Gavin Kauffman and Carissa Swanson were named the top male and female athletes of the year for Sweet Home High School at the annual Senior Sports Awards Banquet held Wednesday, June 1.
Former Sweet Home football and basketball star Jerry Farnsworth II, now a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and commander of the 84th Engineer Battalion in Hawaii, was keynote speaker at the event, sponsored by the Husky Booster Club.
Athletic Director Kostanty Knurowski, who presented the Boy and Girl of the Year awards, said Kauffman and Swanson were chosen from “a lot of very good people, very good athletes in this room,” which made the selection by coaches difficult.
“The first thing that comes to mind with regard to these two is commitment – to excellence and to their teammates,” he said, adding that the winners were also good role models in the community.
Kauffman lettered three years in both basketball and baseball and was an all-league and all-state performer in both sports, twice in basketball and this year in baseball. He is a nominee for McDonalds All-American and Oregon Prep Athlete of the Year in basketball, in which he is also a two-time Player of the Year, last year in the Val-Co League and this year in the Sky-Em Conference. He has been chosen to the state all-star game in baseball.
Swanson has been a four-year state qualifier in cross-country and a three-year state qualifier in track, in which she placed sixth in the 1500 and 3000 in 2009. She has received numerous awards in both sports and was a two-time team captain in cross-country.
Five students were added to the Hall of Fame: Shelby Gillespie, Olivia Johnson, Maria Kropf, Sami Webb and Kauffman. The Hall of Fame requires a 2.5 GPA or better, citizenship, athletic achievement by earning a district or state honor and agreement by at least 50 percent of the coaching staff.
Track and Cross-Country Coach Billy Snow noted that he had coached three of the winners: Kropf, who finished her high school career as the second-highest point scorer in the history of the state 4A track championships as well as holder of several school records and the state 100 mark; Webb, who won a state championship in swimming and, as Snow put it, “learned to embrace pain and go after it;” and Johnson, who won three district titles in cross-country after finishing second as a freshman, and is, as Snow put it, “a great student, a great person, very self-motivated, not only in sports, but in class and in life. I will miss her terribly.”
Baseball Coach Matt Matuszak introduced Gillespie, noting that she has been an eight-time letter winner, four in soccer and four in softball, and describing her as “a great student.”
He said, in introducing Kauffman, that it would take too long to list all his accomplishments.
“I’m really looking forward to going to watch him play college basketball,” Matuszak said.
Farnsworth was introduced by former Husky football Head Coach Rob Younger as a “great student athlete and a better person,” as well as one of three Sweet Home players to play at Division I schools.
Farnsworth said that he has an “empty space” in his heart for Sweet Home, despite living in Honolulu “where the temperature is 85 degrees every day.” He mentioned a couple of times that he could see himself returning some day.
He told the athletes that participation in sports helped his own decision making and that lessons they have learned in athletics will help them likewise.
“Sports helps you make choices,” he said. “When others are out at the lake, camping or playing X-box, you’re working out. You’re selfless.”
He also encouraged the athletes to remember that they are role models to younger people.
“You have so many youngsters out there who want to be you. You set that example. That’s something no one can take away. You set the example for the next generation of Sweet Home athletes.”
Other award winners were:
n Larry Johnson/Bruce West Sportsmanship Award – Caroline Amendola, Kaitlyn Long, Robert Rubideaux and Alex Stupin. The name of West, who died May 19 after a 51-year coaching career that lasted through this year, was added at the request of Johnson, presenter Steve Thorpe said.
n Moe Award – Kaitlin Keenon and Kyle Hummer. Presenter Steve Hummer, Kyle’s father, quoted other coaches who said Keenon and Hummer were selfless and hard workers.
“She’s perhaps the most polite young lady I’ve ever met,” Hummer said of Keenon, who plans to become a nurse. “She’ll be a an amazing nurse.”
He said his own son, who plans to enter the Air Force ROTC at Oregon State University and eventually be a police officer, has become “someone I look up to. He’s been a great kid and now he’s become a great man.”
n John Seward Memorial Scholarship – Cheryl Wilson, whom presenter Junia Calhoon described as “reliable and always there with a smile – a positive presence.”
n SHAF Norm Davis Memorial Scholarship – Kyle Hummer.
n Kenneth J.H. Sitton Award – Zach Miller.
n Greg Hagle Memorial Scholarship – Kauffman, whom presenter Jim Hagle, brother of the late former Husky athlete Greg Hagle, noted has a 3.18 GPA and is involved in church activities as well as being “a pretty incredible basketball player.”
n U.S. Army Scholar Athlete Award – Patrick Long and Carissa Swanson. Football Coach Dustin Nichol, who served as presenter, described Long as a “’Yessir, Nossir’ kind of guy” who will be successful “because of his attitude and hard work.” He said Swanson, whom he described as “one of the hardest-working kids we’ve ever had,” would often be working out in the weight room early in the morning when he arrived with his football players.
n U.S. Marine Corps Distinguished Athlete – Alex Santana and Ashley Cochran. Presenter Steve Thorpe noted that Santana played every game of the football season, even though injured most of the year, and scored 41 points as a kicker. He cited Cochran’s accomplishments as a two-sport athlete – volleyball and softball – “who was a huge part of the conference title” in softball this year and who plans to continue in the sport at Mt. Hood Community College.
n OSAA/Farmers Insurance Group Scholar Athletes – Given to seniors who earned a varsity letter in a sport or other OSAA activity and achieved a 3.5 GPA or better, this year’s honorees were: Alejandra Ramirez, Taylar Rodgers, Mikaela Stoner, Caroline Amendola, Wes Clarkson, Riley Cole, Brandon Courteau, Cody Daniels, Josie David, Emily Egbert, Shelby Gillespie, Alec Goetz, Kyle Hummer, Derek Jaques, Olivia Johnson, Krystal Juza, Kelika Kaniaupio, Kaitlin Keenon, Patrick Long, Bethany Marner, Zach Miller, Rosaliya Minigulova, Jazmine Morris, Jason Rice, Mykle Riggle, Bayli Riggs, Erin Rose, Megan Sanderson, Carissa Swanson and Cheryl Wilson.