Colfax athletic awards given at annual banquet

COLFAX — Two different athletes brought home a pair of major awards from the 2013 athletic banquet held in the Colfax High School gym April 24.

The banquet was sponsored by the Colfax Kiwanis Club and emceed by athletic director Wes Grambo.

 Brittany Rothbauer, a member of the cross country, basketball and track and field teams, won the Athlete of the Year award and Most Coachable Athlete award while Ethin Kiekhafer was named Most Valuable Player for both football and basketball.

Garrett Miller, a member of the cross country and track and field teams was the recipient of the Athlete of the Year award for the boys while Matthew Almquist, also a cross country and track and field competitor, collected the plaque for Most Coachable Athlete. The Athlete of the Year is chosen by members of the letter club while Most Coachable is selected by the coaches.

Spring sports coaches began the evening by introducing this year’s athletes and talking about the season that really hadn’t begun yet. They also mentioned team award winners from the 2012 season. Spring coaches include Vince Ross (golf), Ryan Krall and Jamie Buchholz (track and field), Joe Doucette (softball) and Tim Wilson (baseball).

After all spring coaches were presented a gift bag from the volleyball team that included sun glasses, a cap and sunblock which, according to volleyball coach Pam Meredith, would come in handy if they ever get outside and see the sun this spring, fall and winter sports awards were presented.

Meredith presented Chey Olson and Alexis Rudi with the Most Improved award, Dannielle Dachel with the Assist Leader award, Kori Buchanan earned the Kill Leader award and Ryleigh Prochnow was the MVP for the volleyball team.

Football awards distributed by coach Mark Maloney went to Ben Kragness for Lineman of the Year, Noah Pretasky was the Back of the Year, Trevor Secraw was named Top Defensive Player and Kiekhafer MVP.

Coach Doucette made his second appearance of the evening to hand out cross country awards. Courtney Dressel was named Most Improved and Dempsey Fogarty Most Valuable for the girls, while Jeremiah Harder was Most Improved, and Lachlan Hinwood was Most Valuable for the boys.

Cheerleading awards presented by a tearful Deb Berndt in her final year as advisor, were given to Sara Schmock for Most Improved, while Equality Wilson was the Outstanding Cheerleader for football and Abby Stone was Outstanding Cheerleader for basketball.

Vicki Seston handed out dance team awards to Sarah Burton for Most Improved, Whitney DeMoe, Best Showmanship and Samantha Nellessen and Ellie Verdon shared both the Most Valuable and Best Choreographer award.

Bloomer/Colfax wrestling coach Jim Poirer introduced the 10 wrestlers from Colfax who are a part of the team and named Brady Simonson as the team MVP. Simonson is the first freshman from Colfax to qualify for the state tournament.

For boys basketball, Andy Meade gave the Best Defensive Player award to Sawyer DeMoe, Cody Zivcic was Most Improved, Lane Olson earned the Top Rebounder award and Kiekhafer the MVP. Zivcic plans to continue his basketball career at UW-Barron County while Olson will play at UM-Duluth.

Doucette made his third appearance for girls basketball awards. Prochnow was the Best Defensive Player, Dachel was Most Improved, Braanna Steen Top Rebounder and Hannah Hover and Mallie Doucette shared the MVP award.

The evening culminated with Grambo presenting Donna Cook with the Loyal Fan award. The recipient of this award is chosen by Colfax coaches and administrators and presented each year to a fan who attends most of the athletic events and displays good sportsmanship towards players, coaches and officials.

The 2012 spring awards were as follows:

Girls track: MVP Running: Hover, MVP Field Events: Heidi Lieffort, Most Improved: Emily Halpin

Boys track: MVP Running: Miller, MVP Field Events: Ted Marris, Most Improved: Secraw

Softball: MVP: Samantha Yolitz, Leading Hitter Kelsey Beranek

Baseball: MVP and Leading Hitter: Dalton Knutson

Golf: MVP: Clay Olson, Most Improved: Dillon Lloyd