NCHSAA Charlie Adams Scholarship Winners

FOURTH ANNUAL ADAMS SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

CHAPEL HILL – Hayden Rudd of Pinecrest High School and Robbie Tomasic of Durham Jordan have been named winners of the fourth annual Charles Adams Endowed Scholarships awarded by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

The two outstanding student-athletes will be recognized at the NCHSAA’s Annual Meeting on May 2 at the Dean E. Smith Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The scholarships are made possible through the generosity of donors to the fund in honor of the long-time NCHSAA executive director, who retired in 2010 after 42 years with the organization. He was inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame in 2009 and is also the only North Carolinian ever to serve as president of the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Rudd has competed in three sports at the varsity level all four years at Pinecrest, including cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. She earned multiple all conference honors in both cross country and outdoor track and has served as co-captain of all three teams for two years.

A member of student government for four years as well as current president of the Interact Club, she has attended the North Carolina Governor’s School and taken Advanced Placement courses throughout her high school career. She is also active in Special Olympics, serving as co-director of the Moore County spring Special Olympics. She will continue her education at Furman University in Greenville, S.C.

Tomasic is an outstanding wrestler who earned over 100 career victories and qualified three times for the NCHSAA state championships in three different weight classes. During his junior season, he suffered a knee injury a week before the regionals and had surgery, but was able to rehab and compete just seven days after the operation.

He has taken Advanced Placement and honors courses throughout his career at Jordan and plans to attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, looking to study kinesiology and exercise science.

One scholarship award annually recognizes a male wrestler in memory of Charlie and Sue’s son Scott, who was the first individual wrestler from Chapel Hill High School to compete in the state wrestling championships. One goes to a female cross-country runner in honor of Charlie’s daughter Michelle Adams Szwajkun, who participated in cross country at Chapel Hill and ran on the 1984 state championship team. Each recipient receives a $1,500 scholarship to further his or her education at the college level.

“We are pleased to honor Charlie and his family with these scholarship awards and are proud of the accomplishments that these recipients have achieved,” said Davis Whitfield, commissioner of the NCHSAA.