SureWest Sports Show Names Athletes of the Year Award Winners

ROSEVILLE, Calif., May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) today announced the third annual SureWest Sports Show Athletes of the Year recipients. Winners selected for the 2010-11 season were:

• Belle Obert (Del Oro): SureWest Sports Show Female Athlete of the Year
• Kyle Howarth (Granite Bay): SureWest Sports Show Male Athlete of the Year

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050908/SFSUREWESTLOGO)

The SureWest Sports Show is the only Sacramento area program to spotlight local youth and high school sports featuring the latest news and analysis. New 30-minute episodes can be viewed every Tuesday online at surewestsports.com. Fans can view archived shows, sign up for Twitter alerts, join the Facebook page and find out where the show will be next at surewestsports.com.

Highlights and interviews with the Athlete of the Year award winners will premiere on the May 24, 2011 episode.

Belle Obert was captain for the Del Oro High School girl's varsity volleyball program and was named co-MVP of the Sierra Foothill League, First Team All-Metro and MaxPreps Second Team All-State. She helped lead the Golden Eagles to the CIF Division II Semi-Finals. Obert also played basketball for Del Oro, helping them capture the Sierra Foothill League title for the seventh consecutive year. As team captain, Obert was also selected league co-MVP, First Team All-League and First Team All-Metro while leading the team to both the Division II and NorCal championship basketball games. Furthermore, she was chosen to participate in the highly regarded Optimist All-Star game for both volleyball and basketball. Outside of athletics, Obert held a 4.2 GPA and was involved in community programs such as "Crutches to Haiti" and "Soles 4 Souls." She will attend Butler University this spring on a volleyball scholarship.

"Belle was a great leader for our volleyball team, both on and off the court," said Del Oro Girl's Volleyball Head Coach Stuart Kageta. "She has amazing concentration on the court and made positive things happen no matter what the circumstance."

Kyle Howarth was a First Team All-League selection in three sports at Granite Bay High School in 2010-11. In soccer, he earned First Team All-League honors for the third consecutive year and helped lead the Grizzlies to a #5 national ranking as they captured the Sierra Foothill League Championship and Division II CIF Championship. Howarth also excelled in basketball, leading the Sierra Foothill League with 8.6 rebounds while averaging 8.4 points. Lastly, Howarth shined in volleyball, leading the Grizzlies to the SFL co-league championship as the team's Offensive MVP. In the classroom, Howarth held a 4.2 GPA and will attend the University of Davis as a pre-med student.

"Kyle Howarth is an outstanding young man, and in all my years of coaching, I have never come across a better all-around athlete, student and person," said Granite Bay Boy's Volleyball Head Coach Bruce Honberger. "He exemplifies the student athlete."

About SureWest

SureWest Communications (www.surewest.com) is a leading integrated communications provider and the bandwidth leader in the markets it serves. Headquartered in Northern California for more than 95 years, SureWest offers bundled residential and commercial services in the greater Sacramento and Kansas City regions that include IP-based digital and high-definition television, high-speed Internet, Voice over IP, and local and long distance telephone. SureWest was the nation's first provider to launch residential HDTV over an IP network and offers one of the nation's fastest symmetrical Internet services with speeds of up to 50 Mbps in each direction on its fiber-to-the-home network.

Contact:
Ron Rogers
Corporate Communications
916-746-3123
[email protected]

SOURCE SureWest Communications