More than 100,000 Texas high school students play varsity sports.

Out of that group, 2,100 of them applied for the Fina/Dallas Morning News Scholar-Athlete Team, having the basic qualifications of a 90-plus average and ranking within the top 10 percent of their class. There were 40 finalists and 12 were selected for the team, which carries with it a $4,000 college scholarship.

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Only one was from Dallas. She’s Harriet Abigail Patterson, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School.

“I was floored when I found out, because I hadn’t expected it,” Patterson says. “And I’m thrilled.”

She is a swimmer, a discus thrower, shot putter and volleyball player at Woodrow. But her efforts don’t stop off the court, field or out of the pool.

She has a 96.83 average that ranks her first in her class. Her Scholastic Aptitude Test scores: 700 verbal, 750 math, and she has taken nine honors/advance placement courses.

A member of the National Honor Society, Patterson is drill team captain, French Club president, Key Club parliamentarian, a participant in Variations show choir, concert choir, one-act play, musical, UIL academic decathlon, several speech contests, mock trial, church choir, and Campfire Girls, in which she achieved the coveted WoHeLo medallion, the female equivalent of Eagle Scout.

Patterson says it isn’t unusual to start her homework at 12:30 a.m. – and not because she’s goofing off. Her idea of free time “is to seize this hour or this 30 minutes and listen to music or play with my pets.”

“But,” she says, “the classes that I’ve enjoyed the most are the ones that were the most demanding, because I learned so much, because they sparked an interest.

“I’m very driven and very curious. I want to get everything out of whatever I do. I’ve always had so many interests. From the seventh or eighth grade, I decided what I really wanted to do. I’ve had a strong sense of organization and prioritizing.”

She credits her parents, the Rev. Peggy Patterson of St. Matthew’s Cathedral and Samuell High math teacher Dwight Patterson, with letting her make her own choices. She also credits her school, Woodrow Wilson.

“It encourages students to be well-rounded and to do as many things as possible,” she says. “And that produces better students, students who have experience in dealing with situations and with people.”

Even though she hasn’t starred in sports, Patterson says they are important.

“I’m not the most gifted person athletically, and I have to push myself,” she says. “It’s good to be involved in something that is not so easy. I work hard and practice every day, and I’ve learned to be there for the whole team, to sense a deep commitment to the team.”

Patterson says her goal is to pick the best university she can attend. She wants to study history and attend medical or law school.

Boston University has offered her a full-tuition Trustee Scholarship, she says, but she is also considering Princeton (where sister Elizabeth and brother Dwight, both Woodrow graduates, are studying), Wellesley, Smith, Williams and Columbia.

“There are times, sure, when I get home from track practice and school and Variations practice, and it’s 11:30, and I say to myself, ‘What am I thinking?’

“But at the end, there’s a payoff. This is the conclusive end to four years of high school, to 12 years of school, and now I have a chance to look back and see that it has all been worthwhile.”

Baseball Team Contending

Woodrow baseball coach Mike Wallace predicted that his team would make the playoffs this year, and they fulfilled those hopes by winning their first four district games. Senior shortstop Mac Hill was hitting .535 with 12 RBI and 11 stolen bases, and junior left-handed pitcher Robert Padilla had a 2.00 earned-run average and a 4-4 record – 3-0 in district play.

The Wildcats beat Hillcrest 6-5, W.T. White, 12-2, and Thomas Jefferson, 9-3. They drubbed Roosevelt, 26-1.

Pulling His Weight

Senior Sergio Lozano has made marked improvement in the discus and shot put this spring, coach John Varnell noted. Lozano won both events in the Pepsi Adamson Invitational in March, and was second in the shot at the Bearcat Relays in Sherman.

“He’s looking like the district favorite in both events,” Varnell says.

Varnell also is impressed with sophomore Robert Pringle, who went to regionals last spring in the 110 hurdles as a freshman. This year, Varnell says, Pringle has shown district-contending potential not only in the 110 hurdles, but in the 330 hurdles, long jump and triple jump.

Soccer Successes

Both the Woodrow boys and girls soccer teams went two rounds into the playoffs this year.

The boys opened by beating Seagoville, 6-1, as Edgar Lozano scored twice, and E.Z. Leguizamo, Omar Moreno, Jose Lagunas and Oscar Chavez scored once each. North Dallas eliminated the Wildcats, 5-1, as Leguizamo was the lone scorer. The boys finished with a 14-8-1 record.

The Woodrow girls began the playoffs with a 10-0 victory over A. Maceo Smith. Katie Offutt had the hat trick, Emily Renda and Jennifer Gibbs scored twice each, and Cindy Post, Becky Post, Erica Figueroa added goals. Carrollton Newman Smith beat the Wildcats, 3-0, in the area round, leaving the girls with a 12-6 record.

Champions On The Links

The Woodrow girls’ golf team won the district meet by 10 strokes over Hillcrest with a nine-hole score of 236. Alisha Suratt was fourth individually with a score of 56.