ALAH Knights Celebrate Spring Sports at Annual Athletic Awards Night
By Sally McCarthy
The Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond Knights held their Spring Athletic Awards night on Thursday, June 5 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. Athletes from baseball, softball, bass fishing, and boys and girls track were in attendance for their sports awards.
District Athletic Director Nathan Seal opened the evening with a welcome to all, stating,” tonight is one of my favorite nights of the year – not because of the awards or highlights, but because we get to pause and reflect. We get to celebrate the journey. We honor the athletes who have trained, competed, and grown – not just as players, but as people.” Mr. Seal thanked the coaches by saying, “You are mentors, motivators, and role models. You teach far beyond the game. John Wooden put it best, “A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” And you’ve done that with patience, passion, and purpose.”
To the parents and families, “thank you for being the silent strength behind our athletes. Your time, energy, and belief in our students does not go unnoticed. And to our student athletes – tonight is for you. You’ve pushed through tough practices, shown up when it wasn’t easy, and supported your teammates every step of the way. Whether you’re leaving with a plaque tonight or not, you leave this season with something more important – character, resilience, and pride in wearing ALAH on your jersey. Let’s enjoy this evening as we celebrate not just achievements, but the values that made ALAH Athletics something special.”
Mr. Seal closed with thank yous to people who have helped with the success of our athletic programs during the spring seasons – Miller Bus Transportation, the high school faculty and Board of Education, Mrs. Redfern, Ms. Creek, and Mrs. Seegmiller in the office, Mrs. Schrock and Mr. Cheek for their help and guidance, our local media outlets, the County Chronicle, Record Herald News, News Gazette, Herald & Review, WCIA and WAND for their coverage, the maintenance staff, and last but certainly not least on behalf of the coaches, athletes, and myself thank you to our volunteers who are a vital part of Knight Nation and we are better because of you.
Mr. Seal then turned the program over to the coaches for a brief season summary and the presentation of their Knight Award.
Knights Head Baseball Coach David McGrath began by congratulating all the seniors and encouraging those returning athletes “to not look back but take advantage of what’s ahead and work to be your best.”
The baseball team finished 14-11 overall and were young but competitive, rose to the occasion against good teams with signature wins being a 5-3 win over Argenta-Oreana and a nine inning 5-4 victory over Sullivan. The Knights finished second in the Lincoln Prairie Conference standings, had their first regional win since 2021 and had five All Conference selections.
For the baseball Knight Award Coach uses the acronym A-academics, L-leadership, A-attitude, and H-hard work to select his recipient. His winner this year “stepped up to a new starting role. Followed all points of the acronym and did what he had to do for the team” and that player was Carson Augustine.
Next up was Assistant Softball Coach Whitney Wynkoop who summed up the season like this, “we were 13-16 overall with a very tough schedule, but the girls worked hard, competed and worked to get better.” Some other highlights – they were 8-2 in the Lincoln Prairie Conference play and finished third in the conference, four players hit home runs in their game with Tri-County and had five players make the All-Conference teams.
Coach Wynkoop said this about the softball Knight Award winner, “she does things without being asked, gets out and puts up equipment, is a silent leader by her actions, and is a positive influence and that player is Reece Oye.
Bradley Rexroad, Head Bass Fishing Coach, spoke next and said their season is basically year round, “as long as there’s not ice on the lake!” we are still fishing! Some season highlights – the team was seventh out of twenty-two at the Fall Frenzy on Lake Decatur, they won the first ever Lincoln Prairie Conference Bass Fishing tournament while also winning the Big Bass Award for that tourney with a 5.04 pound catch.
The Bass Fishing Knight award was too close to name just one recipient so two members, Alex Rexroad and Kaden Herschberger were chosen for their dedication, time, hard work, and coachability.
Girls Track Head Coach Ryan Jefferson came to the podium next and began with thanks to the other track coaches, Mitch Wilson, Ashley Snoddy, and Shawn Davison for all their help this season. He stated there were thirty-one girls on the squad this season and they set big goal for the year. Those goals were – repeat as conference champions, which they did; be more competitive at Sectional, they finished in third place out of seventeen teams; and send more girls to State which was also accomplished with twelve girls making it this year. Besides meeting their goals, season highlights included strong finishes in all the Invitational meets and setting five school records both indoors and outdoors. He is looking forward to next year with new goals – three-peat as conference champs, send more girls to the State meet, and win the Sectional.
Coach Jefferson’s Knight Award went to an athlete that worked hard, had great focus, and good work ethic. This year’s selection showed big improvement this year, had mental toughness, was always smiling, was a strong leader, and a mother hen to the sprinters and that person was Skyler Vorck.
The final coach to speak was Boys Track Head Coach Mitch Wilson. He began by talking about his getting to take over the boys’ program and thanked everyone for their support of that move. He thanked the other track coaches with special thanks to his Assistant Coach Shawn Davison for stepping up to take the job when it looked like the position wouldn’t get filled. His season highlights included scoring 792 points during the season, qualifying an individual and the 4 X 2 relay for the Indoor State meet in March, the 4 X 2 relay breaking the school record indoors, taking second at the Lincoln Prairie Conference meet, the 4 X 1, 4 X 2, and 4 X 4 relays setting new outdoor records, improvement at Invites and the Sectional, and qualifying Jacob Tighe in the shot put and three relays for the IHSA State meet.
Coach Wilson’s Knight Award winner was quiet, always showed up, was the fifth fastest sprinter which made him an alternate on the relays but he filled in wherever he was needed and because of that he was a conference champion. That athlete was Justin Schrock.
Before breaking out for individual awards in each sport, four group awards were presented. The first award was the Tri-Sport Athletes – those who participated in three sports during the 2024-25 school year; the IHSA Scholastic Achievement Award – goes to a junior or senior who had completed at least one full season in good standing and has a GPA of 3.5 on a 4 point scale after their fifth or seventh semester; the Lincoln Prairie Conference All Conference selections; and finally, certificates were given to the boys and girls track athletes who set new school records throughout the season.
All these awards are featured in pictures accompanying this article elsewhere in the paper.
Mr. Seal thanked everyone for coming and dismissed them to their individual areas for their sports’ awards.
