By DOUG DYER, Sports Editor
ddyer@williamsonherald.com

Keeping school and athletics in line with one-another is a must for high school student-athletes. If you don’t do the first one well, you likely won’t be able to do the other.

Carolyn Davis from Centennial High and Tom Divinnie from Brentwood High know full well the benefits of excelling both on and off the field, and that is why they have been selected as the Williamson Herald/John Maher Scholar Athletes of the Month for June.

Both enjoy staying active in sports as well as in the classroom and away from school. Davis is a three-sport star at Centennial, playing girls’ soccer, basketball and softball, while Divinnie runs cross country and track for the Bruins.

“You just have to make sure you manage your time well,” Davis said. “I’ve played three sports since seventh grade. I love it.”
In addition to her athletic endeavors Davis also is active with her church, participating in the Invisible Children walk this year. She also worked with student council as a class representative.

Getting her schoolwork finished is top priority before those other things can happen, she said.

“I try to get a lot of work done during class,” she said. “Then after school if I don’t have time to do anything I already have most of it done.”

Davis, who graduated last month, helped lead the girls’ soccer team to its first-ever state tournament appearance last fall and was a key piece on the softball team that reached the Class AAA sectional round for the second time in the last three years.
Divinnie, a state qualifier in both cross country and track, sticks to much the same routine as Davis by doing a lot of his extra running in the morning hours before school and that leaves time for extracurricular activites such as Habitat for Humanity, being a Kindergarten Sunday School Teacher, participating in Youth Leadership Brentwood and serving as a Confirmation Retreat Youth Leader.

“I’m always busy, but I always want to stay on top of the grades,” he said. “It takes dedication.”

Divinnie served as track team captain this past season, in addition to taking third at this year’s state meet in the 1,600-meter run and second in the 3,200-meter run. He is the school’s record-holder for the three-mile, 3,200-meter and 1,600-meter runs. 

Posted on: 6/18/2006