Mackenzie Swiggum of Gays Mills was among Wisconsin’s 32 top scholar athletes from public and nonpublic high schools selected by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) as finalists for the 31st Annual 2014 WIAA Scholar Athlete Award underwritten by Marshfield Clinic.

Swiggum is a senior at North Crawford High School, where she has earned nine varsity letters in volleyball, basketball, track and softball. She received all-conference first team honors in volleyball two years and basketball three years. She was the team MVP in basketball for three years and volleyball for one year. Swiggum is academically ranked first in her class of 38 students.

To determine the top 32 finalists, four boys and four girls are selected from each of four WIAA divisions based on both athletic and academic achievement. Sixteen of this year’s 32 WIAA Scholar Athlete finalists have a grade point average of 4.0 to date, while the average GPA is 3.85. All 32 scholar athlete finalists earned a total of 308 letters (an average of 9 letters per athlete) during their first three-and-a-half years of high school.

The 32 scholar athlete finalists were chosen from among 825 seniors nominated by more than 425 high schools in the state. Every year since 1984, each of the WIAA-member high schools has been invited to nominate one boy and one girl for the WIAA Scholar Athlete award.

The 2014 WIAA Scholar Athlete Finalists, as well as their families and school representatives, will be recognized at an awards ceremony Sunday, May 4 at the Jefferson Street Inn in Wausau.

Each 2014 WIAA Scholar Athlete Finalist will receive a medallion and certificate, and will take with them a special plaque for display in their school’s trophy case.

A Webcast of the awards ceremony will be available at www.wiaawi.org during and after the ceremony beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 4.