Senior guard Kerensa Barr was the nation's only women's basketball player to be named a finalist for the fourth annual Socrates Award.Senior guard Kerensa Barr was the nation's only women's basketball player to be named a finalist for the fourth annual Socrates Award.
Women's Basketball

Barr Named a Finalist for Socrates Award

Dec. 12, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri senior women's basketball player Kerensa Barr (West Plains, Mo. / West Plains HS) has been selected as one of eight finalists for the fourth annual Socrates Award, given annually by Sporting News Radio and the March of Dimes to the college athlete who best exemplifies excellence in athletics and academics. Barr was the only women's basketball player in the nation to be included among the eight.

Barr, a 5-10 point guard for Head Coach Cindy Stein's Tigers, earned Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America? honors last year as a junior, becoming the first Missouri women's basketball player since 1985 to do so. The 2002 honorable mention All-Big 12 hoopster is currently just 91 points away from becoming the 22nd member of Mizzou's 1,000-point club, and is one pace to finish her career as MU's all-time leader in assists, steals and free-throw percentage.

Fans and other members of the public are encouraged to go online to www.SocratesAward.com to vote for Barr or any of the other nominees; the online portion of the voting with comprise one-third of all total ballots cast. Online voting is open through Friday, Dec. 27, and the winner will be announced in January.

Barr joins seven other finalists: TCU soccer and football player Nick Browne; Illinois women's track and field standout Perdita Felicien; Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury; Ohio State quarterback Craig Krenzel; Ohio State men's tennis player Vincent Ng; Georgia offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb; and Miami (Fla.) defensive lineman Matt Walters.

Previous Socrates Award winners include Purdue's Drew Brees (2000), Minnesota's Ben Hamilton (2001) and last year's winner, Andr? Davis of Virginia Tech.

Sporting News Radio's 4th Annual Socrates Award is proud to be part of the 15th Annual National Athletic Awards to benefit the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. This year's Awards program will be held Tuesday, March 11, 2003, at the Historic Fox Theater in Detroit, Mich. Sportscaster James Brown will return to emcee this year's event.