Spring All County Honors

Another sports season has wrapped up for our local high school athletes.  Once again there were several great performances by a number of athletes throughout the spring season.  As we continue to try to spotlight some of those amazing athletes we will honor our spring sports stars in this week’s edition.

Baseball/Softball

As our readers are likely aware, Soda Springs is the only local school to field a baseball or softball team.  With that being the case there is no competition to earn spots on the first team all county outside of their own teams.  So by default the starting line-ups for each squad would automatically earn those spots.  So we will not spend any time on those selections, however we would like to congratulate those players who played hard all season long and persevered through what at times was a difficult season.  What we will do is select an all county player of the year for both baseball and softball.

This year's All County Player of the Year for baseball is Kolten Peterson.  Kolten finished the season ranked in the top three players on the team in several of the statistical categories.  Kolten led the team in batting average (.435), on base percentage (.559), slugging percentage (.587), hits (20), and runs (18).  Kolten was also second in RBI’s and stolen bases.  Kolten also spent a significant amount of time on the mound for the Cardinals where he performed well.

This year's All County Player of the Year for softball for the second year in a row is Aiyana Davis.  Aiyana led the team in every single statistical category but one, stolen bases where she came in second.  Aiyana ended the year with a .634 batting average, .706 on base percentage, 26 hits that resulted in 25 runs and 18 RBI’s.  Like Perterson for the boys, Davis spent most of the season on the mound for the Lady Cardinals where she had some great moments of success. 

Golf

This year's golf season was a great one especially for the teams from Soda Springs.  Both the boys and girls teams from Soda Springs dominated the regular season with each team grabbing district championships and qualifying for state.  At state, each team went on to win a trophy with the boys claiming fourth place and the girls becoming state champions.  Meanwhile the Grizzly golfers from Grace did not enjoy the same success due to some lack of depth and experience.  However the Grizzlies did have a couple of golfers perform well enough to earn some end of season honors.  Of all of our spring selections golf was the most difficult choice we had to make.  In the girls there were two clear front runners, while the boys was a wide open race that came right down to the wire.

In the girls competition it was clear that it was going to come down to either Kamryn Mansfield of Grace or Jayden Parker of Soda Springs.  Each and every week these two girls pushed each other as they battled for the top spot.  In the end we went with the girl that had the best individual performance on the biggest stage.  For the second year in a row Kamryn Mansfield is our pick for All County Girls Player of the Year.  Kamryn finished her season as the first ever girls individual state champion for Grace.  With Mansfield graduating and moving on there is no doubt that the young sophomore Parker will be the front runner to win the honor next season.

Like I mentioned before the boys race was more wide open with several different players in the running.  It seemed like every week a different boy would earn the top score in the county.  We had to go back and average each boy's score for the entire season to come up with a winner.  After our calculations this year's All County Boys Player of the Year goes to Keathen Edwards from Grace.  Keathen's average weekly score came in at an 81 just four strokes ahead of Soda Spring’s Kayden Simmons who averaged an 85.

Here are the remaining players to earn All County Honors.

Boys Player Of The Year:

Keathen Edwards

Boys First Team

Kayden Simmons (Soda Springs)

Brycen Simmons (Soda Springs)

Barrett Hobbs (Soda Springs)

Preston Ozburn (Soda Springs)

Girls Player Of The Year:

Kamryn Mansfield

Girls First Team

Jayden Parker (Soda Springs)

Tara Vedder (Soda Springs)

Jasta Stoor (Soda Springs)

Shaston Lloyd (Grace)

Track And Field

This year's local track and field teams were a mix of experience and a lot of youth.  The Cowboy’s teams were heavy with young talent and very few senior leaders.  The Cardinals were a good even mix of both with a very strong senior class and some great up and comers.  The Grizzlies were loaded with veteran athletes with just a few young athletes.  The Grizzly's senior boys helped the team earn a fourth place trophy at the state meet.

Once again this year we will select a top boys and girls track athlete of the year as well as field athlete of the year.  In addition to those selections we will name a top athlete and a runner up in each of the following categories, distance, sprints, hurdles, jumping, and throwing.

We will start off with our boys field athlete of the year.  This was an easy choice for the second year in a row.  Our Boys Field Athlete of the Year goes to Cole Garbett from Soda Springs.  Cole dominated the shot put and discus again this year and even improved on his performance from last season.  Cole finished his career with new school records in both events as well as a state championship in each event.

Next up our girls top field performance is also a repeat from last season.  This years Girls Field Athlete of the Year goes to Rosie Harris from Soda Springs.  Rosie had several great meets where she finished at the top of the pole vault and high jump all while also competing in running events.  Rosie finished her career with a new record in the pole vault and two district championships.

In the boy’s track athlete of the year competition there were two individuals that had great performances.  In the end it came down to the athlete that was able to qualify for state and compete there in four events.  This year's Boys Track Athlete of the Year is Carter Mecham from Grace.  Carter's blazing speed helped earn him a spot on two state placing relay teams and a top eight finish in the 200 meters.  However in his best event, the 400 meter sprint the sophomore earned an individual state championship.

Our girls top track performer goes to a girl that has put in years of hard work.  This year's Girls Track Athlete of the Year goes to Ellie Wood from Soda Springs.  Ellie capped off a great career with two district championships as well as qualifying for state in four events.  At state her best finish came in the 800 meter run where she earned a silver medal after finishing in second place.

The remainder of our track and field honors are listed below.  Congratulations to all of this year's athletes who made our All County selections.

Boys Thrower of the Year:
Cole Garbett (Soda Springs)

Runner Up: Carson Cook
(Soda Springs)

Girls Thrower of the Year:
Soliel Somsen (Soda Springs)

Runner Up: Madalyn Barnes
(North Gem)

Boys Jumper of the Year:
Landon Martinsen (Soda Springs)

Runner Up: Bryant Moss (Grace)

Girls Jumper of the Year:
Rosie Harris (Soda Springs)

Runner up: Indyana Hatch
 (North Gem)

Boys Hurdler of the Year:
Jonah Wilkerson (Grace)

Runner Up: Parker Yost (Grace)

Girls Hurdler of the Year:
Bella Eddins (Grace)

Runner Up: Brielle Yost (Grace)

Boys Sprinter of the Year: Carter Mecham (Grace)

Runner Up: Jaxson Horsley
(Soda Springs)

Girls Sprinter of the Year:
Maddie Kempe (Soda Springs)

Runner Up: Sadie Daniels
(North Gem)

Boys Distance Runner of the Year: Adrian Mejia (Grace)

Runner Up: Landon Moldenhauer (Soda Springs) 

Girls Distance Runner of the Year: Ellie Wood (Soda Springs)

Runner Up: Brooklyn Porter (Grace)