OLDS – École Olds High School has named its senior and junior male and female athletes of the year.
Sharlese Weigum is the Senior Female Athlete of the Year and Drew Bohnet is the Senior Male Athlete of the Year.
Megan Machan is the Junior Female Athlete of the Year and Kepler Fitzner is the Junior Male Athlete of the Year.
Those honours as well as about 16 other athletic awards were presented during a breakfast ceremony June 21 in the ÉOHS commons.
Cross country awards were presented to Dane Drent, Daniel Schafer and Sydney Van Ginhoven.
Drew Bohnet and Liam Hartt were honoured in golf.
Brynn Smith and Kennedy Paget received senior girls volleyball awards.
JV girls volleyball awards went to Sydney Van Ginhoven, Kennedy Livingstone, Danika Bohnet and Megan Machan.
Jill Wright and Carly Mix took Grade 9 girls volleyball honours.
Awards for boys volleyball went to Liam Hartt, Masen Grover, Grayson MacDonald and Aiden Gaboury.
Senior girls basketball awards were presented to Sharlese Weigum and Aza Korver.
JV Girls basketball honours went to Larissa Bullock and Makayla Farkas.
Drew Bohnet received the senior boys basketball award.
Grey Tadle took home JV boys basketball honours.
Awards for senior badminton went to Pearl Reyeg and Christian Persson.
Addison Kreiger and Rihannon DeLuca took home junior badminton honours.
Tyson Prevost and Jorga Schroeder received wrestling honours.
Ashley Hoppins and Brynn Smith were honoured in soccer.
Senior track awards went to Abigail Ripco and Aiden Saunders.
Lugerke Shamvu & Kepler Fitzner were honoured in junior track.
Senior Male Athlete of the Year
École Olds High School (ÉOHS) athletic director Jeff Clattenburg noted Bohnet won a coach’s award in each of the three sports that he was involved in this year: golf, volleyball and basketball.
“I’ve seen Drew evolve as an athlete, dating back to his middle school days,” Clattenburg said.
“Drew is a man of very few words but leads by example on the court and is a naturally gifted athlete.”
Clattenburg pointed out that Bohnet had been named Athlete of the Year in four of five years.
He won the award in Grade 8, was named ÉOHS Junior Athlete of the Year in Grade 9 and was named the high school’s senior athlete last year.
"I wonder what happened in Grade 10,” Clattenburg said, sparking some laughter. “There’s a gap on the resume there, Drew.”
Senior Female Athlete of the Year
Weigum was unable to attend Wednesday’s ceremony. Clattenburg filled the crowd in on her accomplishments.
He pointed out that she was the starting setter on the school’s senior volleyball team, won several awards as a member of the basketball team, was a member of the badminton team and qualified for provincials in track and field.
“I‘ve had the pleasure of knowing and coaching Sharlese in various sports ever since middle school and she seldom gets outworked in practice and in games,” Clattenburg said.
“She always has a desire and curiosity to learn and get better in every aspect of athletics.”
Junior Female Athlete of the Year
“Megan’s a naturally gifted athlete who also possesses extraordinary leadership potential," Clattenburg said.
He said she was one of only two Grade 9s to play on the school’s JV volleyball team where she also won a coach’s award.
"She not only played on our soccer team but every time I was asking (the coach) how it went, he’s like, ‘We beat them. Megan scored three goals. We won, Megan scored again,’ and so she was a force on the soccer field as well," he said.
Junior Male Athlete of the Year
Clattenburg admitted that participation in sports by Grade male athletes was “limited” this year, said Fitzner still stood out.
He was a member of the school’s cross-country team, the JV boys basketball team, played badminton and won a coach’s award in track and field.
“Kepler is a dedicated athlete who strives for excellence and he pushes himself to his physical and his mental limits,” Clattenburg said..
“Anyone who’s willing to run around a track seven-and-a-half times knows what it means to be a mentally strong athlete.”
Coaches, Parents Thanked
Clattenburg took time out to thank the parents, caregivers and coaches of the student athletes and urged the students to do so too.
“Whether you’re a teacher or a parent or just a community member, none of what can happen in the year athletically can happen without our coaches," he said.
“And so I just want to say ‘thank you.’ Thank you for your time, thank you for your commitment, thank you for your expertise in working with all of our student athletes throughout the year.
“I really appreciate it. I know that the students really appreciate it, even if they don’t always tell you (that), I know that they do, so thank you for your extra commitment."
“The obvious time and effort of showing up to practices and the games and tournaments and on the road in travel, those are the things we see.
“The things we don’t always see are the planning that happens behind the scenes, the trying to figure out the game strategy and lineups and that kind of thing, the team culture and all that stuff.
“So there’s hours and hours of work and time and commitment that go into coaching that happens in front of your face, but there’s also hours and hours of time that goes on behind the scenes.”
