Winfield finalists announced

The Winfield Awards Committee recently announced the 10 student-athlete finalists for its 39th annual banquet to be held next month. The award honors students who excelled in athletics, academics and community service.

The male finalists are football, basketball and track and field standout Garrett Gardner (St. Paul Central); Ashenafi Hatte (St. Paul Washington), who led his school’s cross-country, soccer and track teams; Maxwell Jackson (Cretin-Derham Hall), who starred in football, hockey and baseball; Malik Johnson (St. Agnes), an all-metro lineman in football who also participated in wrestling and track and field; and Ismael Kamara (St. Paul Harding), an all-conference performer in football, basketball, and track and field.

The female finalists include swimming, and track and field standout Elizabeth Garcia Creighton (St. Agnes High School); Haley Greene (St. Paul Humboldt), one of the top basketball players in the St. Paul City Conference; Madisyn Hammick (St. Paul Highland Park), a three-time state participant in gymnastics and a track and field performer; Emma May (Cretin-Derham Hall), who starred in hockey and track and field; and Lauryn Smith (St. Paul Johnson), a four-year starter for the girls’ basketball team.

The Winfield Awards were established in 1977 in honor of Major League baseball Hall of Fame player David M. Winfield, a 1969 St. Paul Central graduate who went on to star at the University of Minnesota before playing professionally from 1973-1995.

The banquet is Sunday, June 7 at 6 pm at the Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverside Hotel on Kellogg Blvd. in downtown St. Paul. Tickets are $40.00.

Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.