MISSOULA — It's our final day of revealing our nominees for this year's KPAX Sports Awards which recognizes outstanding student-athletes here in Missoula.
Today, we'll meet the candidates from Loyola Sacred Heart. The female nominee for Loyola is Charlotte Cummings while the male nominee is Raef Konzen.
Cummings has been a three-year varsity athlete in both volleyball and basketball, and has also participated in tennis as well. This past year she was a captain at Loyola in both volleyball and basketball, and helped lead the Breakers to the State B basketball tournament back in March.
In the classroom, she's one of Loyola's top students, and has participated in a number of community service events, and after high school, she'll leave Missoula to study aesthetics and skin care at the Aveda Arts & Science Institute, where she'll join a trade school and jump into the work force once her program is completed.
"I think throughout high school and just my life in general, it's not been an escape but it's kind of just been something that I've been able to be like, oh I can go to practice at the end of the day," Cummings said. "I can go focus on something that's bigger than myself with my team and just focus on something that I get adrenaline from, and it makes me happy when I'm stressed with school or family or whatever else is going on, and obviously it teaches people how to be physically fit in their life and that's important to live a long and healthy life too."
Konzen has been a standout for Loyola in soccer and basketball, and also has competed in football and track and field.
In soccer he led the Rams to the state semis twice and was a two-time captain, and the successes were even greater for him in basketball, as Konzen was a three-time captain, and as a senior this past winter, he led Loyola to the program's first ever state basketball title.
He's also participated in community service outside of school, and after high school, Raef will stay here in Missoula and attend the University of Montana.
And for our final nominees, their time at Loyola, has been special.
"I really fell in love with basketball in early middle school, going into seventh grade and I started to realize there was a lot more that it had to offer instead of like just running on a court," Konzen said. "It applies to things so much more outside of the out of bounds lines on a basketball court, so I've taken a lot from it that I can apply to obviously basketball and my daily life."
Those are our finalists from Loyola and those are all 10 of our finalists for this year's KPAX Sports Awards, and on Wednesday, we'll have our banquet to celebrate and announce the winners.
