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The winter sports awards were held on Thursday evening (March 4) at Young Scholars Academy. Athletic Director Jeremy Klingensmith was on hand to present certificates of participation to each student, along with the head coaches who presented individual awards.

Jennifer Weinald recognized her cheerleading squad, which has been in action since the beginning of the year and just wrapped up cheering the basketball squads.

Shanda Weiler presented her middle school girls basketball squad. She also acknowledged her team captains, Chelsea Rush and Tobie Jenkins. Tobie Jenkins was also named as the team's Most Valuable Player, with the Most Improved award going to Gormith Guerra.

Nathan Blais showed off his middle school boys basketball team. He also handed out several awards for the students' participation in a recent skills competition.

The high school girls basketball team was introduced by Mike Kern. Alexus Earl received a trophy as the team's Most Valuable Player. Allison Wals was awarded for Team Spirit and Dawn Astemborski as Most Improved. In addition, Tobie Jenkins received a certificate for Heart & Hustle and Neesha Mitchell for being Best on Boards, leading the team with 11 rebounds per game (avg). Megan Kern was recognized as team captain and received a signed team ball as a graduating senior.

The high school boys basketball crew was acknowledged by their coach, Joey Leslie. His MVP trophy went to Matt Powers with the Most Improved award going to Chris Warden. Bryan Reynal was recognized as the Defensive Player of the Year.

The awards ceremony was followed by the annual student/faculty basketball game. Each of the four basketball squads played a quarter against staff of the same gender. The faculty has easily won the game in the past several years, but this year's contest was quite a challenge. As in the past, a shot from the halfcourt circle counted as ten points, and it was such a shot that decided the game. With only 24 seconds remaining on the clock, Jonathan Lobato drained a halfcourt shot to finish the game with a faculty win, 69-63.

To see pictures of the event, visit our Photo gallery.