VSMA tabs Russell for monthly honor

The Vermont Sports Media Association has chosen former Essex High School golfing standout Evan Russell as its July Athlete of the Month.
    The membership of the VSMA, formerly the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, honored the amateur golfer for his outstanding efforts in July.
    Russell had a pair of impressive performances against the region’s best amateur golfers. Russell, 20, was the first Vermonter to win the New England Amateur title in 23 years, with a three-round tournament score of a five-under 208 at Green Mountain National Golf Course in Killington.  
    Later in the month, Russell finished atop the leaderboard to secure one of the three available qualifying spots for the U.S. Amateur championships. Russell carded rounds of 70 and 67 on the Cape Cod National Golf Course in Brewster, Mass., on which he had not previously played. Russell is beginning his sophomore year at the University of Hartford this fall.
    Russell outpolled recent Champlain Valley Union graduate Shane Haley, a soccer player; Thunder Road driver Derrick O’Donnell of Haverill, N.H.; Vermont Mountaineers baseball player Chandler Brock of Huntsville, Ala.; and youth swimmers Peter Mikheyev of the St. Albans team and Kira Hancock of the Essex team.
    VSMA members are now nominating candidates for the August Athlete of the Month honor. In September, the VSMA will return to honoring male and female high school athletes as well as one Open Division monthly winner.
    VSSA members voted on the name change at the organization’s Aug. 22 annual meeting in Montpelier, at which Josh Kaufmann of the St. Albans Messenger was re-elected as the organization’s president. Also chosen were Andy Kirkaldy of the Addison Independent as vice president, Anna Grearson of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus as secretary, and Lauren Read of the Burlington Free Press as treasurer.
    Kaufmann said the name change recognizes the fact many sports professionals now work in other media in addition to writing and broadcasting. For information about the VSMA contact Kaufmann at sports@samessenger.com.