C-USA Spirit of Service Spring Honorees Announced
Twelve Student-Athletes Recognized for Work in Their Communities

	ECU softball playre Charina Sumner was one of 12 student-athletes to receive the C-USA Spring Spirit of Service Award.

June 17, 2009

Complete Spring Spirit of Service Release in PDF Format

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky named the 12 student-athletes that will receive the spring C-USA Spirit of Service award today. The C-USA Spirit of Service Award is designed to recognize the community service efforts of the league's student-athletes, based upon significant community service, good academic standing and participation in their elected sport. The Spirit of Service award is presented three times throughout the season, with today's honorees representing Conference USA's spring sports: baseball, equestrian, men's and women's golf, outdoor track & field, women's rowing and men's and women's tennis.

2008-09 C-USA SPIRIT OF SERVICE SPRING HONOREES:
Charina Sumner, East Carolina, Softball
David Murphy, Houston, Baseball
Melanie Stoehr, Marshall, Softball
Robyn Jones, Memphis, Women's Tennis
Jimmy Comerota, Rice, Baseball
Natalia Bubien, SMU, Women's Tennis
Paul Apyan, Southern Miss, Men's Golf
Nicolette Taku, Tulane, Women's Track & Field
Caitlin Duffy, Tulsa, Women's Rowing
James Oliver, UAB, Baseball
Breanne Javier, UCF, Softball
Stacie Townsend, UTEP, Softball

East Carolina junior Charina Sumner is a member of the Pirate softball team and has registered a perfect 4.0 GPA the last four semesters as a health education and promotion major. The Kailua, Hawai'i, native more than doubled her community service hours this year. Sumner participated in a number of service activities, including the ECU Relay for Life, ALS Walk, Reading at the Bookstore, St. Jude's Medical Center Up `Til Dawn, Homework Reward Club and the Carolina Dirt Devils Softball Clinic. She is a three-time member of the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll and C-USA Academic Medalist.

After being diagnosed with acute lymphoid leukemia in September 2007, Houston sophomore David Murphy has continued to give back to the hospital that helped him through his illness, which is now in remission. In addition to volunteering at Texas Children's Hospital, Murphy spoke on local radio stations as part of the annual Radiothon and made other public appearances on behalf of the hospital to bring awareness to their fundraising efforts. The Beaumont, Texas, native gives back to patients by inviting them to join him in the Cougar dugout as batboys and to participate in the honorary first pitch. A health major at UH, he has also served as a counselor at Camp Periwinkle - a camp for cancer patients. Splitting time at first and third base, Murphy made 40 starts and finished the spring semester with a 3.90 GPA.

Marshall sophomore Melanie Stoehr led the Thundering Herd softball team this season with a .370 batting average and a team-high 35 RBI. For her efforts on the field she was named to the NFCA All-Region First Team and for her efforts off the field she is a recipient of the C-USA Spirit of Service Award. A native of Tacoma, Wash., Stoehr is actively involved in the Marshall softball team's Lil' Sis mentoring program for young girls. She also works with the Huntington City Mission and is involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Stoehr is a two-time C-USA Academic Medalist with a 3.81 GPA as a sport management and marketing major.

Robyn Jones of Memphis made an immediate impact on her new campus. The freshman tennis player volunteered at the local community center in a reading program for underprivileged children, the Jimmy Williams Summer Camp for children and attended a Valentine's Day Dance at a Memphis retirement home. She also participated in the Student Athlete Advisory Committee's canned food drive and volunteers at food banks on the weekend. A native of Baton Rouge, La., Jones also volunteered with the Baton Rouge Symphony and completed her freshman year with a 4.0 GPA as an international business major.

Rice junior Jimmy Comerota, the starting first baseman on the Owls' nationally-ranked baseball team, volunteers his time equally between community service work in the Houston area and with a number of the campus spirit groups at the Owls' different home sporting events. Through his membership with the Rice chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Comerota has been part of various food and clothing drives that benefit different charity organizations like the Salvation Army. As a member of the National Honor Society and NCAA YES program, the Missouri City, Texas, native was able to meet a goal of having more than 100 hours of community service in everything from Habitat for Humanity to hurricane relief. An economics/sports management major, Comerota was the 2009 Rice Scholar Athlete for baseball.

