INDIANAPOLIS, IN (November 30, 2004) - The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) will award NFHS Citations to eight current or former high school athletic directors December 14 in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the 35th annual National Conference of High School Directors of Athletics.      NFHS Citations are presented annually to outstanding athletic directors in recognition of contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. Each state association may nominate an athletic director for an NFHS Citation, and the NFHS Board of Directors approves recipients.    Among this year's award winners is a wrestling leader, Ron Belinko, CMAA, coordinator of athletics for the Baltimore (Maryland) County Public Schools.    Ron Belinko    Involved in education and interscholastic athletics since 1966, Ron Belinko, CMAA, coordinator of athletics for the Baltimore County Public Schools since 1993, has earned honors at the national, state and local levels.    Belinko's work at all levels of high school athletics has helped him advance to several important positions within the NFHS and the NIAAA. A member of the NFHS Boys Lacrosse Rules Committee since 1999, he was appointed chairman in 2003. In 2002, Belinko was named the state Leadership Training coordinator, and he has served on national faculties for LTC 507 and LTC 502. Belinko has spoken at four NFHS National Conferences of High School Directors of Athletics, and has been published in the Interscholastic Athletic Administration journal.   Belinko has been equally dedicated to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA). Involved with the association since 1983, he has served on the MPSSAA's executive council for 13 years, and the MPSSAA Board of Control for 21 years.    He directed the state wrestling tournament from 1979 to 1990, and served on the MSPSSA Wrestling Weight Certification Committee in 2003. Belinko received the 2001 Maryland State Wrestling Association's "Longtime Service to Wrestling Award," and he was also inducted into the Maryland State Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1987. With his extensive experience in lacrosse, Belinko works as director of the MPSSAA Lacrosse Committee, a position he has held since 1984.    Before getting involved on the administrative side of high school athletics, Belinko coached football, wrestling and lacrosse. Among his coaching experiences, Belinko was head wrestling coach at Johns Hopkins University, and football, wrestling and lacrosse coach at Baltimore Eastern Technical High School. Belinko is a graduate of the University of Baltimore, and he earned his master's degree from Morgan State University.    The other award winners are Dave Horner, CAA, athletic director, Forest High School, Ocala, Florida; Mike Jorgensen, CAA, teacher and coach, Wasson High School, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Sandra Mader, CMAA, director of athletics, Galveston (Texas) Independent School District; Dave Martens, former athletic director, Fairport (New York) High School; Craig Perry, CMAA, district athletic director, Grand Forks (North Dakota) Public Schools; Ken Shultz, CMAA, athletic director, Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Flossmoor, Illinois; and Carolyn Wuertz, CAA, athletic director, Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind, Tucson, Arizona.     Dave Horner    First in Michigan and later in Florida, Dave Horner, CAA, has contributed to the lives of young people for 37 years. Currently athletic director at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, Horner is an active member of the NIAAA. He was a voting delegate at the 2001 and 2002 NFHS National Conferences, and he earned his Certified Athletic Administrator status in 2002.    A nine-year member of the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (FIAAA), Horner has served eight years on the association's Board of Directors. He was the conference chairman in 2001, president in 2002 and past president in 2003, and he currently serves as Awards Committee chairman. Horner is also a 23-year member of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association (FACA), where he has held the position of state athletic director chairman since 1999. Horner is also a member of the FACA Board of Directors, a position he assumed in 1997.      Horner's service in Florida also extends to the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), where he has been on its Board of Directors since 2003 and currently is vice president. He formerly was a member of the FHSAA Representative Assembly and he currently is chairman of the Commissioner's Performance Assessment Committee.     At the local level, Horner first was a physical education and driver's education teacher, and a coach of football, basketball and track for 13 years in Michigan. For the past 24 years, he has worked at Forest High School, where he has served as dean of students and athletic director for the past 11 years, and has also coached football, girls basketball and track. His Florida girls basketball coaching awards include the 1997 Class 6A Coach of the Year, the 1998 Class 5A Coach of the Year and the 1998 Dairy Farmer's Girls Coach of the Year. In addition, he was named the 1988 FACA Track Coach of the Year, and the 1986, 1987 and 1988 St. Petersburg Times Track Coach of the Year.    Mike Jorgensen     With a strong belief that each student-athlete can be successful, Mike Jorgensen, CAA, has garnered respect and recognition throughout the district, region, state and nation. Before moving to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he currently teaches math and coaches basketball and track at Wasson High School, Jorgensen was the district athletic director of Bonneville (Idaho) School District No. 93 for 15 years.     At the national level, Jorgensen served on the NIAAA Strategic Planning Committee Operations Subcommittee. An NIAAA member for 15 years, he was the NIAAA liaison and state delegate from Idaho. Jorgensen also was very active in the Idaho Athletic Administrators Association (IAAA), where he served as vice president from 1996 to 1998, and as president from 1998 to 2000 and on the Board of Directors from 2002 to 2004.     The Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) also benefited from Jorgensen's hard work. He was the tournament manager for boys and girls basketball, volleyball, cross country and golf until last year, and served on the IHSAA Board of Directors from 1999 to 2002. At the district and regional levels, Jorgensen managed tournaments for the aforementioned sports, as well as soccer, football, wrestling, baseball, track and field, and softball. Outside of his work with high school athletics, Jorgensen was on the Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation Commission, and was the tournament director for YMCA basketball and the First Security Games.    Sandra Mader    An accomplished athlete, coach and administrator, Sandra Mader, CMAA, has been director of athletics for the Galveston (Texas) Independent School District since 1997.    Since 2002, Mader has served on the NIAAA Board of Directors, and she was also a member of the NIAAA Strategic Planning Committee. Mader was Texas' NIAAA state delegate in 2003, and was the NIAAA liaison to both the Publications Committee and the Awards Committee. After earning her CAA certification in 1997, she attained CMAA status just four years later. During her career, Mader has taken 16 NIAAA Leadership Training Courses, assisted in the development of LTC 500, and was on the national faculty for LTC 505.     At the state level, one of Mader's most significant accomplishments was her work with the Texas University Interscholastic League in adding fast pitch softball as a sport in Texas high schools. She helped the Texas High School Girls Coaches Association Board add softball coaches to its membership, and also helped initiate a softball all-star game. Mader currently is secretary of the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association (THSADA) Board of Directors.     A graduate of Sam Houston State (Texas) University, Mader's career in education began in 1987 at North Shore High School in Houston, where she was varsity softball coach.