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 Carly Bunyan To Receive Wilma Rudolph Award
June 9, 2005 University of Maine women's track and field student-athlete Carly Bunyan has been named one of four 2005 recipients of the Wilma Rudolph Student Athlete Achievement Award presented by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A). Bunyan, a native of Troy, Nova Scotia, participates in the triple jump, with a season-best of 11.15 meters this season. Bunyan and her fellow recipients will be honored at the N4A Convention/Awards Luncheon on June 12, 2005 in Raleigh, N.C. Bunyan scored in the triple jump in all meets during the 2001-02 season as a freshman. She did not participate in track in the 2002-03 season as she battled a brain tumor, but returned in limited action in the 2003-04 season. An anthropology major, Bunyan was named to the America East Academic Honor Roll in 2004 and is also a Maine Scholar-Athlete silver medalist. "As Carly's coach, I have worked very closely with her over the past five years," said Maine track and field coach Rolland Ranson. "As a sophomore she began to have trouble, but never stopped training. It was determined a softball size malignant tumor in her brain was causing all the headaches, difficulites in moving and some of her memory lapses. Now in her first full year of competing since the removal of the brain tumor, she competed season and placed in many meets. All through this trama, she kept a wonderful positive enthusiastic approach to life and just kept going forward. Carly is an ideal candidate to represent Wilma Rudolph's ideal. Wilma overcame great odds in a wonderful enthusiastic way, as did Carly." The N4A Wilma Rudolph Student Athlete Achievement Award is intended to honor student athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics. These young men and women may not be the best athletes or students, and therefore may not have been recognized by other organizations or awards. Nonetheless, they have persevered and made significant personal strides toward success. The N4A Wilma Rudolph Student Athlete Achievement Award has been presented since 1991. Bunyan is the third Black Bear student-athlete to receive the award, joining Jill Abrams (1991) and Thanh Nguyen (1996).
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