Last night the annual West Central Valley cross country awards night banquet was held to honor the outstanding season for both Wildcat cross country teams.

In total there were 16 letter winners, 8 on the boys side and 8 on the girls side.

For the boys, the letter winners consisted of freshmen Louden Foster, sophomore Jon Kalbach, juniors Matt Clark, Alex Kalbach, Nathan Denning, Tye Joint, Rylan Heffernan, and senior Tyler McKibbin. The two team captains for the boys side belonged to their two state qualifiers Rylan Heffernan and Tyler McKibbin. McKibbin’s list of accomplishments included a spot on second team all conference, 3rd team all district, 44th place finisher in the state meet, as well as the WCV Confidence and Pride & Humility Awards.

For Rylan Heffernan, the junior captain had a laundry list of accomplishments as well earning 1st team selections for all West Central Activities Conference and All District teams. Rylan finished 20th overall at the state meet and was awarded with the Most Outstanding Athlete Award, the Leadership Award, the Accountability Award, and the Hard Hat Award.

Junior Tye Joint took home the Most Improved Athlete Award with freshmen Louden Foster receiving the Integrity Award while junior Matt Clark rounded out the boys awards with the Outstanding Newcomer Award.

On the girls side, they too had 8 letter winners in freshmen Michaela Jaeger, sophomores Sam Russell and Olivia Becker, junior Joli Kunkle, and seniors Jessica Blair, Emily Franklin, Gillian Stanley, and Abbey Harris. Team captains for the Lady Wildcats included Abbey Harris and Gillian Stanley.

Stanley ended the season as a second team all conference selection, was a senior all-star meet participant, and was awarded the Academic Responsibility and Selflessness Awards. For the Lady Wildcat’s state qualifier, senior captain Abbey Harris, she also came away with a whole host of awards. Harris ended the 2016 season as a second team all conference and third team all district selection. Just like Stanley, Harris was also an All-Star meet selectee. Harris also earned the Most Outstanding Athlete Award and was recognized as West Central Valley’s all time medal winner.

Michaela Jaeger joined both Stanley and Harris on the all conference stage as a 3rd team member. The talented freshmen also earned the girls’ Outstanding Newcomer Award. Last but certainly not least, the final award for the Lady Wildcats was the Most Improved Award given to sophomore Olivia Becker.