

Hugar will attend Lock Haven University in the fall, where she’ll continue to play volleyball. She is enrolled in the school’s 3+2 physician assistant program, which includes three years of undergraduate work before moving into a spot in the graduate program as long as certain academic benchmarks are met during the initial three years.

She chose Lock Haven because of the mix of academics and athletics the school offers.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about the 3+2 program there,” Hugar said. “I just knew it was the best place for me academically and athletically.”

Wilson, the senior class president and valedictorian, is set to attend The College of Wooster in Ohio, where he plans to double major in mathematics and physics. He chose Wooster because of the unique opportunity the school presents its students.

“They have lots of opportunities for undergraduates to get involved in research early,” Wilson said. “In fact every student, before graduating, completes their own independent study, which is a really unique opportunity to work closely with faculty to create an independent project.”

His extensive list of after-school clubs includes, among others, participation in the student government, student council, drama club and Future Business Leaders of America, where he finished first at nationals last summer in 3D animation. He also volunteered with the Special Olympics as part of his community service work in high school.

“Seeing the athletes, and how they work so hard, is so inspiring,” he said.

Hugar was also involved with the student government and spent some of her free time volunteering at her local church, along with helping out at the local food bank.

“Volunteering is such a great thing,” she said. “It shows the dedication you have for your community. It’s such a great a feeling to be able to help people.”

The two winners were grateful for the time they spent at Bald Eagle Area and said it helped put them in a position to get where they are today.

“At Bald Eagle you’re surrounded by people that want to see you succeed,” Hugar said. “That’s what you need in life. They push you to be your best and that means a lot.”

Added Wilson: “The thing about Bald Eagle is they all really care about what you do. They all give 100% to their jobs every day and try to make sure they do the best they can for their students. That’s shaped me, not only giving me confidence in my ability to do things, but by wanting to do the same for people who might be lacking in confidence. The passion of the teachers and coaches influenced that.”

Bellefonte: Mallorie Smith and C.J. Funk

C.J. Funk and Mallorie Smith are two of the most decorated athletes to walk the halls at Bellefonte Area High School, and now both will be adding another honor to the list as they were named 2020 Snyder Award winners.

The pair have a litany of accomplishments between them on and off the field, and were especially excited to see each other awarded for their hard work.

“Mallorie has done some great things academically and athletically,” Funk said. “She’s been a great leader for the town and the community in general. It’s a pleasure to be alongside her winning this award.”

Smith added: “Both of us have put in a ton of work to be recognized the way we are right now. To have a great award like this is just perfect.”

Funk leaves high school as Bellefonte’s all-time leading rusher in football and one of its greats on the baseball diamond. He was set to break several records in baseball before his senior season was canceled. Two achievements stand out to Funk and both happened when he was a sophomore: When he and his teammates won the District 6 title on the football field and when he led the state in home runs in baseball.

“Winning districts hadn’t been done in over 20 years at that point,” Funk said. “That was very special.”

Smith found her success in basketball, soccer and softball. She was a three-time captain on the court, an All-State player in 2018 on the diamond, and a two-time Mountain League MVP on the soccer field.

She leaves behind a legacy as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, girls’ soccer players in Bellefonte’s history. Her 116 career goals and 32 career assists are first in program history. It’s a moment along the road to 116 goals that stands out to Smith, along with her softball team accomplishments.

“My favorite was my 100th goal that I got just because no one else had ever gotten it at Bellefonte,” Smith said. “Some of the best times that I’ve had were winning the district championship for softball three years in a row. We were hoping to win our fourth this year (before the season was canceled).”

Both Funk and Smith will continue their athletic careers at the next level.

Funk is set to play baseball at Pittsburgh, where he’ll major in accounting. He was drawn to accounting because of the potential long-term job prospects.

“When I took it this year, I realized it was a huge field,” he said. “There’s always job opportunities.”

Smith will play soccer at Penn State-Altoona, and is planning to major in biology. She’s fascinated by the subject and hopes to find a career in the field.

“I have loved biology since I took one of the classes my freshman year,” she said. “I just love learning about it.”

