Well, as the fall sports season comes to an end, the winter sports season is almost in full swing just two weeks after the football team left the field. To honor the hard work put in by all the fall sports programs and to bring their seasons to a close, East Noble held the annual Fall Sports Awards Banquet.

The coaches spoke of their sport’s ups and downs, but overall there were many successes to recognize, such as the girls cross country team advancing to state (the Girls’ XC program was phenomenal this year, winning Saturday tournaments, back-to-back winning conference, and sectionals), Noah Acker qualifying for the state boys’ cross country competition, varsity football being conference runner-ups and sectional runner-ups, marching band advancing to semi-state, and cheerleading qualifying for state and ranking 8th out of 18 teams.

Athletic Director Nick David kicked off the program by welcoming the parents and athletes to the auditorium and introducing the members of the Athletic Leadership Council, who announced the honorees for the remainder of the evening. After the coaches had a chance to speak about their respective programs, Four Year Sport Award recipients were announced. The students who received the awards are as follows:

Varsity football: Hunter Delarosa, Trey Bruce, Dylan Hunley, Josh Barr, Chris Ballard, Anthony Phan, Chris Neuhaus, Xavier Van Allen, Blain Moriarty, Charlie Miller, Cade Erwin, Alex Martin, Alex Eickholtz, Mason Conley, Jacob Engle, Dalton Householder, Justin Galaviz, Noah Childers, and Hailey Braden (manager)
Girls’ volleyball: Payton Hart, Sarah Toles, Kinzie Gura, and Taylor Lahee
Girls’ soccer: Taylor Rex, Elizabeth Molen, Mya Diffenderfer, Nichole Coburn, Kelsey Coburn, and Olivia Smith
Boys’ soccer: Ryan Bloom, Dillon Donat, Nestor Gonzalez, Brandon Dentler, and Brennen Walton
Boys’ tennis: Austin Mohamedali and Ryan Desper
Cheerleading: Angel Ferguson, Sierra Goodman, Brittany Arnold, and Desiree Nichols
Girls’ cross country: Kaitlyn Savage and Jessica Vandiver
Boys’ cross country: Seth Gorski, Austin McCulloch, Justin Ramsey, and Nick Sibert

Senior Ryan Desper then took the podium to announce the NE8 All Conference Honorees. In total, 14 athletes were awarded 1st Team, 13 athletes were awarded 2nd Team, and 11 athletes were awarded Honorable Mention as voted by their program’s conference. Afterwards, they awarded the athletes who were State and District Honorees and they were the individuals listed below.

Boys’ soccer: Ryan Bloom (all district 2nd team), Dillon Donat (top team player), Cory Thatcher (all academic player)
Boys’ tennis: Austin Mohammedi (all district 1st team)
Girls’ soccer: Taylor Rex (top team player), Nichole Coburn (all academic player), Bailee Hager (all academic player), Mya Diffenderfer (all academic player), Emily Dashiell (all academic player), McKenzie Krause (all academic player), Carissa Gruszczyk (all academic player)
Girls’ cross country: Jessica Vandiver (State participant), Kara Kline (State participant), Kyra Warren (State participant), Krista Boese (State participant), Lexi Moriarty (State participant), Kayla McCulloch (State participant), Olivia Smolinske (State participant), Grace Kline (State participant)
Boys’ cross country: Noah Acker (State participant)
Cheerleading: Competition Cheer Squad (8th place at State)

Junior Jon-Matthew Spaw followed Desper at the podium to read the Ernsberger Memorium and then read the names of the 24 athletes who earned their letterman jackets after the winter season.

Letterman jackets are often earned after receiving just two varsity points in one sport, three varsity points in three different sports, or three points (one has to be in varsity), but it is slightly more difficult to earn an East Noble blanket. To receive one, an athlete must have earned at least eight varsity points over their entire high school sports career. One student achieved this honor:

Mya Diffenderfer: Soccer, Wrestling MGR, and Tennis

Sportsmanship Awards were then announced and awarded to one deserving student from each sport, and they were:

Boys’ Football: Alex Eickholz 

Girls’ Volleyball: Kathryn Decamp

Girls’ Soccer: Erin Bloom

Boys’ Soccer: Michael Klein

Boys’ Tennis: Zach Landez

Cheerleading: Alexis Ward

Girls’ Cross Country: Kyra Warren

Boys’ Cross Country: Justin Ramsey

Girls’ Golf: Shelby Targgart