Winter sports awards night highlights successful athletes

The 2008 Blair winter sports awards ceremony was held tonight in the auditorium. The event recognized 215 winter athletes from seven sports, and several of those were honored with special awards presented by their coaches for athleticism, academic integrity and overall attitude.

The night began with a brief speech from athletic director Dale Miller, who thanked this season's parent volunteers and student athletes. Mary Pelz of the Blair Athletic Boosters followed Miller with more praise directed to the volunteers that helped the winter sports season run smoothly. After the opening comments, Principal Darryl Williams handed out the 26 patches recognizing Distinguished Student Athletes - those with a 4.0 grade point average (GPA). Overall, 123 out of the total 215 athletes were commended for achieving GPAs of 3.25 or higher.

Cheerleading coach Roxanne Fus began the team awards portion of the night. After talking briefly about their season, each coach presented awards for Most Improved (MI), Coaches' Award (CA), Outstanding Senior (OS) and Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Cheerleading

MI - Jessie Harrelson
CA - Annie Holt
OS - Morgan Nixon
MVP - Jessica Arce

Poms

MI - Rose and Julia Wynn
CA - Janine Charlery
OS - Amanda Ruiz
MVP - Jillian Granados

Swim and Dive

MI Girls - Allison Arai
MI Boys - Michael Willems
CA Girls - Melissa Mergner
CA Boys - Christoff Visscher
OS Girls - Franny Blume
OS Boys - Eddie Qian
MVP Girls - Melanie Snail
MVP Boys - Yang Yang

Junior Varsity Wrestling

MI - Jeff Garcia
CA - Emmanuel Ramirez
MVP - Johni Meeks

Varsity Wrestling

MI - Kekura Musa
CA - Mark Goodman
OS - Phine Ulysse
MVP - Bereket Kebede

Junior Varsity Boys' Basketball

MI - Pape Koite
CA - Cooper Neimand
MVP - Josh Kickenson

Varsity Boys' Basketball

MI - Eddie Kolleh
CA - Milton Colquehoun
OS - Issy Melton
MVP - Mike McClain

Junior Varsity Girls' Basketball

MI - Tamar Murray
CA - Hanan Ahmed
MVP - Emily Hedrick

Varsity Girls' Basketball

MI - Saba Aregai
CA - Meghan Cadigan
OS - Christina Mullen
MVP - Kalisha Holmes

Indoor Track

MI Girls - Rachita Sood
MI Boys - Chris Grindley
CA Girls - Dorcas Olawuni
CA Boys - Nilan Schnure
OS Girls - Johanna Gretschel
OS Boys - Nilan Schnure
MVP Girls - Johanna Gretschel
MVP Boys - Johnathan Haughton