Smith’s volunteer work at camps and other community events were some of her fondest memories at Bellefonte.

“I’ve gotten to be a role model for the little kids in kindergarten and middle school,” she said. “Just to be able to get involved in the community with the younger kids and seeing how the young kids look up to me, just as I looked up to the older kids when I was their age, it really feels good.”

Funk worked in technology support for the school district and helped revitalize the film of the classic 1969 football game between Bellefonte and rival school Bald Eagle Area.

He valued all of the work he did, in and out of school, and said he’s grateful for the contributions he was able to make as a Red Raider.

Both Funk and Smith believe the people they’ve interacted with in their time as high school students have set the stage for them to find success as they move forward with their lives.

“I dedicate a lot of how I developed over the years as a student, as an athlete and as a man to the coaches for both baseball and football,” Funk said.

Added Smith: “The teachers there were very encouraging. I would have teachers that would tell me good luck in sports or ask me how it went. Just knowing the teachers and staff were supportive of anything that any kid was doing made us feel just at home as we would in our real houses.”

Penns Valley: Hannah Montminy and Aaron Tobias

Two of the most successful athletes to ever play at Penns Valley brought their careers to an end this year, and both will be walking away as Snyder Award winners.

Hannah Montminy and Aaron Tobias were recognized Tuesday night as Penns Valley’s Snyder Award recipients as part of an awards ceremony livestreamed on Facebook and the school district’s website. Tobias leaves the school as the most prolific passer of all time in football, while Montminy leaves behind a legacy as one of the Rams’ best basketball and soccer players.

Montminy and Tobias were overjoyed to find out they won the award.

“The award means a lot to me,” Montminy said. “Winning it with Aaron makes it extra special. It’s nice to be recognized for my hard work in the classroom, in sports, and in the community. For me it’s especially special because my three older siblings won the award. To follow in their footsteps means a lot to me just because I’ve always looked up to them.”

Tobias added: “It’s an extreme honor for both of us. We’ve both worked hard throughout our careers, both academically and athletically, and it’s nice to see it pay off.”

The pair’s athletic contributions in their high school careers are innumerable.

Montminy’s athletic success came on the basketball court and the soccer field in her time as a Ram. She scored over 1,000 points in her career as a basketball player and was named an All-State forward as a senior in soccer. Her greatest accomplishment, however, was winning the district basketball title her sophomore year.

“That accomplishment means more to me than any individual milestone because it’s a team sport,” she said. “To succeed with my team at the highest level is a great feeling.”

Tobias was the quintessential leader as an athlete. He played baseball, basketball and football at Penns Valley and excelled in his senior season. He was a floor general for the basketball team as its point guard and a record-setter at quarterback on the football field. Tobias finished his career by setting the state single-season passing touchdown record with 54 as a senior.

His favorite feat came when he helped his team earn the first Mountain League title in program history last season.

“It’d never been done before,” Tobias said. “It was a group effort and it was something special to do with the entire team.”

Montminy and Tobias both excelled in academics, as well, and hope to carry that with them into college. Montminy will attend Penn State, where she plans to major in biobehavioral health.

“I want to explore something in the health field,” she said. “That could be a stepping stone to do that. I’m not sure exactly what I want to do but I hope that my time at Penn State will help me narrow that down.”

Montminy, one of four valedictorians for her class, achieved plenty of academic and athletic success but is especially proud of the way she treated others in her time as a Ram.

“I think the small things (meant most),” she said. “Like reaching out to students who don’t feel included. Although those things so often go unrecognized, I’d say my contributions to the lives of my peers has been the biggest thing I’ve done in high school.”

Tobias will continue his academic and athletic careers at East Stroudsburg University, where he’ll play quarterback and major in exercise science/kinesiology. He hopes to be the best person he can academically, athletically and personally while seeing how far he can take his athletic and academic careers.

The former Rams’ quarterback also volunteered at several events, including the Relay for Life, several Penns Valley athletic camps and Red Cross blood drives. He said it was important for him to volunteer so he could give to those who need it most.

