Two Mingus Union High School football players were awarded scholarships at the National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete banquet on March 24.
Justin Link and Jordan Huey, who also play baseball, were recognized for their efforts on the field, in the classroom and in the community.
“[They’re] great kids. Justin, he won that award in the summer at California camp for a scholarship, he’s just a natural team leader — he has a 4.0 — just a top notch kid,” said Bob Young, the Mingus head football coach set to retire at the end of this academic year. “Jordan got his because he’s Native American, and there’s not a lot of Native Americans playing football in Arizona, so they have awards for that. It’s just a combination of his excellence on the field and in the classroom and the fact that he’s Native American. That was the first Native American we’ve had win at Mingus.”
Link was awarded a $5,000 scholarship by the NFF. According to Young, 15 other players have won similar awards since 2003.
Link, who played linebacker, finished his senior season with 42 tackles and one forced fumble. Huey, a safety, had 45 tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery.
Streck Breaks School Record
Another football player has enjoyed recent success, but on the track and field team. Junior Kendrew Streck broke the school record in the shot put by more than a foot at the Peoria Invite on March 30.
Streck had been close during the season, then threw 50-10 to beat the old record of 49-08. The throw solidified a first place finish by more than 7 feet, then threw the same distance at the 39th Sun Angel Track Classic on Friday, April 6, tying for second place.
“He’s really been working on fine tuning little aspects of throwing, and I mean he’s got everything. Now we’re just working on little aspects,” Mingus head coach Molly Westcott said.
He took third in the discus at Peoria with a throw of 132-02, 3 inches shy of an automatic qualification to the state meet.
In shot put, Streck has automatically qualified for this year’s Division III state meet. He qualified for last season’s Division III state meet in both the shot put and discus, finishing in ninth and 12th, respectively.
