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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (June 14, 2017)
Sports B1 Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com Wednesday, June 14, 2017 PHOTOS BY ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL Silverton’s Paige Alexander walks to accept her award for female soccer player of the year. THE BEST OF THE BEST High school athletes honored at Statesman Journal awards Kennedy’s Bishop Mitchell walks to the stage to accept his award for Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year during the Statesman Journal Sports Awards. PETE MARTINI STATESMAN JOURNAL West Salem High School was the big winner June 6, capturing 10 awards at the Statesman Journal Sports Awards, including the Capitol Cup for the second year in a row. The top high school athletes in the Sa- lem area gathered at the Salem Conven- tion Center to celebrate all of the sacri- fice, hard work and accomplishments during the 2016-17 school year, with soc- cer legend Mia Hamm sharing stories about her career and offering inspira- tion as the guest speaker. One of Hamm’s messages to the atten- tive audience was about the opportuni- ties that female athletes have today, compared to the past. “A number of young girls are getting the opportunity to play,” Hamm told the crowd. “And the other thing I see is a tre- mendous amount of camaraderie and kinship with their male counterpart ath- letes, and I think that’s an important part.” Many of the athletes in the audience are either currently going through the college recruiting process, or just com- pleted the process. “It seems like it’s much more intense now than when I was going through the process, and it seems like it’s getting younger and younger,” Hamm said. “For me, one of the criteria in terms of where I wanted to go to school is that I really had to love it without soccer. Does it fit your needs academically? And hopefully they have a good sounding board that they can bounce things off — whether it’s a school counselor, a parent, a coach, a Silverton’s Maggie Buckholz takes the stage to accept her award for Softball Player of the Year during the Statesman Journal Sports Awards with soccer star Mia Hamm at the Salem Convention Center on June 6. club coach — that can really help them navigate these waters.” Awards were given to the top athlete in each of the 19 OSAA sports, as well as five community awards and five overall awards. The Titans took home nine of the 19 awards for specific sports, as well as the Capitol Cup, which was awarded to the best sports school for the 2016-17 year. Four of West Salem’s athletes were re- peat winners — Ahmed Muhumed (boys cross country), Paige Whipple (volley- ball), Micah Masei (boys swimming) and Andrew Eyre (boys golf). “Today actually was my last day of high school and there were two different feelings,” said Muhumed, a senior who will compete at Boise State at the college level. “The first is, ‘I am done.’ And the second was, ‘wow, I am done.’ Looking ahead, I’m just going to work hard and get better. I’m just really blessed to be part of a team and a program that has ac- tually helped me a lot in my daily life and athletic life.” Other repeat winners included Sprague’s Logan Blair, who this year shared the boys tennis award with his younger brother and doubles team part- ner, Judd, as well as Silverton softball player Maggie Buckholz, South Salem girls golfer Ellie Slama and South Salem girls basketball player Evina Westbrook. Westbrook, who is going to play col- lege basketball at Tennessee, also re- peated as overall female athlete of the year. After winning state championships as a sophomore and junior, Westbrook helped the Saxons place third this year at the OSAA Class 6A girls basketball tour- nament. Dallas athlete Tanner Earhart, who won the football player of the year award, also was honored as the top over- all male athlete of the year. Earhart, who will play college football and baseball at Linfield, was the Class 5A state offensive player of the year in football, a wrestling state champion at 160 pounds, and helped the Dragons reach the state quarterfi- nals in baseball. Ron Hittner, who guided the Blanchet girls basketball team to the OSAA Class 3A state championship, won the coach of the year award. South Salem’s Kaitlyn Paluska was awarded as the Scholar Athlete, which comes with a $5,000 scholarship. The five community awards were won by South Salem’s Tyler Coates (Comeback Award), Sprague’s Caleb El- liott (Heart and Desire Award), McKay’s Noah Tavera (Courage Award), Regis (Cheer Squad) and Sprague (Dance and Drill Team). 2017 STATESMAN JOURNAL SPORTS AWARD WINNERS FALL SEASON Girls cross country Salem Wrestling Football Ginger Murnieks, Sprague Tanner Earhart, Dallas Boys cross country Volleyball Ahmed Muhumed, West Salem Paige Whipple, West Salem Girls soccer WINTER SEASON Paige Alexander, Silverton Girls basketball Boys soccer Evina Westbrook, South Salem Stuart Aeschliman, West Salem Boys basketbal l Kyle Greeley, West Ian Carlos, North Salem Girls swimming Hannah Bodkin, West Salem Boys swimming Micah Masei, West Salem SPRING SEASON Maggie Buckholz, Silverton Andrew Eyre, West Salem Boys athlete of the year Baseball Girls tennis Tanner Earhart, Dallas JaVon Logan, Regis Anya Gerasimova, West Salem Coach of the year Girls track and field Keira McCarrell, West Salem Boys track and field Bishop Mitchell, Kennedy Girls golf Ellie Slama, South Salem Softball Boys golf Boys tennis Logan Blair/Judd Blair, Sprague OVERALL AWARDS Girls athlete of year Evina Westbrook, South Salem Ron Hittner, Blanchet girls basketball Comeback Award Tyler Coates, South Salem Heart and Desire Award Caleb Elliott, Sprague Scholar Athlete Courage Award Kaitlyn Paluska, South Salem Noah Tavera, McKay Capitol Cup Award West Salem COMMUNITY AWARDS Cheer Squad Regis Dance and Drill Team Sprague