“Giving back to people who may be less fortunate is extremely important to me,” Tobias said. “Always giving help when it’s needed is very important. You’ve got to help those people who need it.”

Both Montminy and Tobias believe their success as Rams will help with their preparation for their lives ahead.

“Penns Valley has done a great job of preparing myself and my peers for the next part of life,” Montminy said. “Like hard work, time management and how to care for the people around you. I think all of those things will last much longer than my years in Penns Valley.”

Tobias added: “Penns Valley provided an opportunity for me to see how much I can accomplish when I just put my mind to it and work at it. I know I can do even better things if I just keep working hard and doing what I do.”

Phililpsburg-Osceola: Lindsey Bordas and Keegan Soltis

Lindsey Bordas and Keegan Soltis have finished their high school careers with some hardware.

Bordas and Soltis were named 2020 Snyder Award winners for Philipsburg-Osceola this week. Both student-athletes found success in golf and basketball, while Soltis made his biggest mark as a baseball player.

The two honorees were excited to take home the award and praised each other for their successes.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” Bordas said. “It means a lot just because I know who he is and that he’s deserving of it. It’s nice to see him get the recognition along with me.”

Soltis added: “Me and Lindsey have been friends since preschool. It’s a great achievement. It just puts us in such good company with other student-athletes. It was one of my goals going into my senior year.”

The two graduating seniors found plenty of success as athletes at P-O in their four years of high school. Between them, the pair earned 20 varsity letters in their careers, with 11 for Soltis and nine for Bordas.

Bordas lettered in basketball four times, golf three times and once in cross country and track. To Bordas, her most valued athletic achievement was her selection to the Mountain League All-Star golf team as a senior.

“I think it’s a high accomplishment to go to the banquet and be recognized in that way,” she said. “I always looked up to Mountain League All-Stars when I was younger. Once I finally got into high school it was a goal of mine.”

Soltis helped the Mounties golf team win the Mountain League as a senior and was also named a Mountain League All-Star in the sport. However, he did most of his damage on the diamond.

He finished his three-year baseball career, which included a canceled senior season due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a .422 batting average and a .515 on-base percentage in 63 games played. Making the state quarterfinals as a junior is his fondest memory as a Mountie baseball player.

“Last year’s team was a team that I played with for a while,” he said. “I knew we could make it a long way and we hadn’t made it to the state playoffs in a while.”

He’ll carry on his baseball career at Millersville University, where he’ll be majoring in statistics. Soltis chose Millersville, in part, because of the baseball coaching staff and how it reminded him of his P-O baseball coach Doug Sankey.

“They brought me in and made me feel like I was still playing for P-O,” Soltis said. “They coach like Coach Sankey and it was one of my favorite schools right off the bat.”

Bordas will be attending the United States Military Academy at West Point where she’ll major in mathematical sciences.

She hopes to have a career as an engineer, and believes her major opens the door for her to reach her goals.

“I always wanted to be an engineer,” she said. “I just decided that, instead of picking one type of engineering, going in with a mathematical sciences degree, I can experience a lot of the same classes and then maybe make a better informed decision of what I would want to do.”

Bordas also took four mission trips while in high school to help prepare her for life beyond high school. The trips, which were to Erie, Delaware, New Jersey and West Virginia, involved meeting new people and doing work in the communities.

“I’m very proud of the work I’ve done through mission trips with my youth group,” she said. “We just help rebuild the community, whether it’s painting a house or building a deck. You just make a huge impact people and it’s awesome.”

Soltis has given back to the P-O community in various ways, including serving as a volunteer for the YMCA, the YMCA Backpack Program and Christian Missionary Alliance Meals, as well as being an instructor for Mountaineer Baseball Camp and Little Dribblers.

The two award winners were grateful for the people they met in their time as Mounties and believe they helped prepare them for the rest of their lives.

“P-O helped me push through a lot of adversity,” Soltis said. “Coach Sankey taught me a lot of things in the four years I had him. I’ll always remember him as the best coach I had. He taught me a lot of stuff that I need for life and for baseball.”

