ALAH Knights Celebrate Spring Sports at Annual Athletic Awards Night

By SALLY McCARTHY
Staff Writer

The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Knights held their Spring Athletic Awards night on Thursday, May 30 at the ALAH high school gym.

District Athletic Director Nathan Seal opened the evening with these words, “Good Evening, and welcome to the spring sports awards night. This evening marks the official end of the 2023-2024 sports season at ALAH. After tonight, most of our student-athletes will be moving to the season of preparation for the 2024-25 sports year. For our seniors, you are preparing for the next chapter of your lives as you move on from ALAH. Tonight gives us the opportunity to specifically celebrate the accomplishments of our student-athletes during the spring season and to reflect on the entire 23-24 sports year.

Participating in athletics is not easy.  Each sports season takes a tremendous amount of time, effort, and resources from our student-athletes, coaches, and parents. At times, we might wonder if the grind of athletics is worth it.” California principal, Dr. Steve Amaro is quoted on the NFHS webpage as saying:

“Participating in high school athletics has long-lasting, definitive benefits. Three of the most important participation takeaways that students continue to practice after graduation are: 1) a stronger sense of self-confidence in building relationships with others and having an expanded capacity for empathy; 2) developing a better understanding of self and in so doing understanding how their actions affect others; and 3) building foundations for lifelong fitness habits. What students remember most from their athletic participation is the relationship and celebration they share with their teammates. High school athletes work together daily in strenuous practices preparing for stressful situations in search of positive outcomes. In this pressured environment, students build relationships and learn to care for each other.

This concept of being part of a team makes athletes more marketable to colleges and employers as they want people who can perform under stress and follow a business or collegiate plan of action. They want students and/or employees who can take the initiative and make meaningful relationships so that everyone contributes to make an organization better. As I mentioned earlier, tonight provides us the opportunity to celebrate the well deserved accomplishments of our individual student-athletes and our teams. Congratulations to all of our award winners tonight and congratulations to all of our spring student-athletes. No matter if you win multiple awards tonight or not, all of you need to be commended for your participation. I believe that each and every one of you will take positive skills from your experiences in your sport that will pay dividends for you throughout your lives.

Before we recognize our student-athletes, I would like to offer some special thank-yous to people who have helped with the success of our athletic programs during the spring season . . . .

First, to the parents.  Thank you for all of the support you provide to our student-athletes, (enduring the spring weather and supporting our athletes at games both at home and away, working at home events, washing uniforms, and  all the other countless things you do. – you are vital to the success of our programs. Thank you to all of the coaches – Thank you for your energy, passion, and commitment to our student-athletes. No season could be successful, let alone possible, without tremendous support and leadership from our coaches, Miller Bus Transportation, our high school faculty and the Board of Education for their support of our athletic programs, Mrs. Schrock, Ms. Creek, and Mrs. Seegmiller in the office for everything you do for our athletic programs, Mrs. McGrath and Mr. Cheek in the unit office for your help and guidance, media outlets including The County Chronicle, Record Herald News, New-Gazette, Herald and Review, WCIA and WAND for their coverage this season, maintenance staff – prepping of our field etc, and last but certainly not least, thank you to our student-athletes.  Again, congratulations on your successful seasons – it was a pleasure to watch you compete and perform.

Mr. Seal then turned the program over to the coaches to give a summary of their respective seasons and announce their Knight Award winners.

Knights Head Baseball Coach David McGrath was up first and thanked everyone for coming out this evening. He talked about how every baseball season from little league to the professional is a grind and that described their 2024 season. It was a year of inexperience, injuries, highs and lows but was successful with a 16-8 overall record and an 8-3 conference record resulting in a third place finish in the Lincoln Prairie. They also had six All-Conference selections.

For his Knight Award, the person fit their four criteria of A-academics, L-leadership, A-attitude, and H-hard work. The Knight Award for baseball went to Max Boddy.

Head Softball Coach Jodi Kauffman came up next and said their season was “a roller coaster of emotions with the loss of Coach Jerry Lane” but they met most of their goals-compete with the bigger schools, finish in the top half of the conference and finish above .500. She also mentioned their tough regional game which lasted 5 hours due to weather delays and how they were down 4-0 but battled back to drop the contest 4-5 in the last inning. She was proud of how they all came together and mentioned that Coach Lane was always with them.

For the softball Knight Award, it went to a person that was a great teammate, made sure all equipment was put away, and was an outstanding student. That person was Danaysha Stutzman.

Head Bass Fishing Coach Bradley Rexroad was up next, and he began by thanking Mr. Seal for all he does for all the sports programs. He explained that their sport is really a fall and spring sport and still had tournaments to go yet at this time. They began at Lake Mattoon and won the Big Bass award and competed in the Okaw Valley Open and IHSA Sectional on Lake Shelbyville. He stated, “the fishing this spring was tough with weather related issues, but the team never gave up.”

The Bass Fishing Knight Award went to the athlete that showed great dedication, willingness to learn, and had good communication and that was Jaidyn Edwards.

Next up was Head Girls Track Coach Ryan Jefferson and he related how all the track coaches, his assistant Ashley Snoddy, Boys Head Coach Matt Thomas, and his assistant Mitch Wilson all worked together this year to develop both the boys and the girls track programs. He had thirty girls out with twenty-two of them underclassmen. He said, “there are some really talented girls” and as he predicted at last year’s awards night, they accomplished some really big goals. He mentioned the cross country team and their success in the fall that carried over into the track season. The girls won the Warrensburg-Latham Invitational, were second in their own Invitational, were Lincoln Prairie Conference champions, fourth at the IHSA Sectional and sent two relays to the IHSA State meet. During the season they set 190 season bests and broke 10 school records.

For the girls track Knight Award he looks for a hard worker, with high character and this year’s recipient was also noted for her perseverance and sacrifice. He brought up the winner, Kimberly Krutsinger and expounded on her perseverance, striving to go under 6 minutes in the 1600 which she did at the sectional meet and her sacrifice, running different events at the conference meet to enable the team to score more points and give up her spot on the 3200 relay which would have earned her an All LPC selection. Coach said, “Kimberly had an amazing year, as an individual, on relays and as a teammate. She set records in the indoor mile and two mile and as a member of the indoor and outdoor 4 X 8 relay.

Head Boys Track Coach Matt Thomas was the last of the coaches to reflect on their season. He equated this year’s boys’ team to last year’s girls team and said, “they had a great year but look out next year! They are a young team with a bright future.” He mentioned IHSA State qualifier, Jacob Tighe and his top ten finish at state. He also referred to the success of the jr. high track team and is already looking forward to their time in high school.

For his Knight Award, Coach Thomas looks for a leader, with accountability, a hard worker, who gives 100% and was like a coach on the team. That athlete was Cruz Hale.

Mr. Seal then took over the program again for some special awards. First up were the Tri-Sport Athletes, those are student athletes that compete in three sports during the school year. They received a patch or pin and a certificate. Next up were the IHSA Scholastic Achievement Award winners who are a junior or senior, have completed at least one full season in an IHSA interscholastic activity in good standing, and must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. The 25 athletes were introduced and given a certificate. Last up was the Lincoln Prairie All Conference selections for baseball, softball, boys and girls track. They were given their all conference certificates.

The different sports then split up into different areas for their individual awards. Mr. Seal thanked everyone for their attendance and support of the athletic programs.