Each year the Colonial League honors its best and brightest scholar-athletes at the annual Colonial League All-Academic Breakfast.

One male and one female athlete from each school is recognized at this event for their excellence in the classroom and on the athletic field.

This year, the event was one of many that could not take place in person because of the coronavirus pandemic.

While the Class of 2020 has been deprived of many traditional rites of passage for high school seniors, Colonial League officials didn’t want their academic all-stars going without recognition, so they found a way.

Palisades and Saucon Valley athletic directors Brian Gilbert and Bob Frey put together a video montage hosted by league president and Northern Lehigh AD Bryan Geist and Palisades principal and league principal representative Rich Heffernan. It was posted to YouTube Monday at noon and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tymqZtprVXA & feature=youtu.be.

“Each year we meet and have breakfast and discuss some of the great things our student-athletes have been able to accomplish,” Geist said at the beginning of the video. “This is not how we envisioned this particular ceremony. In the past number of weeks we’ve had to Zoom, Canvas, Schoology, Google Classroom, to name a few.

“We’re in unprecedented times. We’ve had to cancel seasons. We’ve had to cancel award ceremonies and other senior activities. That is why the Colonial League thought it was important to continue this ceremony honoring some of the best in the Colonial League.”

Heffernan said a few words before introducing a video montage of all 26 nominees for the 2019-20 school year.

“Truly we recognize everything that is great about high school athletics,” Heffernan said. “They have been top performers in their respective sports. They have volunteered in their community. They have taken leadership roles in their schools and they demonstrated outstanding citizenship. It is truly an honor to recognize these students as part of the Colonial League tradition of academic all-stars.”

Representing the Times News area are Northern Lehigh’s Reagan Pender and Zachary Moyer, Northwestern’s Hallie Bleam and Dillon Scott, and Palmerton’s Erica Messics and Braden Gower.

The following is a list of this year’s Colonial League All-Academic honorees. In alphabetical order by school, each school’s female athlete is listed first, with the male athlete second and their sports in parenthesis.

Bangor

Morgan Karasek (soccer, basketball, softball); Marino Bubba (cross-country, track and field)

Catasauqua

Katherine Verenna (volleyball, cross-country, track and field); Mason Schlofer (baseball)

Moravian Academy

Gabrielle Oudin (soccer, swimming, lacrosse); Julius Ewungken (soccer, basketball, track and field)

Notre Dame GP

Kelsey Priestof (volleyball, track and field); Alex Belarmino (soccer, lacrosse)

Northern Lehigh

Reagan Pender (cross-country, track and field); Zachary Moyer (football, basketball, track and field)

Northwestern

Hallie Bleam (soccer, lacrosse); Dillon Scott (swimming, cross-country)

Palisades

Amy Farese (cross-country, track and field); Gus Yocum (football, basketball, track and field)

Palmerton

Erica Messics (volleyball, tennis); Braden Gower (football, track and field)

Pen Argyl

Megan Guthrie (cheer, basketball, track and field); Maxwell Houck (football)

Salisbury

Olivia Hoeing (basketball, track and field, swimming); Zachary Arner (golf, baseball)

Saucon Valley

Kennedy Morgan (volleyball, golf, lacrosse); Zachary Appel (soccer, tennis)

Southern Lehigh

Jenna Groeber (cross-country, soccer, track and field); Krishna Annambholta (golf, tennis)

Wilson

Jillian Pote (cross-country, soccer, track and field); Kyle Jones (swimming, track and field)