Top athletes are often rewarded with post-season awards. Top student/athletes are rewarded, too.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association and the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association have awarded hundreds of student/athletes monetary scholarships for their excellence both in the classroom and on the playing field.

Five local senior student/athletes were recipients of those awards. Ironton St. Joseph’s Caleb Blackburn and Green’s Ali Thompson were among 42 winners of $1,000 scholarships by the OHSAA.

A total of 54 student/athletes were honored by the OHSAA and its six districts. Winners are selected based on a points system that rewards students for grade point average, ACT or SAC scores, varsity letters earned, individual and team athletic honors and an essay.

Two students from each district get $2,000 scholarships.

Recipients of athletic scholarships from NCAA Division I or II colleges are not eligible for the awards.

The football coaches awarded two Chesapeake players as Alex Wells and Kyle Webb were awarded $1,000 scholarships while Coal Grove’s Zack Sloan also earned a financial award.

Chesapeake coach Phil Davis noted it was an honor to have two players get scholarships, but he said they were both very deserving.

“They both met all the criteria. One was valedictorian and the other was salutatorian. There was only a fraction of a difference in their grade point average,” said Davis.

Webb, Wells and Sloan joined 37 other recipients among the 115 applicants this year. A total of 12 student/athletes received $1,000 scholarships while another 27 were awarded $500.

Wells earned a $1,000 scholarship with Webb and Sloan getting $500 awards.

“We’ve given away as many as 85 in a year. It all depends on how much money we have,” said Davis.

A fourth student/athlete from the Ohio Valley Conference was honored as River Valley’s Jordan Deel was given a $1,000 scholarship.