Marquette University Athletics
November Blue & Gold Status Award Winners
11/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Academics and Student Programs
Each year at Marquette University, hundreds of student-athletes compete at the highest level for their respective sport. While the majority of people will notice their on-field accomplishments, often the individuals' efforts off the field remain un-publicized.
One of the many groups at Marquette University that is dedicated to assist and honor Marquette student-athletes is the Academic Support Staff. Continuing throughout the rest of the 2016-2017 school year, the Academic Support Staff will pick four student-athletes that consistently excelled academically, athletically and in the community.
The third group of four members of the Blue & Gold Status Award are McKayla Yentz (women's basketball), Omoyemeh Tseumah (women's track and field), Haanif Cheatham (men's basketball), and Alina Atayan (women's lacrosse).
Yentz is the only senior on the women's basketball team, member of SAAC, and will graduate with her major in Biomedical Sciences in May 2017. Over the summer Yentz completed 50+ hours of community service at the Aurora Health Clinic and plans to apply for PA school in Fall 2017. Along with her PA hours, Yentz has given back to the community in a variety of ways including Al's Run, Race for the Cure, Campus Kitchens, and school visits. She continues to lead her team in the classroom, on the court and within the community.
Yentz was the BIG EAST's Most Improved Player last season and returns as Marquette's lone senior in 2016-17. After averaging just 2.0 points in her first two seasons, she quadrupled her output and averaged over 10 points per game as a junior.
Tseumah enters her senior year at Marquette on the women's track and field team. She will be graduating with a double major in Finance and Marketing in May 2017. Throughout Tseumah's time at Marquette, she embodies the idea of "and then some" that the Academic Staff continues to encourage for all student-athletes. She always goes above and beyond to make something better for herself or the next group of individuals following after her. She finds new ways to interplay faith and service in all aspect of her life. Tseumah was a mentee in the Alumni Mentor Program on campus and took initiative to enhance the program, by starting a Mentee Alumni network for new participants who are currently with a mentor, so they have peer resources on campus. She is also involved with Athletes in Action (AIA). Tseumah is a positive energetic force, promoting the Track & Field team, Marquette University, and her faith, in everything she does.
Tseumah captured the BIG EAST Conference indoor and outdoor high jump titles in 2016, helping the Golden Eagles sweep both team championships in the process. She will look to become a four-time All-BIG EAST honoree in the high jump in 2017.
Cheatham is a men's basketball sophomore from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, majoring in communication studies and minoring in digital media. Last year Cheatham helped lead his team athletically by being name to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team and academically by sharing the spot of highest term grade point average with former teammate Michael Mache. Cheatham is leading in a new way this year. This year Cheatham has taken an active role in leading his team in community service hours through his participation in Marquette's Hartman Literacy Center's Live to Dream Summer reading program and Marquette Basketball's partnership with Sharp Literacy. Through the partnership with Sharp Literacy, Cheatham recently volunteered his time at Milwaukee Public School, Richard Kluge Elementary School where he read to third graders and talked to them about the importance of reading, writing, education, and working hard in all parts of life.
Cheatham was named to the All-BIG EAST Freshman Team following his debut season with the Golden Eagles. He started each of the team's 33 games and finished third on the team in scoring and rebounding.
Atayan is a junior on the Marquette Women's Lacrosse team. She is a nursing major, and has done outreach through the College of Nursing including flu shot clinics and community education. Atayan is also an intern with the One Love Foundation, working to raise the awareness of warning signs of abuse and to change the statistics around relationship violence. Atayan worked as an intern in the One Love Foundation headquarters in New York, and is the President of Team One Love Marquette. She reaches out to groups and administrators on the campus and in the community and facilitates workshops about relationship violence and safe dating. In addition, Atayan conducted a research project regarding the effectiveness of primary and secondary prevention education for abusive relationships. She presented her research during Marquette University's Mission Week, as part of the Forward Thinking Research Fair.
Atayan appeared in 11 games in 2016 and recorded her first-career point against No. 2 Florida as Marquette went on to tie for third place in the BIG EAST standings.
Continue to check GoMarquette.com as the Academic Support Staff honors four new student-athletes into the Blue & Gold Status Award this upcoming February 2017.
