May 21, 2006
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland women's basketball player Laura Harper was recently named the United States Sports Academy's Female Athlete of the Month for April. Professional golfer Phil Michelson was the male recipient. The award is voted on by an international voting committee comprised of former athletes, media, sports organizations and governing bodies.
Wrapping up her sophomore season this spring, Harper (Elkins Park, Pa./Cheltenham) helped the Terps win their first national championship on April 4 with a 78-75 overtime win over Duke. She was voted the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player after scoring 40 points and grabbing 16 rebounds over the two games in Boston.
Harper was back on the court this season after suffering an Achilles tendon tear last year in December 2004. She started the first nine games of the season, averaging 13.2 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game before being sidelined for the final 23 games.
Harper won the USSA's monthly award over golfer Kari Webb, who won the Kraft Nabisco Championship, to earn second place on the ballot. Two-time USSA Female Athlete of the Month winner Deena Kaster, who won the London Marathon with a U.S.-record time of 2:19:36, placed third in the USSA balloting for April.
Phil Mickleson, who won his second Masters in three years after shooting a 3-under-par 69 in the final round at Augusta in April, finished ahead of marathon runner Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya and the L.A. Laker's Kobe Bryant and swimmer Ryan Lochte on the ballot. Cheruiyot won the Boston Marathon with a record time of 2:07:14 earning him a runner-up spot in the Male Athlete of the Month voting, while Bryant hit two crucial shots to win a 99-98 NBA playoff game over the Phoenix Suns, and Lochte set world records in the 200-meter backstroke (1:49.05) and the 200-meter individual medley (1:53.31) at the FINA Short Course World Championship to tie for third in the voting.
The United States Sports Academy, "America's Sport University," is an independent, non-profit institution that offers sport-specific programs to students, teachers, and administrators around the world. For more information about the United States Sports Academy, call 251-626-3303 or visit the Academy's website www.ussa.edu
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