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UCHS awards ceremony honors fall athletes
The first presentations were made by Paige Pope, coach of the football and competitive cheerleading squad. Most athletic award: Mehgan Stepp. Coach Paige Pope said: "I chose the girl who, during cheerleading warmups, pushed herself to be first, and continually tried to improve her conditioning and her abilities. I never caught her cheating during two minute conditioning, and that's a big thing." Most spirited award: Courtney Burrell. "I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said, 'I love Courtney.' She would work any place I asked her to work with a beautiful smile on her face. She had the most enthusiastic, 'We can do this' attitude of anyone I have ever met and I feel fortunate to have been able to meet her and get to know her this year." Coach's award: Leila Partin. She is the only four-year member of the squad and she was part of the squad that worked to get com- petition cheerleading in Union County. "She helped me make the tough decisions this year," Coach Pope said. "She has learned this year as captain, that leadership is not always glamorous, nor is it easy."
"These kids ran over 300 miles between August and November," Coach Hughes said. "These athletes have devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort and its about time we did a little bragging on them." Leadership awards: T.J. Burgess, Ian Thomas, and Jasmin Gonzalez. "I feel that leadership in a team is absolutely essential," Coach Hughes said. "It creates an atmosphere where everybody wants to give their best. The winners this year did that, and more." Most improved runners [girls]: Monica Garcia and Katy Browning. "Because we had so many new runners this season there was a lot of improvement between the first race and the last," Coach Hughes said. "[Monica] took over 8 minutes off her time from the first race to the last. [Katy] took over 5 minutes off of her time during the season."
Coach's awards: Hannah Dohogne and Bo Kelley. "On every team there seems to be those players that do everything right and contribute to the team, but just don't receive [as much recognition,]" Coach Hughes said. "Both of them are really good runners and stepped up towards the end of the season. Both of also had to deal with leg problems but fought through it down the stretch." Overall fastest award [girls]: Emma Krier. "She finished first for the team in 10 out of our 12 races and in the region meet she came in sixth out of 56 runners," Coach Hughes said. "I am looking forward to seeing what she is going to do next year."
Coach Jessica Stewart followed with the honors for the 2006 Lady Panthers softball team, which she led to a fifth place finish in the state in her first year as head coach. Defensive award [infield]: Brooklyn Swartz. "This is somebody who is very respected by her teammates," Coach Stewart said. "She is very consistent and very coachable." Defensive award [outfield]: Brittany Massey-Lentz. "This is someone that made amazing catches in the outfield, both in the games and in practice," Coach Hughes said. Offensive award: Jess Seabolt. "She was the most consistent hitter and probably one of the most athletic girls on this softball team," Coach Stewart said. "In the state tournament she hit her first homerun off one of the best pitchers in the state." Hustle award: Dana Seabolt. "Every coach desires this type of player. They come to practice with a great attitude and are very coachable. She was always striving to become a better softball player."
Most Valuable Player: April Harper. "It takes nine girls for softball team, but I felt like this was appropriate this year," Coach Stewart said. "She carried us through many games. She always came through and is a very intense competitor. She has unbelievable talent and she was named to second team allstate." Last but not least, Head Coach Todd Peugh presented the Panthers varsity football awards. "It is nice having over 50 players," Coach Peugh said. "This is the first time since I've been here that we have had a jv team. I knew when I took the job that this wasn't going to be something that was turned around overnight, but there were strides made this year." Offensive award: Chris Tanner. "He's a great young man and an asset to our program," Coach C.T. Hussion said. "We expect big things out of him next year."
Special teams award: Michael Akins. "This young man did a tremendous job for us this year," Coach Danny Brown said. Academic award: Robert Heider. "Football is not always known for its academics," joked Coach Donahue. "But he excelled on the football field and in the classroom." Iron Panther award: Josh Payne. "This young man worked hard every summer and is a good example of what a young man should be," Coach Byers said. Coach's award: Josh Adkinson. "He was always going 100 mph on both sides of the ball," Coach Peugh said. "He really wants to win and it shows in everything he does."
Manager of the year: "H20" Kyle Harris. "This young man means a lot to the program," Coach Peugh said. "He can have this job as long as he wants to do this." Coach Peugh also provided each of the eight Panthers seniors with their own framed jersey to go along with their plaques.
This year's seniors were Brett Bridges, Cody Graham, Carson Carter, Taylor Neely, Josh Payne, David Brown, Kody Owenby, and Matt Schmidt.
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