NACAA Honors Three with Inspiration Award
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA has awarded the 2005 Inspiration Award to three athletes who overcame life-altering experiences.
 
Kaia Jergenson of Lipscomb University; Michelle Thomas of the University of Oklahoma; and Marcharia Yuot of Widener University, were announced Thursday as recipients and will receive the award at the NCAA Honors Dinner on Jan. 9 in Dallas. The award is presented to someone who has displayed perseverance, dedication and determination to overcome a life-altering event.
 
Jergenson, a former basketball player, averaged 12 points and six rebounds through the first half of her freshman season before being hospitalized with meningococcal septicemia, a bacterial infection in her bloodstream. Doctors had to amputate both of her legs six inches below the knees, as well as some of her fingers on her right hand to contain the infection. She has since returned to the classroom and now serves as the basketball team's manager. A senior, she majors in biology, chemistry and Spanish with a 3.55 GPA.
 
Thomas, a track and cross country student-athlete, and her twin sister have raised their two nieces since their mother was sent to prison. Thomas also helped her mother battle cancer and overcame the murder of another sister, Kia Tasby. She is on track to graduate with a 3.56 GPA while majoring in microbiology and chemistry.
 
Yuot, a cross country and track athlete, is one of the "Lost Boys of the Sudan," a group of African boys that traveled nearly 1,000 miles by foot to get to Ethiopia and Kenya. Many of the boys died during the rigorous journey from hunger, dehydration or fatigue, while others were shot by militia or drowned. Yuot says he was about nine years old when he fled his village. He spent several years at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya and was eventually transferred to Pennsylvania by the U.S. government. Now a junior, Yuot became the third cross country all-American in Widener history.