Receiving special awards and honors at Crothersville’s spring sports awards program were, front from left, Ella Plasse, Kennadi Lakins, Karley Gillis and Kaylyn Holman; back row are Andrew Stainbrook, Dirk Crater, Logen O’Sullivan, Lucas Hilton and Matthew Clouse.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Senior athletes were honored, members of the baseball, golf and track teams were recognized and two former Crothersville athletes were inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame when the school held its spring sports awards program at Crothersville First Baptist Church last week.
Middle school track athletes also were honored.
Ella Plasse was the recipient of the coaches/principal award. This award was voted on by the varsity coaches and administration personnel. It was voted according to sportsmanship, coach ability and the individual’s ability to be a good teammate.
Plasse played volleyball and basketball, ran cross-country and track and was a cheerleader. She was the Southern Athletic Conference champion in the 3200 and finished third in the 1600 in the meet at Borden this spring.
Kennadi Lakins and Kaylyn Holman were named co-most outstanding senior athletes.
That award is presented to the top two athletes in the senior class, either boy or girl, that have been nominated by the athletic council. They must have obtained at least six varsity letters in a minimum of two sports and accumulated at least 600 points by the above standards.
Lakins played volleyball and basketball, ran cross-country and track and was a cheerleader. She also was academic all-state in track.
She won the high jump and long jump and finished second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 at the SAC meet. She has made an all-county team at least twice in her career. She made it to regional at least two years.
Holman won the 800 and the 1600 at the SAC meet. She advanced to regional twice in cross-country and also made all-county teams twice
The Crothersville girls placed second to Borden in the SAC.
Girls track coach Marc Bowman announced Plasse as the outstanding runner, Lakins as the outstanding field events person, Karley Gillis as the Tiger Mental Attitude winner and Pearl Shirley as the most improved athlete.
Bowman said there were eight girls on the team and they had a record of 12-5, and their highlight was winning five events at the SAC and finishing second in the team standings.
Other seniors on the team were Kiarra Lakins, Gillis and Kaylee Caudill.
“These seniors have been with me since sixth grade,” Bowman said.
Boys track coach Carl Bowman said he couldn’t get any upperclassmen to come out for his team.
“We started practice with six freshmen,” he said. “By the first meet, we were down to three, and we finished with two.”
Both of them received two awards with Dirk Crater receiving the most improved and most outstanding runner trophies, while Corey Reynolds received the outstanding field events and mental attitude awards.
Baseball coach Eric Hilton introduced members of his team and his assistant coaches. He said the Tigers showed a lot of improvement from the beginning of the season, and they won their first game (against an IHSAA school since 2018) when they beat Rock Creek Academy 14-4 on May 12.
Logen O’Sullivan received the mental attitude award, Ian Tatlock was the recipient of the batting trophy, Crater was named the most improved player, Matthew Clouse received the pitching award and Lucas Hilton was named most valuable.
Hilton set a modern season strikeout record for fanning 63 batters this spring. He pitched 32 innings, batted .275 and had 32 stolen bases.
Crater had five hits and seven RBI, O’Sullivan had a .866 defensive percentage and scored 10 runs, Clouse pitched 30.1 innings and had 28 strikeouts and Tatlock batted .205 and had eight RBI.
The Tigers had a record of 1-20. Coach Hilton said they had 34 more hits than they did a year ago.
“It was a fun learning year,” he said, and mentioned Clouse and Tatlock were the only two seniors on the sectional team and he expects more improvement next spring.
O’Sullivan and Clouse were named to the all-sectional team.
Golf coach Jacob Dunn introduced Clouse and Andrew Stainbrook. He presented Clouse with a senior award and said he was the team’s medalist and co-winner of the mental attitude award with Stainbrook, and Stainbrook was named most improved.
Dunn, who is also the athletic director at the school, presented Rita Cook a sportsmanship pin for all of the years she has helped with the CHS athletic program. She helped coach the baseball team this spring and has helped with volleyball and girls basketball over the years.
Andrew Nehrt and the late Danny Wright were inducted into the Crothersville High School athletic hall of fame.
Middle school awards for girls track: Grace Smith won most outstanding runner, Hayden Pilgrim won most outstanding field events and Emma Kelly won most improved athlete.
For boys track, Josh Reynolds won most outstanding runner, Kaleb Moeller won most outstanding field events and Koby Davis won most improved athlete.