York AD lauds athletes at fall awards ceremony

York Comprehensive High School Athletic Director Steve Boyd paid tribute to athletes and their academic performance after the school’s fall sports awards ceremony.

“We’ve got a lot of kids participating in sports,” said Boyd. “We’ve got a great coaching staff. This year, we added another team to our athletic program — the competitive cheer squad. It’s exciting to see more kids participating every year.”

Added Boyd: “If I had it my way, I would require every kid in the school to participate somewhere in athletics. We’ve got about 600 kids that do participate in athletics.”

Boyd said Cougar coaches place much emphasis on classroom achievement.

“We check grades about every four and a half weeks,” he said. “We have a grade point ratio from the clearing house that we do every semester. Once these kids enter the ninth grade, our coaches do a good job standing behind them.”

Said Boyd: “We’ve got a great staff teaching them. Our teacher have study hall at 8 o’clock in the morning. Our athletes and all of our students can go to study hall for 30 minutes and get some extra help. They help them in the afternoon after school.”

The following recipients were recognized:

▪  Girls’ cross country: Most Improved Runner, Angie Mendoza; Most Valuable Runner, Mariah Craig; Coach’s Award, Michelle Long; and Hardest Worker, Victoria Burgess.

▪  Boys’ cross country: Most Improved Runner, Gunner Ashford; Most Valuable Runner, Matt Smarr, Tyler Jackson; Coach’s Award, Parker Mumaw; and Hardest Worker, Caleb Parker.

▪  Girls’ golf: Most Improved, Liza Tolson; Most Valuable, Sarah Smith, all-region; Coach’s Award, Amiyah Starnes, all region; and Coach’s Award, Tori Thompson.

▪  Junior varsity cheer: Most spirited, Skyler Leary; and Highest GPA, Kaicee Thomasson.

▪ Varsity cheer: Most Spirited, Taylor Gray; and Highest GPA, Keirra Steele.

▪  Competitive cheer: Most Dedicated, Payton Greer; and Coach’s Award, Kaicee Thomasson. All-Region: Kinleigh Wilkerson.

▪  Girls’ swim: Most Improved Swimmer, Jessie Durflinger; Most Valuable Swimmer, Jessica Myers, all-region; Cougar Pride Award, Ariel Prescott; and Team Dedication award, Mackenzie Laskey.

▪  Boys’ swim: Most Improved Swimmer, Orion Griffin; Most Improved Swimmer, Corban Jones; and Most Valuable Swimmer, Seth Miller.

▪  Girls’ tennis: Most Improved, Madison Cummings; Cougar Pride, Emma Patterson; Hustle Award, McKenzie Bailey; and Coach’s Award, Heather Bomar.

▪  Junior varsity volleyball: Most Improved Player, Olivia Calder; Most Valuable Player, Natalee Graham; and Coach’s Award, Katherine Spires.

▪  Varsity volleyball: Most Improved Player, Ashlyn Adams; Cougar Pride, Chelsea Love; Academic Award, Danielle Campos; Most Valuable Player, Madison Kuczler; and Coach’s Award, Alexis Chickoree.

▪  Student athletic trainer: Extra Mile Award, Caroline Whetstine.

Refreshments were served in the school cafeteria compliments of York Comprehensive High School Athletic Booster Club.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 5:57 PM with the headline "York AD lauds athletes at fall awards ceremony."