Congratulations, Courtney Randolph! Miami Herald Scholar Athlete of the Year!

Posted on Thu, May. 27, 2010

Standing out amid their teammates at St. Thomas Aquinas and American Heritage was no easy task for Reynaldo Kirton and Courtney Randolph.

Kirton was surrounded by an All-American secondary on the Raiders' nationally-ranked football team, and Randolph was one of a few key contributors on a top swim team in the state.

But they had no problem standing out in the classroom and at Wednesday's Miami Herald Athletic Awards at the Signature Grand in Davie.

Both were given the Scholar-Athlete award given annually to male and female students who excel in both sports and academics.

Randolph, who was a member of Heritage's varsity swim team for six years, graduated with a 5.6 GPA and scored a 2,200 on the SAT.

``This award is a huge honor,'' said Randolph, who plans to play sports in college.

``And to be able to continue my swimming career is just a dream cometrue.''

She was selected co-salutatorian and earned second-team All-Broward honors in the 200 individual medley for her performance this season. Randolph said she is interested in studying biology at Yale University.

STICKING TO IT

She began swimming competitively at age 6 and said the many years of waking up for early-morning practices and participating in swim meets, all while maintaining a rigorous academic schedule, helped set her up for her Ivy League future.

Kirton, who earned All-Broward honorable mention in football and the Brian Piccolo award, given by the Broward County chapter of the National Football Foundation to the best scholar-athlete among football players in the county, graduated with a 4.7 GPA and scored a 2,190 on the SAT. He will play football at Harvard University in the fall, where he plans to study economics.

``Winning this award means a lot to me because it takes a lot of effort. Balancing football and school is very time consuming,'' Kirton said. ``Being at Harvard will not only help me in football, but will give me opportunities in many other things as well.''

IVY-COVERED FAMILY

Kirton, who passed on a football scholarship to Maryland, comes from a family of Ivy Leaguers. His older sister goes to the University of Pennsylvania and his parents met at Cornell.