Tennis players feted

Last Saturday, members of the 2008 Harrison County High School tennis teams were honored at a banquet at the high school.

Seth Barnes and Hank Whalen were honored for their achievements this season as a doubles team. The duo were runners-up in regional competition, advancing to the state tournament last week in Lexington.

Their stay in the state tournament was brief as they were handled easily by a seeded team from Madison Central, 6-0, 6-0.

However, Harrison County coach Jennifer Hatfield says that loss shouldnt diminish their season.

Seth and Hank had a couple of goals heading into this season. One was to beat the Bourbon County doubles team and the other was to advance to the state tournament. They accomplished both of those goals and we couldnt be happier for them.

At the banquet, Coach Hatfield handed out several awards to her teams.

Thirteen players earned Academic All State Honors. Nine of them were Academic All State with GPAs over 3.75. Four were Honorable Mention All State with GPAs between 3.25 and 3.75.

Earning Academic All State were Ross Smith, Allison McVey, Polly Whalen, Hank Whalen, Aubrey Boyers, Edie Carson, Jacqueline Young, Maggie Dycus and Emily Vance. Honorable Mention awards went to Ethan Jackson, Elizabeth Ford, Miranda Turk and Emily Pribble.

Several team awards were voted on by team members. Winning the Bred Award was Hank Whalen, with Aubrey Boyers winning the Fillie Award. These awards were voted on by teammates for the Bred or Fillie that is thought to be the standard by which the others judge themselvesthe player who best represents the team.

The Most Improved Fillie award went to Polly Whalen with the Most Improved Thorobred going to Charlie Smith and Ben McDonald.

This award was voted on among teammates and went to the player who best exhibited a strong work ethic toward improved play.

The 110% award went to Wes Barnett for the Breds and to Miranda Turk for the Fillies. Given by the coaches, this award went to players who showed great effort toward the team, along with being reliable, punctual and dependable.

The coaches also selected one Thorobred and one Fillies to receive the Good Sport Award to players who exemplified sportsmanship, leadership and integrity. Those awards went to Ethan Jackson and Allison McVey.

The Most Valuable Player award went to Seth Barnes and the Most Valuable Person award went to Ross Smith, with both teams voting on this award.

We had a really successful year, said Coach Hatfield. We will miss those seniors that are leaving us, but look forward to our returnees continuing to improve and carrying the torch for players after them.