Courtesy: USATF

After a nationwide search, Wheaties Energy Crunch cereal has chosen to put marathoner and triathlete Marie Bartoletti of Finleyville, Pa., on the front of its cereal boxes. Energy Crunch bills itself as the "Breakfast of Everyday Champions," and so it conducted a nationwide search to find the local athletes who would appear on its boxes.

Bartoletti is an elementary school teacher and mother of two who has played in the national USTA tennis finals and enters many road races and triathlons. She has raised funds for leukemia through the Team in Training program and established a jump-rope competition at her school that raised more than $35,000 for the American Heart Association.

Five additional "everyday champions" have their pictures and stories on the back of the Energy Crunch box. Three of these -- Cherie Gruenfeld Blue Jay, Calif., Doug Ulman of Austin, Texas, and Liz Sponagle of Santa Fe, N.M., -- are also marathoners. Another 44 local athletes, one from each state, are listed on the side of the box.

The winners were selected from more than 10,000 nominees across the country. Bartoletti won $5000, plus a $25,000 contribution from Wheaties Energy Crunch to the charity of her choice.