A three-sport standout at Maplewood High School, this year’s track and field honoree also played softball and basketball for the Rockets during a stellar scholastic career.
A 2002 MHS graduate, she won the Division III discus state championships with a heave of 157 feet, 11 inches to set a new state record at the time.
Her efforts in track were noticed by NCAA Power-5 conference teams as she was recruited by Big Ten teams Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue, and the University of Arizona of the Pac-12 Conference.
She chose to further her academic and athletic careers in State College, Pennsylvania where she earned a five-year scholarship (August 30, 2002 to June 30, 2007) to compete on the Penn State Nittany Lions’ track and field team.
A two-time Big Ten runner-up in the discus, she was an East Coast regional champion and an NCAA championship competitor.
As a freshman, she competed in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational and placed 10th in the discus (153’ 11”), finishing ninth as a sophomore in the shot put (42’ 0.5”) at the Penn State USTCA Collegiate Challenge.
During her junior season, she placed first in the discus throw (150’ 8”) at the 34th Annual Nittany Lion Relays, was second in the shot put (41’ 7”) during the PSU Women’s Open Meet and placed second in the discus at the 36th Annual Jim Thorpe Track & Field Meet with a throw of 139’ 2”.
In 2006, she placed sixth in the shot put (43’ 7.5”) at the Penn State Relays and seventh in the shot put (44’ 8”) at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup then in 2007, her final season of collegiate eligibility, she placed second at the Penn State Open in the discus (162’ 11”) and the Bucknell Team Challenge (159’ 1”), garnering third-place finishes in the shot (44’ 7.5”) at the former and with a throw of 45’ 8” at the latter.
Her best throw in the discus was 176 feet, which places her second all-time on the Nittany Lions’ record list.
Most importantly, she was a five-time (2002-03 to 2006-07) Academic All-American, earning her BS in Secondary English – she minored in communications – in 2007, later earning her MA in Education (2011) and her PhD in Philosophy in 2016, all from Penn State University.
Look up student-athlete in the dictionary and you will find a picture of this year’s inductee.
In addition to her dissertation for her doctorate degree, she is the author of the book, “The Prison Path: School Practices that Hurt Our Youth,” which was published by Rowman and Littlefield Publishers and released on March 16, 2015.
She enjoys helping her family run their row crop farm and over the past 15 years, has been a frequent contributor of farm columns to the Warren Tribune-Chronicle.
She has taught Honors English classes at her alma mater, Maplewood H.S. for the past nine years, coached the Rockets’ volleyball and track and field teams for nine seasons as well and this year, will coach the school’s girl’s junior varsity basketball team.
A registered umpire, she has worked both softball and baseball games in Trumbull County the past 20 years and for the past six years, has been a Mecca Township trustee.
Her family includes her mother, Barb Clemson, younger brother Craig (Amy) and her two grandmothers, Mary Letwen (maternal) and Beth Clemson (paternal).
She resides in Cortland.