Bordas added: “The teachers and the people that have invested their time in me and educating me and taking a few extra steps outside of the classroom (have had a big impact). Just having them letting me know that they’re there for me mattered.”

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy: Isabelle Warren and Aidan Cross

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Aidan Cross and Isabelle Warren will each leave their high school careers behind with an award in tow.

Cross and Warren were recognized as Snyder Award winners as part of SJCA’s virtual awards ceremony. The graduating high school seniors were honored with the awards on the back of their contributions to the Wolfpack basketball, cross country and track and field teams, as well as their achievements away from sports.

Both honorees felt the other was plenty deserving of the award.

“I’ve been pretty good friends with Aidan for the past year and a half,” Warren said. “It’s cool knowing that he put in the work, and I put in the work, and we can stand with this award together.”

Added Cross: “It’s an honor to win this award alongside Izzy, considering she’s accomplished a heck of a lot more than I have.”

Both Cross and Warren found success within the confines of the sporting world in their time at St. Joseph’s.

Cross finished second on the boys’ basketball team as a senior with 10.1 points per game, according to MaxPreps, and was a team captain in his final season. He left his biggest mark as a runner in high school, qualifying for the PIAA Cross Country Championships as a senior, even though he considered basketball his main sport.

“I’ve been primarily a basketball player my entire life,” he said. “I picked up cross country after a friend asked me to do it. … I ended up really enjoying it and we accomplished everything we set out to do.”

Warren competed in gymnastics and several track and field events in her time at St. Joseph’s, but especially excelled at the triple jump. Her greatest achievement in her high school career came as a junior with the track and field team, when she finished on the podium in the triple jump.

“I took fifth place,” she said. “That was really satisfying because of all of the work I put in.”

Both award winners excelled in the classroom, along with all of their athletic achievements. Cross finished fourth in the 2020 graduating class in terms of grade-point average. He plans to attend either Penn State or the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), where he’ll major in either electrical engineering or biomedical engineering.

“One of the things I want to do in my career is be able to help people,” Cross said. “I figured this would be a nice way to do that.”

Warren finished 14th in the class and plans to attend Monmouth University, where she’ll study business administration with a concentration in marketing, decision sciences and management, while also competing in track and field. Cross and Warren were both members of the National Honors Society at St. Joe’s.

Warren had roles in musicals such as “The Little Mermaid” and “Greece,” and sang with the music ministry during Mass at the Catholic school. As a senior, she also helped organize the first mini-Thon event at St. Joe’s to support the fight against pediatric cancer, which raised $8,645.

“I was a part of my middle school’s mini-Thon for two years and I found a passion for the cause of Four Diamonds,” she said. “I thought this was the perfect opportunity to bring my school closer and to do something that’s bigger than ourselves.”

Cross organized a food drive for the State College Food Bank at the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“It was a quick and effective way to help out a bunch of people in our area who need it most,” he said.

Both Cross and Warren were grateful for their experiences at St. Joe’s, and believe they will help put them in position to have success in the future.

“All of the teachers there are great,” Cross said. “They’ve taught me so many lessons beyond the general curriculum. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to not worry about what you can’t control.”

Added Warren: “Going to St. Joe’s has changed me as a person. I’ve become so much more confident and so much more of a leader. I don’t even know how I was who I was when I was a freshman.”

State College: Elly Haushalter and Elliot Sheehan

Elly Haushalter and Elliot Sheehan have accomplished plenty throughout their careers at State College Area High School, culminating in being named 2020 James H. Snyder Award winners.

Without an official senior awards banquet due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Haushalter and Sheehan were both informed by school officials that they had been chosen as recipients of the award. They received the awards because of their contributions to State High and the surrounding community, as well as their athletic contributions to the high school.

The two recipients are friends and were thrilled to win the awards alongside one another.

“Elliot is one of the best guys I know,” Haushalter said. “He’s got an amazing work ethic and he’s just an amazing kid. I’m so excited that he’s winning this with me. It just means so much more that I’m winning it with one of my best friends.”

