Following good seasons the Dawson County High School track teams held their annual banquet May 23 in the auditorium at Dawson County High School.
Athletic director Grady Turner welcomed parents and athletes in the audience.
Turner introduced Dawson County High School track coaches Arron Haynes and Chris Lundy to present awards.
Both teams were very successful this year. Rush Davenport represented the Tigers at the AA state meet in Jefferson. Davenport competed in the 400 meters, where he set the school record. Davenport finished sixth in his heat during the state event.
On the girls’ side, Madalyn Walters, 3200 meters, Kerstin Hlinski, 400-meters, and the 4x100 team of Kimberly Wallace, Judith Hall, Hlinski and Gracie Hovan all qualified for the AA state meet in Albany.
Walters finished fourth in the state in the 3200-meter finals.
Haynes recognized each track athlete by class. Freshman on this year’s team were: Jana Byrd, Kortney Dunford, Savanna Estes, Jonathon Erickson, Morgan Gaddis, Jake Hafermalz, Victoria Holmes, Gracie Hovan, Cory Jenkins, Becca Monkus, Amber Owensby, Jessie Parker, Riley Robbins, Kayla Scandera, Christine Schmid, Abbie Wasinger, Taylor Willoughby and Hayden Wilson.
Sophomores recognized were: Sarah Anglin, Leslie Barnett, Lyric Baty, Courtney Blair, Ariel Buttram, Nick Carty, Rachael Gloeckner, Haley Hamil, Abigail Kellogg, Summer Lewis, Regan Medlock, Bennett Rolle, Shelby Sage, Kristina Smith, Josh Styles, Tyler Thurmond, Kimberly Wallace, Madalyn Walters, Zack Wilkins, Morgan Williams and Dakota Wood.
Juniors: Morgan Bennett, Art Brown, Jaziel Bustamante, Rush Davenport, Andrew Hinton, Matthew Keller, Preston Lewis, Neal Little, Kyle Maciolek, Casey McGinnis, Luke Parks, Cody Reidling and Megan Rhinehart.
Haynes called his seniors to the stage where he made positive remarks about their careers at Dawson County.
Seniors this season were: Hayley Estes, David Gormley, Judith Hall, Kerstin Hlinski, Kenny Houseal, Jade Hyde, Zach Paz, Crystal Pittman, Tiffanie Rowan, Rene Santillan and Alyss Woody.
Haynes then recognized the school record breakers this season.
Both teams were able to break school records at every track meet this season with the exception of one meet.
Breaking school records were: Tiffanie Rowan in the 100-meter High Hurdles with a time of 18.00, Rush Davenport in the 400-meter with a time of 51.61 and the 200-meter with a time of 23.34, Madalyn Walters in the 3200-meter with an amazing time of 11:53, and the 4x100 team of Hall, Wallace, Hovan, and Hlinski with a new record of 52.12.
Each of these athletes received a picture frame with a recognition of their accomplishment.
Lundy and Haynes then presented trophies to both the boys and girls.
On the boys’ side, Zach Paz (Most Improved); Luke Parks (Best in Field); Rush Davenport (Best Runner) and Zach Paz was awarded the Most Valuable.
For the Lady Tigers: Summer Lewis (Most Improved); Kimberly Wallace (Best in Field); Kerstin Hlinski (Best Runner) and Madalyn Walters (Most Valuable).