Phil Campbell honors athletes
By Staff
Kim West, Franklin County Times
Phil Campbell coach Amy Moss paraphrased Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski at the school when she said, "If what you did today looks big, then you haven't done much today."
But Bobcat coaches did pause Monday evening to celebrate with an athletic banquet to honor their athletes and teams' accomplishments the past year.
"You can carry these kids anywhere," football coach Kelly Kiser said. "They represent our school with a lot of class and dignity, and show pride for their community."
Coaches awarded players certificates that listed all their sports, and each coach handed out individual awards.
Jonathan Dill and Alyssa Smith each won the school's student-athlete of the year award, which is awarded to "the person who participates in multiple sports and gives 100 percent in everything they do." Dill plays football; baseball and basketball, while Smith runs track and plays basketball and softball.
Chase Hutcheson (valedictorian) and Shelly Cooper (salutatorian) also received recognition for being the top two students in the senior class.
Softball coach Greg Winstead recognized his team for finishing with the best record (30-11) in school history.
The Lady Bobcats also advanced to the second round of the state playoffs and won the county and area championships and the Hackleburg, Russellville and Bobcat Invitational tournaments.
Moss, the girls' track and basketball coach the past two years, recognized the varsity and junior varsity girls track teams for sweeping the county championships.
Moss said the mentality of Phil Campbell athletes has improved.
"When I first came here, basketball was down and track was down," Moss said. 'Kids' morale was low, and I just tried to encourage them from day one to see that they had talent to compete with other teams.
"The biggest thing was trying to get their confidence up and get them to believe they could compete with bigger schools. That was the key for us – confidence. We've kind of started a new slogan around here – no track, no problem."
Nine Bobcat runners qualified for state, including Cooper, who won the state javelin title and finished third in the shot put for the second straight year.
Editor's note: The complete list of of award winners will run in Friday's edition.
