Kwan, Prior, Webb among Sullivan finalists

ORLANDO, Fla., March 12 (UPI) -- Figure skater Michelle Kwan, Chicago Cubs prospect Mark Prior and track sensation Alan Webb were named among five finalists for the Sullivan Award Tuesday.

Also named finalists for the prestigious amateur sports honor were University of Calfornia swimmer Natalie Coughlin and gymnast Sean Townsend.

The Sullivan Award honors AAU founder James Sullivan and is given to the athlete who best exemplifies the qualities of leadership, character, sportsmanship and the ideals of amateurism.

The 2002 winner will be named on April 9. The New York Athletic Club will host the presentation for the first time.

A four-time world champion, Kwan has been the darling of the figure skating world for the better part of a decade. She may have ended her amateur career at the Winter Olympics, where she settled for a bronze medal.

Prior was the second overall pick in the major league draft and winner of USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award last year after finishing an extraordinary college career at Southern California.

Webb made history at the new Balance Games by becoming the first American high school athlete to run an indoor mile under four minutes, turning in a time of 3 minutes, 59.86 seconds.

Over a five-day span, Coughlin won nine events. She also broke two world records, two American marks and six meet records in butterfly, backstroke and freestyle.

Townsend won the 2001 World Championship in parallel bars and helped the United States to its first-ever team silver medal.

A 700-member panel of AAU board members, U.S. Olympic Committee members, the AAU Sullivan Committee, past winners and select members of the media vote for the winner.

Past recipients include wrestler Rulon Gardner (2001), NFL star Peyton Manning (1997), speed skaters Dan Jansen (1994) and swimmer Janet Evans (1989), former major league pitcher Jim Abbott (1987) and basketball star Bill Bradley (1965).