Added Sheehan: “We’ve worked together a lot over the past three years. We’ve really gotten to know each other and I really like her a lot. ... I was elated for Elly. She definitely deserves this and I was so happy that we got to share the title.”

It’s clear that both Haushalter and Sheehan demonstrated all of those traits during their time at State High.

Haushalter ran for the school’s cross country team, as well as its indoor and outdoor track teams. She walked away from her high school career with nine medals in state competitions, including second in the distance medley relay as a sophomore and second as a team in cross country as a senior. Winning those medals are the athletic achievements Haushalter is most proud of as a Little Lion.

“I’ve gotten those throughout my four years, and each state championship was a special one,” Haushalter said. “Looking back, those medals were really fun memories.”

Sheehan ran cross country, as well, while also playing lacrosse.

But for Sheehan, his greatest athletic accomplishment isn’t state medals or number of wins. Sheehan is most proud of his efforts to help found the State High Unified Bocce Team. Unified bocce, cosponsored by Special Olympics and the PIAA, pairs together students with intellectual disabilities and those without.

“The team has really given a lot to me over the last two years,” Sheehan said. “I really feel strongly about including everybody in sports and I think sports are a really good way for the community to come together. ... I really enjoyed all of my time with my teammates. I think varsity sports are fun, but I think the Special Olympics unified sports are really special. I think being a part of that community has been an amazing thing for me.”

Sheehan’s passion for working with Special Olympics extends out of the school confines and into the community, as he’s volunteered with both the Winter and Summer Games. He was inspired by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, to help carry out the mission of the organization.

“Seeing how she could change the world really inspired me,” Sheehan said. “It was kind of a no-brainer for me to volunteer there. ... I think the experiences with volunteering with the Special Olympics has been amazing.”

Haushalter used her time away from sports to help other athletes get more involved with the community. She co-founded PULSE, a club for student-athletes at State High that gives athletes in opportunities to give back in other ways.

She said she helped start the club because she often found playing sports made it difficult to contribute to the community during traditional hours.

“We brought in speakers and created community service opportunities,” she said. “We meet every other week just to talk about everything that has to do with school athletics and being a part of the community.”

The two winners plan to take what they’ve learned from their time in high school and start to turn it into a career in college.

Haushalter will carry her athletic accomplishments with her to Syracuse, where she’ll run cross country and track while majoring in journalism and finance. She plans to turn one of her two majors into a full-time career, while making the other a passion project.

“I think one of the biggest things is having a passion project outside of your main job,” Haushalter said. “That’s why I like the idea of double majoring. I don’t know if I either want to work in finance or journalism, but I want to make sure I can freelance whichever one I don’t choose.”

Sheehan will take his interests abroad next year when he’ll travel to Switzerland as part of a foreign exchange student program. His family has taken in exchange students in the past and that helped motivate him to take part in the program.

“Welcoming different cultures into our home has been something that we’ve embraced,” he said. “We think it’s really important. My parents opened up the world to me and gave me these opportunities. ... I hope that I can immerse myself in a different culture and then bring it home and promote tolerance.”

From there, the 2020 senior class president will return and attend Appalachian State University in fall 2021 to pursue a degree in political science. He’s hopeful to use his degree to improve the world around him.

“I’ve really been interested in local government,” he said. “My great grandfather, Arnold Addison, was the mayor of State College. He’s an inspiration to what I can become. He inspired me to change the community for the better and give back. I think a political science degree will help me understand how best to bring about positive change in the community.”

Both award winners thanked a litany of people at State High for helping them, including friends, family, coaches, teammates and staff. Their time as Little Lions helped put them in position to win the Snyder Award and will continue to help them as they progress further in life.

“The opportunities State High gave me through clubs are unbelievable,” Haushalter said. “I couldn’t have had that experience without being at State High. Sharing those memories with everybody was unbelievable.”

Sheehan added: “Everybody in the school has enabled me to succeed in the classroom and on the athletic field. They’ve helped me learn important lessons in life.”

This story was originally published June 7, 2020 at 8:00 AM.