Jake Settle, a senior goalkeeper from John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Heather Ferron, a senior forward from Brookfield Central High School in Brookfield, Wis., have been named the 2002 NSCAA/adidas High School Scholar Athletes of the Year.
With his senior season of high school soccer still ahead of him, Settle has built an impressive soccer resume. In the spring of 2002, he helped John F. Kennedy to a 15-3 mark with nine shutouts and only 10 goals against. He earned team MVP, Conference Player of the Year and first-team All-State honors in addition to being named an NSCAA/adidas High School All-America.
At the club level, he currently plays for the Heartland Soccer Club and is a member of the Iowa State Team and Region II ODP pool. In the summer of 2002, he played with the Des Moines Menace of the Professional Development League (PDL) and made two starts, both against the Thunder Bay Chill, and was not scored upon. In 2001, he was a member of the Des Moines Menace U-18 team of the Super Y League.
Scholastically, Settle has a 4.07 GPA on a 4.0 scale and ranks 14th in his senior class of 355 students. He scored 31 on the ACT, 1320 on the SAT and was named a National Merit Commended Scholar. A perennial honor roll student, he is a member the National Honor Society, National Council on Youth Leadership and the German Club, among other school activities.
In addition to his success between the posts on the soccer pitch, Settle earned First Team All-Metro, First Team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-State honors in football and is a member of the basketball team.
His future plans include attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Brookfield Central’s leading scorer in each of her first three seasons, Ferron looks to close out an already remarkably high school career with a succesful final season this spring. As a junior in 2002, Ferron earned Wisconsin Co-Player of the Year, NSCAA/adidas All-Region, first team All-State, Greater Metro Conference Player of the Year and team MVP recognition. She helped lead Brookfield Central to the Wisconsin state title and a No. 7 Ranking in the final NSCAA/adidas High School Girls Spring Rankings in 2002. A member of the Wisconsin State and Region II ODP teams since 1998, she plays club soccer for FC Milwaukee.
Ranked first in her class of 332, Ferron carries a 4.0 GPA and scored 1350 on the SAT. She is a four-year honor roll student and serves on the Executive Board of the National Honor Society, in addition to involvement with Key Club, Class Council and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). In her spare time, she is a peer tutor in Spanish, math and science.
A referee at the Brookfield Indoor Soccer Complex in the winter, she also coaches at various local summer soccer camps.
Her collegiate plans include attending Boston College, where she will pursue studies in mathematics and physics.
The pair will be honored during the 2003 NSCAA/adidas All-America Luncheon on Saturday, Jan. 18, as part of the 2003 NSCAA Convention Jan. 15-19 in Kansas City, Mo. Each player will receive a $500 scholarship to the college of their choice. The scholarships are funded by the Walt Chyzowych Memorial Fund, which has amassed more than $50,000 since its inception.
Each winner also will receive a plaque commemorating their selection. The award is given "in honor of outstanding play, sportsmanship and achievement in memory of Walt Chyzowych’s lifetime contribution to American soccer at all levels."
Chyzowych was instrumental in laying the foundation for success the sport of soccer enjoys in this country today. The head coach at Philadelphia Textile and Wake Forest University, he was inducted into the NSCAA Hall of Fame in 1997.
