Vance Proffitt Named New NEN Girls Coach

Vance Proffitt, the former North Nodaway coach, has been named coach of the Northeast Nodaway Bluejays. He inherits a team that won 85 games and lost only 23 in the last 4 years. They still have horses coming up with a strong sophomore class along with upperclassmen Kristan Judd, Rachel Runde, and Michelle Schulte, the tiny but deadly version of the family. The announcement was made at the Northeast Nodaway Athletic Banquet Friday. Outgoing coaches Eric Fairchild and Amber Guthrie are both leaving, with Fairchild assuming a teaching job and basketball coaching duties at Rock Port and Guthrie going to her home school at West Platte after the first semester this year. Boys coach Ryan Madden is leaving as well.

"I could not have asked for more from this group," said Coach Eric Fairchild. "They had their third coach in four years and they did everything I wanted them to and that's all I can ask," he said about his 23-5 squad.

Emily Bryant was honored for 3-point shooting. Rachel Runde led in assists while Kristan Judd and Taylor Dougan both shared the 6th player award. Michelle Schulte won the steals award as well as the defensive MVP while Kristin Sherry won the Black and Blue award for being willing to do whatever it took to win a game. Repeat second team all stater Blair Schmitz was awarded for leading in points (16 per game), rebounds (8-9 per game), offensive MVP, and team MVP. She scored over 1,000 career points, with her 1000th point coming against CFX this year.

Fairchild said that the team would have a strong nucleus for incoming coach Vance Profitt to work with as the freshmen got a whole lot better as the season progressed. They constantly pushed the upperclassmen in practices and the results paid off on the floor.

Coach Ryan Madden said that he was proud of the character and integrity of his team and that he was sorry to leave. They finished with a 19-8 record, their best in quite some time. He said that there were several signature games starting with Tarkio where they came from 16 down to win. Madden pointed to DeKalb where he said he was out of answers, but they found a way to stay in the game. He mentioned South Nodaway, where they did not play well, but found a way to win thanks to Kevin Stoll's last second shot. He said their two best games of the year were against Princeton and Trenton, where they completely outplayed them to win. The most memorable was the 100-93 six overtime win against King City.

Bryce Farnan was awarded the most points with 489, nearly 20 per game. He also got the blocks award with 69 with Dalton Welch a close second. Aaron Patton won the assists and steals award, getting over three steals per game. Farnan won the rebounding award, averaging 12.6 per game and getting over 15 several times. His most was 20 against North Andrew and he had several 15-15 efforts as well. Defensive Player of the Year was Aaron Patton. Most Improved was Dalton Welch, but Madden said it was a close call between him, Jason Henggeler, and Bryce Farnan. The Black and Blue Award went to Colby Wiederholt, who always did what he was asked, never talked back, and was a coaches dream. Bryce Farnan became the MVP. "Once he realized he could get into the paint and score, he could not be stopped," said Madden.

Erica Hovey, Morgan Porter, Taryn Farnan, Ashley Standiford, and Katrina Freemeyer were recognized for their cheerleading throughout the year.

Baseball Coach Jared Freemeyer recognized the baseball team, which was 3-9 in their inaugural season. He said that he got two comments from other coaches. The first was that they were impressed with how they did as a first year team. The other comment was about the number of Schmitzes on the team. It used to be that the Schmitz family was known for basketball and they still are, but now they have opened a new chapter without sacrificing the old.

Offensive Player of the Year was Tyler Schmitz, who batted .346 with 3 home runs and 6-7 doubles. Cody Hunter was Defensive Stopper of the Year as he struck out 14 batters in one game and 8 or 9 in the inaugural win against South Nodaway. Colby Wiederholt got the Leadership Award as he was named all district. He was a leader both on and off the field as he made Freemeyer's job easier by telling the players stuff before he had to. Coaches remarked that he was the best 2A and 3A center fielder at this level. Cody Schmitz was named the MVP as Freemeyer said that he pushed himself, made plays while lying on the dirt, sold himself out, and was the hardest worker on the team. Jason Henggeler was the Most Improved as he went from not seeing the ball very well to becoming one of the best clutch hitters on the team and was willing to bloody his lip going after foul balls.

Coach Charley Burch recognized the track teams. Michelle Schulte got the award for most points on the girls side and Sage DeLong got the award for most points on the boys side.

The MSHSAA Award of Excellence was given to Emily Bryant and Dalton Welch. They were recognized for living up to the ideals of sportsmanship, ethics, and integrity.