Jamie (McFadden) Seniuk is still coming to terms with the fact that she’s being inducted into the Barton College Athletics Hall of Fame, and perhaps one reason for that is that she never saw herself in that light.

For her, the first half of the term student-athlete was always more important than the second.

“Academics were always a big focus for me because I knew at the end of the day, that was what was going to help me in my future,” Seniuk said. “Sports were just a way of getting there. But I knew academics was where I had to stand out. I was really driven to do well in school.”

In the classroom, Seniuk was spectacularly successful. She graduated summa cum laude from Barton with a degree in physical education and received numerous on-campus awards, including the 2004 Coggins Cup, which is presented to the best all-around student at Barton.

That same year, she became just the second Barton College student-athlete (and still most recent) to receive Conference Carolinas’ highest honor, the Murphy Osborne Award, which is presented to the league’s top student-athlete based on academic, athletic and leadership accomplishments.

“I felt like this was just something I should be doing the whole time,” Seniuk said. “I felt like I should be working hard, so to get recognition of the hard work I was putting in for academics was very humbling.”

That same drive carried over to the athletic courts, where she carved out an outstanding career in volleyball and basketball through her work ethic, intelligence and commitment.

“I think my internal desire to be the best athlete that I could be was probably one of my biggest assets,” she said. “Even in practice, coach would probably attest, I would go 100 percent all the time. I wanted to learn everything I could. I wanted to get better in every aspect. I wanted to push my teammates. It was instilled very early in my life by my parents to always give 100 percent, no matter what you’re doing, even if it’s at practice. For me, that was probably the thing that set me apart from other people.”

Volleyball was Seniuk’s strongest sport. She was one of the top setters and servers in the conference each year, and helped Barton to 18 wins or more in three of her four seasons with the team.

She completed her career as the school’s NCAA Division II era record holder for assists (3,717) by a wide margin (more than a thousand), and she ranks second in career service aces with 217.

“Jamie had tremendous experience coming out of Canada and a very good program there,” said her Barton coach, Wendee Saintsing. “She was very advanced with her technique and her knowledge, which really helped us develop our volleyball team during that time.

“I could always depend on her to make the right decision, to be in the right place. I didn’t have to tell her a lot as far as what hitters to look at. She understood where the ball needed to be and how to get it there for them to be able to hit it. Defensively, she understood positioning and where she needed to be. She was just a stellar player out on the court and a good team leader.”

In basketball, Seniuk was a significant role player for a program that averaged better than 17 wins per season over her career.

“She brought the same intensity and focus to practice and attention to detail that she did with volleyball,” Saintsing said. “She played a pretty big role in the success of those basketball teams as well. She was a pretty good shooter, good passer, good defender, understood the game. Maybe not quite as athletic as some other kids on the team, but her attention to detail and her focus and her intensity made up for her lack of athletic ability – speed, particularly – as far as basketball was concerned.”

For one season, her sophomore campaign, Seniuk even added a third sport – softball – to her workload.“I kind of just felt – and it’s crazy because I don’t even know why I felt this way – but I was almost bored in the spring because I wasn’t doing anything (athletically),” Seniuk said. “I was used to going to practices and going to tournaments and going to games, and I didn’t know what to do with actually having time off. So I thought to myself, OK, well I’m pretty decent at softball, maybe coach (Sheryl) Neff would want me to play.

“I did play my sophomore year, and by the end of that season I realized that I really need to take that break in the spring and actually rest my body and recuperate for the next year.  … But that season made me become extremely good at time management for academics.

“Every time we were traveling, I was doing work on the bus. That’s just the time I had to use.”

Seniuk capped her Barton career with a terrific senior season. In volleyball, she earned all-conference honors while helping the Lady Bulldogs to a school-record 25 wins and the program’s first NCAA regional ranking. In basketball, she was part of a team that won a Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference regular-season title with an 18-2 mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament with a 24-6 overall ledger.

“It was an amazing year to end my career. It was great to be part of two teams that were very passionate and very dedicated. … I felt like I had nothing to lose and wanted to  give everything I had my final year. Not that I didn’t before, but you know it’s coming to an end.”

Her success both on and off the court throughout her career was crystallized that year with her selection as a Third-Team Academic All-American in volleyball.

“Being a two-sport athlete and being able to hold the standards that she did was definitely a credit to her and what she was here for,” Saintsing said.