Comerota Named A Conference USA Spirit of Service Award-Winner
6/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 2009
Rice junior first baseman Jimmy Comerota was named one of 12 student-athletes from across Conference USA to earn the league's 2008-2009 C-USA Spirit of Service award for the spring semester, announced C-USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky. The C-USA Spirit of Service Award is designed to recognize the community service efforts of the league's student-athletes, a high academic standing and achievement in their elected sport.
The Spirit of Service award is presented three times throughout the season, with the most-recent honorees representing C-USA's sports from the spring semester: baseball, equestrian, men's and women's golf, outdoor track & field, women's rowing and men's and women's tennis.
Comerota, the starting first baseman on the Owls' nationally-ranked baseball team, volunteers his time equally between community service work in the Houston area and with a number of the campus spirit groups at the Owls' different home sporting events. Through his membership with the Rice chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Comerota has been part of various food and clothing drives that benefit different charity organizations like the Salvation Army. As a member of the National Honor Society and NCAA YES program, the Missouri City, Tex., native was able to meet a goal of having more than 100 hours of community service in everything from Habitat for Humanity to hurricane relief.
An economics/sports management major, Comerota was the 2009 Rice Scholar Athlete award-winner for baseball. He helped lead the Owls' to a 43-18 record and to the title of the C-USA Tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss., by knocking the game-winning hit in the championship final. He went on to bat a composite .308 in the Rice's run in the NCAA Tournament.
2008-09 C-USA SPIRIT OF SERVICE SPRING HONOREES:
Charina Sumner, East Carolina, Softball
David Murphy, Houston, Baseball
Melanie Stoehr, Marshall, Softball
Robyn Jones, Memphis, Women's Tennis
Jimmy Comerota, Rice, Baseball
Natalia Bubien, SMU, Women's Tennis
Paul Apyan, Southern Miss, Men's Golf
Nicolette Taku, Tulane, Women's Track & Field
Caitlin Duffy, Tulsa, Women's Rowing
James Oliver, UAB, Baseball
Breanne Javier, UCF, Softball
Stacie Townsend, UTEP, Softball
