Centerville honors athletes, coaches, more with inaugural Barkies sports award ceremony

CENTERVILLE, Ind. — Centerville held its inaugural Barkies award ceremony May 21 to honor and recognize Bulldog athletes, coaches and other members of the athletic department for their accomplishments during the 2022-23 school year.

Athletic Director Shane Osting compared the Barkies to the ESPYS and treated the ceremony as a way to roll out the red carpet for athletes and have them support each other for their achievements.

Voted on by the athletes and coaches themselves, here are the award winners of this first-year event:

Positive Dog of the Year

Oshea Phillips, Cailin Ballenger, Shane Osting

Character Athlete of the Year

Mia Lickfelt

Comeback Athlete of the Year

Jackson Marker

Breakthrough Athlete of the Year

Shea Hollendonner, Shelby Life

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Moment of the Year

Braden Tedder (Hole-in-one)

Team Manager of the Year

Destinee Reece

Assistant Coach of the Year

Brian Phillips, Susie Ecker

Coach of the Year

Mike Day, Randy Ecker

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Team of the Year

Boys Golf, Girls Tennis

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Scholar Athlete of the Year

Drake Shadle, Chloe Scales

Athlete of the Year

Collin Clark, Alex Goodwin

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Support Staff of the Year

Norma Cole

Centerville had the most successful year in athletics of any other Tri-Eastern Conference school, racking up the highest combined score for all sports to win the TEC All-Sports race. Here are the Bulldog teams that earned some extra hardware this year:

Wayne County Champions

Girls Cross Country, Girls Golf, Girls Track and Field, Boys Golf

TEC Champions

Girls Cross Country, Football, Wrestling, Girls Track and Field, Girls Tennis, Boys Golf

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Sectional Champions

Girls Cross Country, Boys Tennis, Girls Bowling, Girls Tennis

Regional Qualifiers

Girls Cross Country, Boys Tennis, Boys Cross Country, Girls Bowling, Boys Bowling, Wrestling, Girls Tennis

Semi-State Qualifiers

Girls Cross Country, Wrestling

There were also many individual accomplishments to come from Centerville athletes. Here are the highlights:

State Finalists

Alex Goodwin (Girls Golf), Shelby Life (Wrestling), Mary Freeman (Wrestling)

Record Breakers

Avery Dickerson – swam the fastest 200 freestyle (2:02.72) and 500 freestyle (5:36.65) in Centerville girls’ swimming history

Alex Goodwin – became the first Centerville female golfer to ever qualify for state

Lilly Day – hit the longest home run in Centerville softball history

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Collin Clark – became the football team’s all-time tackles leader

Jake Erbse – made the longest field goal in Centerville football history (47 yards)

Chloe Scales – ran the fastest 5K in Centerville girls’ cross country history (19:42)

Braden Tedder – made two holes-in-one

College Signings

Gracie Helms – will play women’s tennis at IU East

Chloe Scales – will run women’s cross country and track at IU East

Destinee Reece – will participate in women’s track and field at IU East

Alex Wandersee – will play baseball at Vincennes University

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The Bulldogs didn’t do all this without also getting the job done in the classroom. Centerville honored 54 students with a GPA of 4.0 or higher and another 51 students with a GPA between 3.67 and 3.99. Here are the student-athletes who earned Academic All-State honors:

First Team

Oshea Phillips, Alec Erbse, Cora Burton, Aubrey Morgan

Region 8

Collin Clark, Cole Jordan

Honorable Mention

Cole Farlow, Jack Kenny, Luke Cannarella, Jackson Marker, Mia Lickfelt, Chloe Scales

Zach Piatt is a reporter for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Centerville High School holds inaugural Barkies sports awards