Sports recognition night

Nearly 150 people crowded into the cafeteria May 20 to recognize all of the athletes and watch a few special awards be presented.

The main focus of the night was to hand out the Booster Club awards.

The first award was for Coach of the Year in the NWAACC West and those went to Pat Hunt and Gary Viggers.  

Hunt led the softball team to an 18-16 record overall and 17-7 in league, including their first berth to the NWAACC tournament since 2006.

Viggers led the women's basketball team to a 25-5 record overall and 15-1 record in league. The Lady Blazers finished the year in first place in the NWAACC West and had an eighth place finish in the NWAACC tournament.

Viggers coached the MVP of the league in Brittany Duerr. Over the last two years the Lady Blazers have won 51 games.

John Martens presented the academic Leadership award and the member of the NWAACC sophomore all-academic team from Centralia College was Danette Kahle.

There was a special award handed out to Bruce Pocklington, the head coach of the Centralia College men's baseball team. Pocklington has been with the college for over ten years.

The Booster Club Awards included sportsman of the year, sports women of the year and fan of the year.

The winner of the sportsman of the year award was Rico Melendez.

"Rico was a most giving player, very supportive of other athletics," Athletic Director Bob Peters said. "He always gets it done with a smile, it is very seldom that you don't see him without a smile."

Melendez thanked Pocklington as well as his teammates for supporting him.

"But getting this award really put me in awe because I never expected to get this award, but I am truly grateful that I did, and to be honest it was the greatest feeling I have ever had once he called my name for the award," Melendez said. "It's a great honor and a pleasure to be apart of Centralia Community College."

Sportswoman of the year was a co-award to the winners Amanda Anderson of softball and Corina Allen of the women's basketball team.

Allen thanked everybody for the award and thanked her team for everything they did this season.

Jerry Owens, the president of the Booster Club, handed out the fan of the year to Sandy Ingle.

"Sandy is a inspiration for her support of all athletes," Owens said. "She helped raise a lot of funds for the athletic department."

Ruby Miller was inducted into the Centralia College Sports Hall of Fame. Miller worked for the college in the athletic department for 14 years.

"A to Z she was the best secretary I have ever had," George Gablehouse said.

Sam Bakotich was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Peters talked about how Bakotich has touched the lives of many people including himself. Bakotich was the sports editor at the Chronicle for 30 years. Bakotich covered sports for the college and high schools in the area.

Each coach had the chance to take the stage and introduce their team and give a few words about the season.

Volleyball

Volleyball was first up as coach Sarah Maiava introduced the awards winners on the team.

Sophomores Lindsey Dorsey and Vanessa Cooper were recognized as co-captains of the squad.

Danette Kahle grabbed MVP honors with a season of 75 kills as well as assists. She also had a serving percent of 95.

"She was an excellent walk-on player," Maiava said. "She is going to play for us again even though she is a sophomore she has another year of eligibility. She really filled in a lot of gaps for the team."

Brittany Seversike was voted most improved player and Laura Keenan was voted most inspirational.

Maiava thanked all of the fans for attending games. She said that Centralia has the best fans of anywhere the team travels.

Women's Basketball

Coach Gary Viggers started with a speech about his "hot poker principal."

He said if you leave the poker near the fire it gets hot and that is what he did with his team. He surrounded the team with great people and they all just rubbed off on each other.

The team already had their awards night so the team awards had already been handed out.

However, Viggers gave a long apology to Hillary Peters for accidentally leaving her off of the list during the team's award banquet.

Deanna Riffe received a NWAACC Sophomore All-Star for her excellent year.

Brittany Duerr was awarded two NWAACC awards including Sophomore All-Star as well as Western Division MVP.

Men's Basketball

First year coach Jason Moir thanked his wife and assistant coaches for everything they have done.

Moir had the players attending introduce themselves and then said a little about each.

Craig Seiler was awarded Mr. Hustle.

"Craig is a great kid and works hard," Moir said. "If you haven't got a chance to meet him yet you should do so, he is a great kid."

Patrick Lee was voted Mr. Defense on the team.

"He loves his specialty even though he does do other things," Moir said. "His specialty was to come out and come off the bench and definitely gave a lot of energy defensively."

Kamal Smith was voted Mr. Statistics for his contribution to the team.

"Kamal was our top recruit last year," Moir said. "He led the team in rebounding, second in scoring, and was first in assists."

Robbie Graham was voted Most Valuable Player of the team.