Jackie could have given up and wallowed in self pity. She didn't.

She said she "didn't have time to be negative," and after rigorous rehabilitation she made her athletic comeback--as a wheelchair tennis player. But Jackie didn't just take on other wheelchair players--she won a place on the Presentation High School girls tennis team.

For her courageous efforts, Cimino won the top award presented at the REACH Youth Scholarship breakfast held last month at the San Jose Marriott. In all, $10,000 in scholarships were award to six Santa Clara County high school seniors, and Cimino claimed the top award of $2,500.

Brad Kompelien and Mallory Stein of Willow Glen High School, Mikaela Gillette of Presentation, Katie Peek of Santa Clara High and Katie Dee of Santa Teresa were other scholarship winners.

REACH--an acronym for Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard work--is a program of the San Jose Sports Authority. Ronnie Lott, an NFL Hall of Famer and former San Francisco 49er, was the honorary chairman for the event. San José State University basketball player Lamisha Augustine helped present the scholarships to the deserving athletes.

The students were nominated by their teachers, counselors or coaches. The nominees were asked to write essays about what role sports have played in their lives and the things they have had to overcome throughout their careers in school.

Cimino played her first tennis tournament just seven months after her accident. Just two years later she was part of the varsity tennis team at Presentation, competing with able-bodied players in doubles play.

She has traveled across the country to compete in tournaments and is ranked No. 10 in the nation in junior wheelchair tennis and fourth in the women's A division.

Cimino will attend the University of Arizona in the fall and continue wheelchair tennis.

Kompelien, who took home a $2,000 scholarship, was diagnosed with osteo sarcoma bone cancer, lost the lower half of his leg in the sixth grade and underwent 22 chemotherapy treatments.

Learning to walk again and then walk without a limp were incredibly difficult tasks, but when he reached high school he was determined to find a sport he could participate in. A friend suggested golf and though he had never played before, he tried out and made the team.

By his junior year he had become the No. 2 player on his team and helped them win the league championship.

Stein, the winner of a $1,750 scholarship, had hidden secrets about abuse she endured as a child and it wasn't until her junior year in high school that she was able to write about her experiences in an essay for an English class.

She found the strength to stand up in court and put her abuser in jail.

It was through field hockey and support from her mother that she was able to cope with her lack of self-confidence that was borne out of the ordeal.

Her mother died suddenly in January, but Stein still uses field hockey as an outlet in her life. She was captain of Willow Glen's varsity team last fall.

Gillette, who took home a $1,500 scholarship, developed a love and desire to be a softball pitcher after meeting Mike McCormick, a Cy Young award winner for the San Francisco Giants. She was part of a traveling team at 11 and played on the 17-year-old team at age 14, but was held back by an injury.

A bone deformation in her hip, coupled with the strain of softball, caused a tear in the labrum cartilage of her hip joint. After surgery that could have left her paralyzed, she returned to the diamond.

It was through months of physical therapy that she returned to her high school team, and was also made captain.

Peek who a $1,250 and Dee was awarded $1,000.

In all, there were 31 nominees for the award. Others included: Hassan Abdullahi and Hussein Abdullahi of Live Oak; Brijitti Crum, Cesar Misael Tirado and Jose Martinez of Eastside College Prep; Robert Deauville of Branham; Michelle Di Fiore of Gilroy; Desalegn Ejigu, Candace Nisby and Jenessa Lee Locklin of Santa Clara High; Nancy Gonzalez, Monica Sandoval and Esmeralda Rangel of Overfelt; Noelle Guiriba of Independence; Ally Ha and Julie Nguyen of Andrew Hill; Jeffrey Ly of Saratoga; Bryan Mai of Gunderson; Jennifer Navala and Melissa Norman of Santa Teresa; Edson Sanchez of San Jose Academy; Kristen Scheff of Westmont; Haruki Shimoda and Ashley Spelman of Fremont; and Jennifer Tran of Palo Alto.