Marissa Dunn, Enberg Award Winner

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Marissa Dunn wasn't even certain that she wanted to compete in athletics in college.

Now, she's a shining example of what it means to be a student-athlete.

Dunn, a member of the Central Michigan women's track & field team, is the 2019 Dick Enberg Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award winner, one of the highest individual honors a Chippewa student-athlete can achieve.

The award goes to a Chippewa who epitomizes athletic and academic achievement and is considered a leader of his or her team.

Dunn holds a 3.88 grade point average and is majoring in recreation event management. She specializes in the hammer throw, and is one of several throwing standouts in the resurgent program that last season won the Mid-American Conference Indoor championship for the first time since 2004, and then placed second in the MAC Outdoor meet.

She joins a prestigious list of winners, including basketball standout Presley Hudson (2018) and football player Joe Ostman and basketball player Cassie Breen, who shared the award in 2017.

"I'm really thankful and honored," said Dunn, who will be introduced and presented the award Saturday during the CMU-Northern Illinois football game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. "The past recipients, to be in the same conversation as some of those people who have left their stamp on the world and made a major impact on the university and the athletic department is truly an honor.

"I'm humbled and it's really eye-opening."

Dunn, the daughter of Michael and Julie Dunn, said she wasn't certain that athletics were her calling after graduating from Novi High School in 2016. She was invited to walk on to the track & field team at CMU, and it was then that she met then-senior Kylee Dobbelaere, a fellow thrower who took Dunn under her wing.

"Having her as such a strong leader helped pave the way, and helped me learn as I took on the leadership role as I went on," said Dunn, who has earned numerous academic awards from the MAC and from the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association.

When Dobbelaere graduated, there was a veteran void among the female throwers in the program. Dunn, though just a sophomore, ably stepped into that role and is today among a group that includes fellow standouts Quiara Wheeler, Megan McElroy and Erin Howard, the latter an All-American in the shot put.

Dunn, who holds the freshman program record in the hammer throw, became the first female in program history to break 60 meters in the event in 2019 when she qualified for the NCAA Outdoor East Preliminary for the second-consecutive year.

That record was later eclipsed by Wheeler.

"Quiara, it's been a blessing having her come into the program," Dunn said. "We practice together every day so we are able to push each other and help each other. Even though we compete against each other, we both want each other to be the best that we can possibly be."

Dunn's selfless approach carries over to her non-athletic endeavors. She serves as a mentor to high school students through Young Life; is the president of the CMU Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; and is vice president of the athletic department's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

"I came in with big dreams, but also not knowing what was to come of it," Dunn said. "Everything I have gotten out of my experience here has exceeded my expectations 10 fold. I'm thankful for the athletic department, my coaches, my teammates and everything the university has given me.

"I've grown so much and I know I'm a stronger leader and a better person for having been a Central Michigan Chippewa."