AHS honors student-athletes at All-Sports Banquet

By Tim Emmons
temmons@casscountynow.com

Atlanta ISD hosted their annual All-Sports Banquet on Monday, May 9, at the First Baptist Church - Family Life Center to acknowledge their student-athletes for hard work and dedication in various school sports.
To begin the evening cheer coach Renee Rosser recognized the former and new cheer members, followed by volleyball Head Coach Kevin Breiby who spoke about the season and recognized his players.
“We played in a tough district in which we lost some sets by only five points or less,” Breiby said. “The girls gave it all they had and I’m proud of how they performed both on the court and in the classroom.”
Breiby had a split decision for the top award so he selected both Marshay Hatley and Avery Trotter as his choice to receive the Maroon and White Award (MVP) for volleyball.
The Lady Rabbs’ track coach Jarrick Farmer talked about the great performances of each athlete on the team and how that with low numbers of athletes at times and against all odds the Lady Rabbs would finish in the top two at most track meets.
Coach Farmer chose TeShuna Sheppard as his MVP.
The young leaper made her second state appearance in three years.
Farmer also coached the Lady Rabbs’ basketball team for the second straight season.
This season proved to be one that saw the Lady Rabbits make the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.
Coach Farmer handed out an array of awards including giving the Queen of the Boards Award to Sheppard, the Sixth Man Award to Fedrick, the Unsung Hero Award to Kinsey Kelly, the Defensive MVP Award to Amber Adams, the Offensive MVP Award to Kaydee Kelly and the MVP Award went to his sister Justonni Farmer for the second consecutive year.
Like the year before, Farmer earned MVP recognition this year with her dedication and relentless work ethic to the sports she’s involved in.
Tennis Head Coach Stuart Drake talked about the great season his team of players had and how much time players put into their training.
Drake chose Abby Heath as the girls’ MVP and Brandon Caraway his Maroon and White winner for the boys. His Most Improved awards went to Hunter Daughtery and Wendy Medina.
Softball Head Coach Tobie Dunlap likes the fact that he can attend a banquet and still have another playoff game to look forward to.
“I’m thankful for all of the support we received this year,” Dunlap said. “We slipped up a couple of times in district and played through with injuries, but we are still playing ball. Some of the girls on this team played more than 40 summer games and that, along with help from Gerrod Oliver, helped us to have a very successful year.”
Coach Dunlap chose Victoria Bergt for the Perseverance Award and selected senior ace pitcher Lanee Oliver as his MVP.
For the soccer team, second-year Head Coach Will Allen was thrilled to get into the playoffs and was excited to see the dedication and good practices the players exhibited.
Allen chose Seth Henderson as his MVP for soccer, and in cross country Allen selected seniors Nick Bergt and Lanee Oliver as his boys and girls MVP.
Bergt broke through to the state meet this year, and Allen even gave high praises to freshman Hanna Wicks for her regional qualification this season.
Second-year head basketball coach Nicholas Claiborne also had an array of awards to hand out.
The A.C.E. Award (Accountability, Character and Effort) was given to A.J. McGary and Austin Nuckels, the Newcomer of the Year Award was split between Jawan King and Shun Hunter, Most Improved went to Brock Childress, Defensive MVP went to Quentin Rowe, Offensive MVP was given to Jacobi Hamilton and the Maroon and White MVP Award was given to Desmond Robinson.
Baseball head coach David Hooten chose Parker Simmons as the baseball Maroon and White Award winner, selected Christian Oliver as the Most Improved player and gave Carson Lambert the Mr. Consistency Award.