Alex Sternisha is April scholar athlete

GOWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A star athlete from Gowanda manages to play three sports while excelling in the classroom.

Gowanda High School's Alex Sternisha plays football, baseball, and basketball - all while maintaining a 98-point average in the classroom.

"I feel like when I go to class, I'm always really well prepared. That makes learning a lot easier; I'm really organized with my notes and everything. High school hasn't been too hard, I'd say, but I expect college to be more of a challenge," said Sternisha.

Math and computer science teacher James Reeves said, "He's the kind of kid you want. You're not too narrowly focused on your studies, you're well rounded, you have good social skills, and he always does what's asked. His work is always of high quality, it's neat, the kind of questions he asks shows that he obviously cares about the answers and how he's going to use this stuff in the real world. If I had my choice, I'd take a whole bunch of Alexes."

Sternisha said, "I feel like I'm a leader on the field and off the field. I was one of the guys over the summer who was always in the weight room, trying to get other guys there. Just trying to do a lot of stuff before the season to get ready. I made every practice, I was always the first guy there, just trying to help my teammates out with everything, and just make the team as good as possible."

Baseball coach Tim Smith said, "He's playing the three big sports. He's playing football, he's playing basketball and baseball. He's been an absolute great piece of the puzzle here at Gowanda for all three sports. He's really stepped into the role as a great student athlete, and he's finishing up his high school career with the baseball season. So hats off to Alex for what he's done."

He will attend Syracuse University next year.