Despite the unusual circumstances that ended the 2019-2020 athletic seasons at Mansfield, the school recently released its Players of the Years for all sports. Recipients representing the Fall and Winter sports were acknowledged. Only the girl's track team out of the spring sports saw a POY identified.
From the early fall, cross country, golf, and cheerleading offered the following awards. McKenzie Griffin and Ethan Chapman represented the cross country players of the year. Maggie Strunk was the golfer of the year. Hailey Walker was the cheerleader of the year.
Late fall sports included football and volleyball. The football player of the year honor was shared by Ethan Stoval and Layton Howard. Brooke Wright was the outright winner of the MHS volleyball player of the year.
Winter sports included basketball for the men’s and women’s team. Makayla Strutton off the girls team and Ethan Stovall for the men were players of the year.
Due to the recent pandemic, softball, baseball, and track seasons were canceled with only limited competition. Most of the coaches felt the season was too short to nominate a player of the year. Girls track on the other hand recognized Delilah McKusker as the player of the year in large part for her service as a mentor to the seventh grade athletes involved in track and field.
Other award winners were also released. In cross country, Chapman, Griffin, Darby Jones, and Katlynn Moore were all awarded All-Region and River Valley All-Star plaques. Griffin also earned All-District honors.
Faith Rainwater and Jadelynn Wood ran times worthy of being recognized as River Valley All-Stars. Lennon Woods made the Southwest All-Region squad. Ashton Hinkle was recognized as the most improved cross country runner and the player with the farthest non-stop run.
Golf All-Conference awards went to Strunk and Skylynn Harris. Cheer recognized Walker as the most spirited while Bree Benavides was the best jumper and Ryan Hayslip was the best tumbler.
Football saw Stovall, Howard, and Isaac Cothran collect All-Conference and All-State awards. Stovall was also the MHS offensive player of the year. Howard was the special teams player of the year at the local level, conference level, and KFSM Channel 5.
Jacob Brown, Randall Claude, Jaicy Griffin, Tyler Holmes, Clay James, Will Meadows, and Bri Sanderson all earned All-Conference accolades. Blayne Bryant and Cameron Macon were both Honorable-Mention All-Conference.
For volleyball Wright, Kiara Thomas,Hayle Helms, Vanessa Noblitt, and Maggie Strunk all made the 3A West All-Conference team. Wright was also 3A All-State and a member of the State All-Tournament team.
Helms was the MHS defensive player of the year while Wright was the offensive player. Abigail was the most valuable teammate while Kara Sweeten was the most improved.
For the Lady Tiger basketball team Brooke Wright was the defensive player of the year. Danielle Lillie was the offensive player of the year and earned Honorable-Mention All-Conference recognition.
Makayla Strutton was the team’s All-District representative.
Off the men’s basketball squad Ethan Stovall was the All-District representative. Jaicy Griffin and Isaac Cothran were honorable mentions.
Layton Howard was the offensive player while Codi Chick was the defensive player. Jonathan Bailey won the sixth man award while Tyler Holmes won the Tiger Pride award.
In girls track and field, the unit completed the indoor season. From that state finals Sadie Roberts and Skylynn Harris both earned All-State recognition for winning individual state titles in the high jump and shot put respectively.
The outdoor track season was not completed. Therefore , only the seniors of the squad were noted. Off the girls team were Janna Coplin, Addison Goetz, Delilah McKusker, and Lennon Woods. From the men’s team were seniors Jacob Brown and Jaicy Griffin.
The softball team recognized its three seniors as well. They were Abigail Morgan, Kyli Davidson, and Maggie Strunk.
The baseball team honored Isaac Cothran and Clay James as its two seniors.
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