ALAH Jr. High Knights Track and Field Hold Annual Awards Night
The ALAH jr. high track and field teams held their annual awards night on Monday, May 19. Girls’ Head Coach gave a recap of his season and presented some special awards to members of his team. Pictured here from left to right are Gwen Herring, Track MVP; Macee Boddy, Knight Award; Kyndall Crist, Leadership Award; and Zoey Mendoza, Field MVP.
On Monday, May 19 the jr. high track and field teams held their annual awards night at ALAH High School. Boys’ Head Coach Don McCarthy gave a recap of the boys’ season and presented some special awards. Shown here from left to right are Beau Green, 8th Grade Points Award and Leadership Award; Colton and Dustin Snyder, Team Award; Camden Casteel, 6th Grade Points Award; and Abel Lat, 7th Grade Points Award.
By SALLY McCARTHY
On Monday, May 19, the ALAH jr. high track and field teams held their annual awards night.
The girls’ Head Coach Austin Romine began the evening with thank yous to the administration, Mr. Seal, Coach Don and Sally McCarthy, Faezah Parsa, Mike Haste, and his assistant Cortney Hall who he said was “fantastic for the girls.”
He then gave a season summary, “that even though the team had only thirteen girls, they sent five to the state meet, saw improvement in every one throughout the season, the girls had ninety-six PRs and score 354 points during the season.”
Coach Romine introduced each group and presented them with letters and certificates. Sixth grade team members were: Chloe Lawson, Iris Binion, Ivy Binion, Kylan Hall, Natalie Peralta, Sophia Williams, and Brianda Calvillo. Kyndall Crist was the only seventh grader. The eighth grade squad was introduced last and consisted of Abby Hernandez, Gwen Herring, Macee Boddy, Payton Tinkle, and Zoey Mendoza.
Coach Romine finished his portion of the program with his special awards. The Field MVP was Zoey Mendoza, with the Track MVP going to Gwen Herring. Macee Boddy won the Knight Award and Kyndall was selected for the Leadership Award. As coach brought them up he gave some of their season highlights and explained his criteria for the awards.
Boys’ Head Coach Don McCarthy was up next and he began with his thank yous to the administration, Mr. Seal, the administrative assistants, meet helpers, his meet clerks, Josh Stack, Rusty and Bryton Ragon, and the high school girls who timed at meets. He gave a special thanks to the other coaches for all their help throughout the season.
Coach McCarthy then gave a season summary stating, “there were twenty-seven boys on the team this year with six new sixth graders plus eight other first year members.” For the seventh grade team they finished with a 6-3 record in duals and triangulars, were fourth in their own Invite, third at Arcola and the JHOC and sixth at the IESA Sectional. He introduced the sixth graders and presented them with their letters and certificates. Team members were Nate Blaudow, Micah Burket, Camden Casteel, Donovan Graham, Bowyer McGrath, and Cody Miller. The seventh grade squad members were Noah Albright, Gabe Brown, Eli Burket, Brodie Carter, Artemis Conlin, Abel Lat, Griffin Ponder, and Kael Ward.
The last group to be recognized were the eighth graders who were 8-1 in small meet competitions and won every large meet they were in until the IESA State meet where they took second place. He gave a brief recap of that meet discussing the medals earned, the points scored and the new state record set by Beau Green in the 1600 meters. He also mentioned Beau setting new school records in the 800 and 1600 meters.
Coach McCarthy then introduced the members – Nolan Bartley, Anthony Graham, Beau Green, Brian Hadley, Griffin Hilton, Bentley Hutson, Jase Kingery, Carson Lane, Denton Marner, Colton Snyder, Dustin Snyder, Donovan Vanausdoll, and Greyson Yoder.
For the boys’ special awards, they have a Points Award that goes to the sixth, seventh and eighth grader who scores the most points during the season. Winners were Camden Casteel, sixth grade; Abel Lat, seventh grade; and Beau Green, eighth. The next award was the Team Award which goes to the athlete who were helpful, unselfish, have a good work ethic, are coachable, committed to the team, and set a positive example. For the second year in a row, the recipients were Colton and Dustin Snyder. The last award for the boys was the Leadership Award which goes to the athlete who leads both vocally and by example, encourages their teammates and helps to make their teammates better. That award went to Beau Green.
Coach McCarthy wrapped up his portion of the evening saying he was looking forward to the sixth and seventh graders coming back next year and maybe recruiting more of their classmates to join. He stated, “ this season was gratifying, I enjoyed working with the athletes.”
To the eighth graders he commented on their successful jr. high track career over the last three years and was looking forward to seeing their contributions in high school.
He closed the evening by thanking everyone for their attendance and their support throughout the 2025 jr. high track season.
