Area students named WIAA Scholar-Athletes
Prairie du Chien’s Rhett Koenig was recently selected as WIAA Scholar-Athletes. (Submitted photo)
Seneca’s Evan Payne was recently selected as WIAA Scholar-Athletes. (Submitted photo)
By Derick Kelly
Two area student-athletes this week were chosen as 2023 WIAA Scholar-Athletes. Prairie du Chien’s Rhett Koenig and Seneca’s Evan Payne were named by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association as winners of the annual Scholar-Athlete Award.
Sixteen senior girls and 16 senior boys statewide were selected as finalists to receive the prestigious 2023 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete Award, presented by We Energies Foundation and Wisconsin Public Service Foundation.
More than 1,100 Scholar Athlete finalists have been recognized since the program began in 1984. To determine the top 32 finalists, four boys and four girls were selected based on both athletic and academic achievement from each of the four WIAA divisions.
Koenig, a four-time state champion wrestler as well as an all-conference running back for the Blackhawks football team, was selected in division two. He was also recently named valedictorian for the Prairie du Chien High School class of 2023. Rhett will be attending the University of Minnesota to wrestle and study electrical engineering. He joins Mat Peterson (2002) as the only Prairie du Chien High School students selected as WIAA Scholar-Athletes.
Evan Payne was chosen to represent Seneca in division four. He has earned nine varsity letters in football, basketball, and baseball prior to the spring season. Payne has also been named to the all-conference team in each sport multiple times during his high school career. Evan will continue his education at Viterbo University with a focus on engineering and was also recently named as one of three valedictorians for the Seneca High School class of 2023.
Evan is the fourth student from Seneca to be named a scholar-athlete by the WIAA. He joins Kara Grimseld and Travis Ray, who were both selected in 1997, and his older brother Jared, who was selected in 2019.
