OAKBORO — In the absence of the high school’s annual athletic awards banquet, West Stanly athletic director and head baseball coach Chad Yow took to social media this past week to announce award winners from the Colts’ 2021 senior class of student-athletes.
“Each year, our coaching staff assembles to nominate and vote on several important awards to be given out to our senior athletes,” Yow said in a five-part video series on the West Stanly Athletics Twitter page. “We certainly wish as a coaching staff that we could come together for our annual athletic banquet, but unfortunately this past season of high school athletics has been far from normal.”
Each of the four awards — Thoroughbred, Mularski-Kidd, Principal’s and Dash — were given to both a male and female athlete representing their school.
Jordan Poole (football) and Jordan Hatch (softball) were the recipients of the Thoroughbred Award that is given to the most outstanding athletes in the senior class.
“We as a coaching staff define some of the characteristics that make up the Thoroughbred Award as a student-athlete that possesses exceptional athletic ability, demonstrates sportsmanlike conduct, leadership skills and dedication in their chosen sports, and is in good standing with good school behavior,” Yow said.
In the following video, Jacob Buczynski (football, swimming) and Shelby Barbee (softball) were named the winners of the Mularski-Kidd Award. According to Yow, that honor is reserved for students who show “leadership, dedication and spirit in both sports and school, sportsmanlike conduct on and off the playing area, respect for coaches, teammates and referees and a positive attitude.”
West Stanly’s 2021 Principal’s Award — an achievement based on exemplary behavior in school — was given to Connor Tucker (baseball, football) and Riley Barbee (volleyball).
The Dash Award was the final honor that Yow announced in his video series. It is named in honor of Brian Brown, the father of a former Colt football player; Brown passed away in 2017 after a battle with nonalcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.
Michael Crayton (baseball, swimming) and Addie Barbee (basketball, volleyball) were named the 2021 winners of the award that “embodies the ideals that Brown stood for: community, fair play, work ethic and making the most of their own life’s dash between its beginning and end.”