South Ripley honors winter sports athletes with annual Winter Sports Awards Banquet

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

South Ripley honored their high school winter athletes at their annual Winter Sports Award Banquet on Tuesday, March 15. The teams honored were the varsity cheerleaders, varsity and reserve girls basketball and freshmen, reserve and varsity boys basketball teams. Each team honored their athletes and presented athletes who excelled in certain categories with awards.

Varsity Cheerleading

The varsity cheerleading team was coached by Tammy Hartman this past season. The were crowned the Pumpkin Show Cheerleading Champions for the third straight year. The squad was made up of Suzanne Elsen, Ashley Furlow, Bridgette Adams, Erica Burress, Sarah Hartman, Steph Miller, Casey Payne, Sheena Braley, Kelly Yocum, Kristen Jolly and Megan Krall.

Award winners were Casey Payne- Mental Attitude Award, Sheena Braley- Most Improved and Kristen Jolly- senior academic.

Boys Freshmen Basketball

Brad Samples was the coach of this year's boys freshmen team who finished the season with a record of 12-5. They were crowned as the ORVC Champions after winning the tournament at Milan this year. The team was made up of Justin Copeland, Nick Grider, Mitch Krall, Jake McConnell, Chris Miller, Kyle Patrick, BJ Sieverding, Russ Steinhauer and Trent Tucker. Anthony Gramaglia was the teams man
ager.

The freshmen team gives away just one award, which is the Mental Attitude Award. This years recipient of the award was Kyle Patrick.

Boys Reserve Basketball

This year's reserve boys basketball team finished the season with an overall record of 10-9 and a conference record of 4-2, which placed them in a three-way tie for second, under coach Kendall Sheets. The team was made up of Chandler Stearns, Jordan Hendrix, Tim Burcham, Erik Demaree, Alex Judy, Cory Yeomans, Wes Messer, Josh Cumberworth, Trent Tucker, BJ Sieverding, Chris Miller, Jake McConnell, Kyle Patrick and Russ Steinhauer.

Like the freshmen team the reserve team gives away just one award, the Mental Attitude Award. Trent Tucker was given this year's award.

Boys Varsity Basketball

This year's boys varsity basketball team was crowned as the ORVC Champions after finishing their season with a conference record of 5-1 and an overall record of 12-10 under coach Scott Holdsworth. This year's squad was made up of Michael Mathews, Tyler Ester, Chandler Stearns, Brandon Seabolt, Jacob Lemon, Tony Lloyd, AJ Phillippe, Michael Fear, Wes Messer, Neil Bolton, Trent Tucker and Erik Demaree. The managers were Tyler Hensley and Anthony Gramaglia. The statistician were made up of Erin Collier, Kristen Huss and Erica Pollard.

Three Raiders were named to this year's All-Conference including Tony
Lloyd, Tyler Ester and Michael Fear. Ester and Fear were also named to the All-County and Lloyd and Brandon Seabolt were named to the All-Sectional Team.

Award winners this year were Jacob Lemon- Mental Attitude and Senior Scholastic, Brandon Seabolt- Most Improved and Assist Award, Tony Lloyd- Rebounding Award, Michael Fear- Free-Throw Award and Michael Mathews- Defense Award.

Girls Reserve Basketball

Mark Downard was the coach of this year's reserve team, which finished the season with a record of 8-9 overall and 2-3 in the conference. Most of the players on the reserve team doubled as varsity players, with the exception of Amber Thompson. The rest of the reserve players, who played half and half, were Abbey Lemon, Josie Franklin, Beth Stratton, Eric Pollard, Bethany Vaughn, Ashley Thomas, Kellie Collier and Susannah Mann.

The reserve team gave away just the mental attitude award. This year Kellie Collier was presented with the award.

Girls Varsity Basketball

The varsity girls basketball team were crowned co-ORVC Champions with Southwestern after going 5-1 in conference play and 18-4 overall under coach Bill Snyder. The team set two new school records including Team Field Goal Percentage at 43.1% and Defensive Average holding their opponents to just 38 points per game.

This year's team was made up of Erin Collier, Abbey Lemon, Ciara McGuire, Kristen Huss, Beth Thie
man, Josie Franklin, Beth Stratton, Erica Pollard, Bethany Vaughn, Ashley Thomas, Julie Lipperd, Kellie Collier and Susannah Mann. The managers were Kelsey Cox and Audrey Ganahl and the statistician were Stephanie Miller and Molly Walls.

Four Raiders were named to the All-County Team including Kristen Huss who was the MVP, Erin Collier, Ciara McGuire and Julie Lipperd. Huss, Collier and Lipperd were also named to the All-Conference Team and Collier and Huss were selected to the All-Sectional Team. Collier and Lipperd were both named to the IBCA (Indiana Basketball Coaches Assoc.) District III All-Star Team as well as Coach Snyder who will be coach the team. Lipperd was also invited to the Top 40 Workout for a chance to be selected to the Indiana All-Star Team.

Several of the players broke individual records this past season. Kristen Huss set the free-throw percentage record at 87.8%. Ciara McGuire broke the single season steals record with 78 and Erin Collier broke the season assists record with 151 and the single game assists record with 15.

Award winners were Erin Collier- Mental Attitude, Assist Award and Senior Academic, Kristen Huss- Most Improved and Free-Throw Award, Julie Lipperd- Rebounding Award and Ciara McGuire- Defense Award. Lipperd was also give the Ripley Publishing Company's Girls Basketball Excellence Award.

South Ripley's junior high athletes honored at Winter Sports Awards Banquets

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

South Ripley recently honored their junior high winter sports athletes with an awards banquet held at the school. The teams honor were the seventh and eighth grade boys and girls basketball teams and the cheerleaders.

This year's seventh grade girls basketball team was coached by Greg Wehr. They finished the season with a record of 8-9.

The team was made up of Sealey Snyder, Rachel Yocum, Katie Landwehr, Sarah Webster, Kaitlyn Black, Kyla Sexton, Kelly Borter, Breanna Stratton, Whitney Hillstrand, Dakota Hardin, Hannah Carlock, Lakin Davis and Janelle Seabolt.

The eighth grade girls basketball team finished the season with a record of 9-8 under coach Ron Prosser.

The team was made up of Melanie Berry, Melinda Berry, Jackie Castner, Jordan Clements, Chelsea Durham, Katie Polly, Kaitlyn Williams, Taryn Garrett, Erica Ester, Jana Lloyd and Alex Snyder,

Bev Ester and Nancy Ester
were the sponsors of this year's seventh and eighth grade cheerleaders. The seventh grade squad was made up of Sara Mathes, Joy Asbury, Megan Myers, Kyla Sexton, Rachel Yocum and Angel Moore.

The eighth grade squad was made up of Chelsea Durham, Jordan Clements, Erica Ester, Jana Lloyd, Kristen McIntosh and Melinda Berry.

The seventh grade boys basketball team, under coach Ryan Lauber, finished the season with an outstanding record of 15-3.

The team was made up of Garin Collins, Abel Everage, Nick Grider, Jared Grossman, Zach Halcomb, Kile Huss, Steve Marksberry, Blake Snodgrass, Brian Thomas and Jacob Waldron.

Steve Snyder was the coach of this year's eighth grade boys basketball team, which finished the season with a record of 6-11.

This year's team was made up of Jordan Bodenburg, Eric Brewer, Kevin Gullion, Zachery Jines, Jared Keck, Seth Leonard, Seth Madden, Andy Miller, Shawn Shelton, Kevin Swinney, Thomas Welch and Otis Winter.