Cornelius, Qian earn top honors as scholar-athletes
Regan Cornelius of Columbus Academy and Josh Qian of Westerville Central were named the Dispatch Encova Insurance top high school scholar-athletes for the 2020-21 school year.
Cornelius, who helped Columbus Academy win two state championships in field hockey, and Qian, a two-time allohio golfer, each won a $7,500 college
scholarship from Encova Insurance.
They were selected the top scholarathletes from a group of 204 seniors from 108 participating schools in this year’s program, now in its 40th year.
Area high schools were asked to nominate two seniors — one female and one male — as their institution’s top scholar-athletes to vie for $71,000 in college scholarships.
Haley Warren of Eastmoor Academy and Landymn Steele of Africentric were announced as winners of the John J. Bishop Awards, named for the longtime president and CEO of Encova.
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For more on the top high school scholar-athletes for the 2020-21 school year, visit dispatch.com/scholarathletes
The awards, which also include a $7,500 scholarship, are presented annually to a top male and top female scholar-athlete who have demonstrated
exemplary leadership their schools.
In all, 23 scholarships were awarded as part of the program, which for the second consecutive year was held virtually because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of a celebratory banquet, the 204 winners were featured on a television program broadcast on Saturday by WBNS-TV (Channel 10).
Scholarships were provided by Encova Insurance, program sponsors Ohiohealth and Battelle, and the family of Capt. Warren B. Sneed, a 1991 Dispatch scholar-athlete who died in a 2000 military accident.
Scholarship winners were chosen by a panel of judges from The Dispatch, who considered academic and athletic performance, school leadership, community service and other criteria.
Cornelius earned 12 letters in field hockey, cross country and track for Academy while maintaining a 4.13 grade-point average. She was a twotime skills within all-american in field hockey and qualified for the state meet in cross country and track. She will attend Northwestern University.
Qian is a National Merit Commended Scholar who carried a 4.79 GPA through high school and was named all-league in golf four times and all-district three times. He will attend Emory University.
Warren played volleyball, basketball and softball at Eastmoor Academy and served as captain at least one year for each team while maintaining a 4.25 GPA. She also was a four-year student ambassador and peer tutor at the school. She will attend Howard University.
Steele carried a 3.72 GPA while serving as team captain for his football, baseball and bowling teams at Africentric. He also mentored Columbus elementary school students as part of a Servant Leadership Internship. He will attend Morehouse College.
Other scholarship winners included: • First runners-up Karoline Pees of Teays Valley and Elliot Roe of Bexley, who won $5,550 scholarships from Encova.
• Second runners-up Shelby Flynn of Heath and Austin Corley of Olentangy
Berlin ($4,000 each, Encova).
• Third runners-up Mackenzie Hessick of Hilliard Darby and Dominic Panzo of Whetstone ($2,000 each, Encova.)
• Sneed scholarship winner Kenzie Mcconnell of Circleville ($3,000).
• Ohiohealth Perseverance Award winner Hayden Wiley of Heath ($2,500).
• Battelle STEM Award winner Brady Phelps of Pickerington Central. But because Phelps has earned a full-ride scholarship, the $2,500 prize money went to the runner-up, Brynn Mcgrail of Delaware.
• And honorable mention winners Callie Hribar of Hilliard Bradley; Lauren Richner of Worthington Kilbourne; Ella Rogers of Granville; Elizabeth Saur of Grove City; Catherine Wolfe of Ready; Derek Amicon of Grandview; Charles Jaeger of Big Walnut; Aidan Isler of Northridge; Victor Nash of Thomas Worthington; and Reece Yakubov of St. Charles ($1,000 each, Encova).
A commemorative section featuring all 204 scholar-athletes and the scholarship and award winners will be included in editions of The Dispatch on Saturday.
rstein@dispatch.com