Sometimes sportswriters just can't help but become a bit jaded in their jobs.

And who could blame them, considering some of the spoiled-rotten, me-first millionaires they so often have to deal with in chasing down quotes for their stories?

That's certainly not the case when covering the “kids” in this community. And truth be told, we often find teen athletes showing quite a bit more class and maturity than many of those making mega-bucks on the professional level.

Consider Devin Blaney and Josh Ritchart, who were both recently honored as recipients of the Sac-Joaquin Section's Dale Lacky Scholarship Awards, as prime examples of such a gold standard for student-athletes.

Ritchart, of course, needs no introduction after dominating the Division V level of basketball for the past four years at Forest Lake Christian. The 6-foot, 8-inch senior led his team to a section championship as a sophomore and a runner-up finish as a junior. FLC's all-time scoring leader now shifts his focus to UC Davis, where he has accepted a scholarship to play ball for the Aggies.

Blaney, in comparison, might have flown a bit under the radar during her athletic career at Nevada Union, but there's no mistaking the commitment she made to her water polo team and to our western Nevada County community. A second-team All-Sierra Foothill League goalkeeper, Blaney literally held the Lady Miners' fortunes in her hands in each match. As a senior, she was named the outstanding player at the Sierra College Water Polo Tournament.

But athletic achievements are only part of the equation.

Blaney, who played three years of water polo and three years of basketball at Nevada Union, was a Principal's Scholar Athlete all four years of her high school career. She will graduate as a valedictorian this June after accumulating a 4.14 grade-point average.

She's still kicking around the idea of playing water polo in college, but she said she's mostly concerned with keeping her grades up at the college level. (Here's guessing she'll be able to handle the academic load just fine.) She plans on majoring in electrical or mechanical engineering, with the hopes of moving into the engineering field.

No doubt such academic success helped her gain acceptance at Santa Clara University, where she'll study next fall, as well as being accepted at five University of California campuses. Yet perhaps even more impressive is the kind of work she did outside of the classroom and out of the pool.

She has served as a Summer Faith Camp counselor for the last six years and also has volunteered as a youth-level volleyball coach and referee for the past two school years.

“I coached at Mount St. Mary's and I had fifth through eighth graders,” Blaney said. “I coached both the boys and the girls. I worked with the boys in the fall, but only had eight kids. And with the girls I had 14, so it was definitely different, but really fun.

“It was really interesting to see how the fifth graders had so much enthusiasm just to play, while the eighth graders were more competitive. It was cool to see how they're just so different, personality-wise, between those ages.”

As if she didn't already have plenty on her plate, Blaney also has worked with the “Big Pals” program, serving as a mentor to an at-risk elementary school student in both her junior and senior years of high school.

In short, while many of her peers were out being kids, she's been busy giving back to many more of them right here in her community.

“My brother and cousin both had done that before I did. It just seemed like a good thing to do. I liked doing summer camps, so I thought I'd like it,” she said. “We just kind of do whatever we want to do, even school work, just anyway to spend time with them and have some fun together.”

Ritchart, too, was recognized for his work with children, as the basketball star manages to find time between books and ball to volunteer at summer basketball camps and clinics. Imagine the impression the soft-spoken and good-natured senior can leave on little ones literally looking up to him.

And, like Blaney, Ritchart is the kind of athlete that you'd want your kids to admire, taking care of business in class and on court. He's carrying a 3.761 GPA and plans on majoring in either business administration or sports medicine.

Blaney and Ritchart have been invited to the Sac-Joaquin Section's annual awards breakfast to held Tuesday in Stockton.

They will be among the 50 Dale Lacky Award recipients across the section who will receive a total of $34,000 in scholarships. Blaney and Ritchart will each receive a $600 award from the section, which raises the funds through section-wide foundation games in various sports.

It's hard to imagine a more deserving pair of student-athletes to represent western Nevada County at the luncheon. They've been making their parents and schools proud of the past for years and now our entire community gets a chance to share in that pride.

Cheers to them both.

Brian Hamilton is sports editor at The Union. Contact him via e-mail at bhamilton@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4240.