Post-season honors to Hailey cage teams
Wood River High School varsity basketball teams celebrated their 2008-09 seasons recently with Great Basin West Conference All-League honors and awards at team banquets.
Senior Bryan Tidwell and freshman Kaitana Martinez received prestigious first-team All-Great Basin honors after the March 9 league meeting. Here are other awards:
WRHS boys' basketball
All-Great Basin West first team: Kameron Pearce and Kevin Williams (Jerome); Kyle Hepworth (Burley); Bryan Tidwell (WR); and Coltin Johnson (Minico).
Second team: Gus Callen (Jerome); Bill Blauer (Burley); Kevin Jurgensmeier (Minico); Michale Brunker (WR); and Mark Leon (Minico).
Honorable mention: A.J. Hunter and Karch Hinckley (Burley); Tyson Crane (Minico); Greg Wakefield (WR); and Shad Hubsmith (Minico).
"Player of the Year": Logan Parker (Jerome). "Coach of the Year": Joe Messick (Jerome).
Awards from the team banquet presented by coach John Radford and his staff March 10 were:
"Hustle and Gut": Team captain
Bryan Tidwell, leading scorer, rebounder, assists and taking charges. "Sharpshooter": Michale Brunker. "Steady Eddie": Team captain Greg Wakefield. "Red Bull Energy Award": Sean Bunce.
"Late Bloomer": Brent Hope. "Team Award": Juan Martinez. "Pinball Award": Keven Abbott.
Junior varsity awards were:
"Dedication Award": William McCarthy. "Pepto Bismol": Luis Chavez. "Most Improved": James Paris. "Kobe Bryant Team Leadership": Isaiah Garza. "Schwarzenegger Strongman Award": James Williams. "Hustle Award": Alex Padilla. "3-point shooting": Stone Sutton. "Defensive Award": Kevin Jensen.
Freshman awards were:
Leading scorer and rebounder: Quentin Dowdle. "Commitment Award": Julio Ortega. "Bruiser Award": Dustin Rutkowski. "Most Improved": Jake Vegwert. "Defensive Player Award": Braxton Parish.
WRHS girls' basketball
All-Great Basin West first team: Aubree Callen and Carrie Thibault (Jerome); Brecka Fetzer (Minico); and Kaitana Martinez (WR).
Second team: Teresa Wayment (Burley); Lacie Garner and Kendra Bailey (Minico); Tinley Garey and Jordan Hollifield (Jerome).
"Player of the Year": Kassi Kerbs (Burley). "Coach of the Year": Brent Clark (Jerome).
Awards from the Wolverine girls' team banquet presented by coach Mendy Benson Feb. 18 were:
Most Inspirational: Samantha Engel. Most Improved: Angela Coleman. Best Defensive Player: Grace Lagodich. Coaches' Award: Kaitana Martinez.
Hockey seasons saluted at SVYH banquet
Nearly 500 people and swarms of energetic youngsters crammed into the Wood River High School commons area Wednesday for the annual Sun Valley Youth Hockey Association season-ending awards banquet.
Highlight was the presentation of the first Mark Hutchison Memorial Scholarship Award given to the non-senior class player on either the Midget (ages 15-18), Bantam (13-14) or Girls' 19-and-under hockey teams.
Presenter Bobby Noyes, a good friend of Hutchison and his teammate on Rusty Blades men's hockey teams, said, "The award is given in memory of Mark, who best exemplified the spirit and enjoyment of hockey.
"Love of the game, passion, humor, effort and fair play are qualities that friends, family and teammates mention when they think of Mark—who passed away a year ago while playing hockey. He is remembered for fine attributes on and off the ice."
Noyes congratulated Wood River High School junior and Girls' 19-and-under captain Ashley Hesteness as recipient of the Hutchison $500 tuition scholarship for the 2009-10 Sun Valley season. Hesteness led her team comprised of 12-18 year olds to its third straight winning season and a state tournament championship.
Wednesday's awards banquet was organized by Kelly Martin and emceed by youth hockey board member Nicole Perkins. Other awards:
Awarded for the first time was a $500 graduating senior award for a Sun Valley Youth Hockey member with a minimum of eight years with the program and a 3.0 GPA or higher. Sharing the 2009 award and taking $250 grants each were Devan Annan and David Dredge.
Head coach Dave Hennessy introduced his Girls 19-and-under state championship team (10-9-6) that outscored its opponents 76-62 and had a lopsided 630-357 advantage in shots. Leading scorers were captain Hesteness (21 points), Tanner Dredge (18) and two-year assistant captain Aimee Evans (16).
Awards given at the team banquet March 8 were: Most Inspirational—Aimee Evans. Comeback Award—Devan Annan. Coaches' Award—Ashley Hesteness. Rookies of the Year—Allison Fluetsch and Camille Bourret. Most Improved—Kelly Hennessy. Hat Tricks—Devan Annan, Tanner Dredge, Maddie Miller and Nellie Brown. Playmaker—Ellie Swanson. Shutouts—Emma Wilander and Gina Rickling.
Coach Andrew Hebert's Midget team (21-20-1) played second in state competition. Goalies Cassidy Carson (892 shots, 762 saves) and Cody Levitan (112 shots/97 saves) were between the pipes. Scorers included:
Morgan Pike 33 goals-16 assists for 49 points; Jimmy Hague 19-13 for 32; Ian Murphy 13-17 for 30; Douglas King 14-14 for 28; Tommy Heinrich 15-11 for 26; Neils McMahon 10-16 for 26; David Dredge 12-12 for 24; Latner Straley 7-15 for 22; Charlie Evans 7-9 for 16; Nick Crosby 5-8 for 13; Chance McCroskey 3-10 for 13; Alexander MacMillan 6-7 for 13; Anthony Martin 5-4 for 9; and Zak Sjoberg 3-5 for 8.
Coaches of five other SVYH teams stepped up and talked about their seasons, including Mini Mites (ages 5-6) coach Wendy Speth, who said the 46 kids in her program was the most in SVYH history.
Other coaches speaking were Tim Jeneson of the Bantams, Ryan Enrico of the PeeWees (ages 11-12), Pete Prekeges of the Squirts (9-10) and Phil Hebert of the Mitey Mites (7-8).
In other banquet news: Bill Mason received a plaque for 13 years of contributions on the junior hockey board; and current board president Mike Hanley is stepping down, to be replaced by Pat McMahon.
Youth hockey board members besides Mason, Hanley and McMahon are Carolina Stevens, Rich Evans, Johnny Galgano, Dave Hutchinson, Kathy Carson, Kelly Martin, John Heinrich, Nicole Perkins and John Miller.
