NOTICE: MEDIA RELEASE
TO: All media outlets
FROM: The Greater Morgantown Community Trust, Inc.
DATE: 9/5/08
CONTACT: Paula Martinelli, Executive Director,
The
Greater Morgantown
Community Trust, 304-296-3433
Darlene Dunn, Scholarship Advisor, Donor,
304-282-2842
Mike Mosser, Fund Advisor (Friends of Track and
Field, GMCT), 304-685-9126
GMCT Awards Track and Field Scholarship
State
Cross Country Champion honored
Established
to support runners and the running sports throughout West Virginia, The Friends of Track and
Field (FOTAF) Fund of the Greater Morgantown Community Trust is pleased to
award the Jim Dunn Memorial Scholarship for the current academic year to
State Cross Country Champion Ryan Beabout.
Currently
a freshman cross country runner for the University
of Tennessee, Beabout,
received the award for his athletic accomplishments during his tenure on
the Wheeling Park High School
cross country and track and field teams, graduating in May 2007. Two time AAA
Cross Country Champion in the State of West Virginia, Ryan was named the
Gatorade 2007 Cross Country Athlete of the Year for WV and received the
Dapper Dan Achievement Award for Cross Country/Track and Field. Ryan is planning to major in exercise
science.
“Ryan is a
true winner,” according to Wheeling Cross Country head coach, Michael Jebbia,”he leaves Wheeling Park High School as the most
storied distance runner in school history.”
At GMCT, the Friends of Track and Field Fund was
designed to provide scholarship to support running sports in West Virginia. Its long term goal is to see collegiate
men’s running teams reinstated at West Virginia University. The annual Twilight 5-Miler, held on July
11th, brought a great group of family, friends, and fellow runners together
to remember and honor former WVU runner, Jim Dunn. This year’s event held along the Caperton Trail with a buffet dinner and awards at the
Wharf Parking Garage was the most successful yet with over 500 attendees. Many community businesses lent their
support. BB&T was the events
main sponsor. The Greater Morgantown
Convention and Visitor’s Bureau also supported the event through its
Innovative Grant Program.
Jim Dunn, who passed away in May 2007, was well
known to the local Morgantown
community as manager of Pizza Inn, Special Olympics’ coach, and volunteer
with many youth sports activities. A
1972 West Virginia
University graduate,
Jim spent four years on WVU’s storied Men’s Track and Field Team, under the
leadership of Coach Stan Romanowski.
Scholarship applications for the spring will be
available online by December 1st at www.gmctfoundation.org.
For more information on eligibility please contact The Greater Morgantown
Community Trust at 296-3433, or email info@gmctfoundation.org .
Donations to the Friends
of Track and Field
Fund or the Jim Dunn Memorial Scholarship Fund are also being
accepted online or by mail at GMCT, P.O. Box 409, Morgantown,
WV