A three-time All-Conference USA selection, SMU's Natalia Bubien has proven herself on and off the tennis court. Bubien, who hails from Warsaw, Poland, was also a three-time member of the C-USA All-Academic Team and was the C-USA Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2007 and 2009. The senior graduated with a 3.864 GPA in psychology. She adds a Spirit of Service Award to her list of honors as she participated in "Play with the Ponies," a one-day clinic for elementary school students, and "A New Leash on Life," in which she donated tennis balls to the organization that trains service dogs to assist people with disabilities.

The Southern Miss Male Athlete of the Year, redshirt junior Paul Apyan has played in 84 rounds over his golf career. Apyan volunteered for the Oak Grove Fall Festival, an elementary school Halloween Carnival, Habitat for Humanity, the Forrest County Humane Society and served as a domestic abuse prevention volunteer at the USM Schafer Center. The Chattanooga, Tenn., native also participated in the Real Winners Read literacy initiative and serves as a Literacy Development mentor, as well as the "Black-Out" Hunger initiative - a conference-wide canned food drive in which Southern Miss collected 2,838 pounds of canned goods. Apyan has also been working to launch "Southern Miss Military Day" in the upcoming football season. He has scheduled meetings this summer with Camp Shelby, a military base in the area, in an effort to get feedback for his upcoming project. The goal is to have all local military recognized at this game, with activities surrounding the game to support and recognize those who serve our country.

Tulane track captain Nicolette Taku is a member of the Dean's List and earned a C-USA Academic Medal as a global and community health major. She served as a game-day host for Tulane's Bring Your `A' Game Program, which rewards academic achievement with complimentary tickets to Tulane sporting events and provides a first-hand account of what academic success can bring in the future. During the 2009 C-USA Women's Basketball Championship in New Orleans, she led a group of more than 800 elementary students in lessons on geography and basketball as part of the C-USA Classroom on the Court program. She was part of a team which helped rebuild Johnson Elementary's student-library and joined in ABC's "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" effort to rebuild homes in the New Orleans area. The Baton Rouge, La., native also participated in Tulane's 'Shadow a Student-Athlete Day.'

Tulsa's Caitlin Duffy graduates after leading the Golden Hurricane to its third-straight team title at the Midwest Intercollegiate Rowing Championship in 2009. Duffy served as the Tulsa women's rowing teams Community Service Coordinator in 2008-09. The majority of her community service hours were earned while on a week-long mission trip to Haiti, where she worked at a children's hospital and orphanage. The children were so malnourished that many could not feed themselves, so she fed them and attended to all their needs. She also worked with the children in the orphanage, providing some much needed attention and care. She also worked with the Bit by Bit organization, which provides horse therapy for special needs children and was the only volunteer that could communicate with the deaf children.

UAB senior James Oliver was named the 2009 C-USA Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year and now is named a recipient of the Spirit of Service Award. The Vestavia Hills, Ala., native finished his undergraduate career with a 3.85 GPA and will begin medical school at UAB in July. He volunteers at UAB Hospital, serving as a communicator between healthcare workers and patients' families and served as a team leader in the "Healing Words" program, a student-led program that provides support to hospital patients through reading and conversation. He has served as a mentor in the Big Brothers program for three years, working with two elementary school boys. Oliver also volunteered for "Healing Hands," cleaning out warehouses and setting up clothing stores.

An All-Conference and NFCA All-Midwest Region selection, UCF senior first baseman Breanne Javier has volunteered her time to at least nine different community service projects during the past two seasons. On numerous occasions she has visited the Central Florida Children's Home and the Central Florida Miracle League, while also lending a helping hand at the Quest Camp Thunderbird. She has also shared her experiences at the College Color Days at Disney, telling younger student-athletes the importance of focusing on academics and athletics. The Castaic, Calif., native also read to underprivileged youth at the Salvation Army's Reading Days and volunteered at the Salvation Army October Festival, providing a safe Halloween alternative to central Florida's young people. The children that Javier mentored were invited to the UCF Softball Complex during the season to support her and the Knights.

A "buddy" for the Miracle League of El Paso, UTEP's Stacie Townsend assisted children who are facing serious physical and mental disabilities by allowing them to participate in sports. She also gave time to the YWCA After School Program and the YWCA El Paso Del Norte Program where she played with children and taught them the importance of staying active through after school sport. The Orlando, Fla., native was a volunteer with the Junior Women's Club of El Paso where she facilitated events such as face painting, haunted houses and silent auctions and also manned game booths and stage events. Townsend and her softball teammates were the recipients of the UTEP Athletic Director's Team Service Award for the third consecutive season.