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Prosser Mustang Awards |
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Prosser
dominates Athlete of the Year awards The Prosser High School football team was perfect on the field last fall and continued to dominate Tuesday. The Mustangs accounted for three of the top four awards at the Yakima Valley Sports Luncheon at the Yakima Convention Center. Record-setting receiver Cody Bruns, a Prosser senior who also was all-league in basketball and a standout sprinter on the track team, was named Male Athlete of the Year. His former teammate, Kellen Moore, had won the award the past two years. Moore's father, Tom, won the Jack Cleveland Coaching Award. The elder Moore is the architect of a Prosser program that has won four state championships and been a state power for the past two decades. And the Mustangs, who mowed through the CWAC and the state playoffs en route to a 14-0 record and the Class 2A state title, were named team of the year. Ellensburg senior Kayla Standish, a star on the volleyball and basketball courts and on the track, won Female Athlete of the Year. Standish also won the award as a sophomore, becoming the first two-time winner of award. Yakima Valley Sports Awards -- Still perfect
YAKIMA -- Even for a program as prolific as Prosser's football factory, seasons like last fall's still manage to grab your attention. A perfect campaign, featuring record-setting individual performances and capped with a dominating game in the state final that showed just how much better the Mustangs were than their nearest competition. Against that backdrop, it should have surprised no one Tuesday when that 14-0 Prosser football team swept the boys awards at the sixth annual Yakima Valley Sports Awards luncheon at the Yakima Convention Center. Record-setting receiver Cody Bruns was first named the top football player and later won the overall Male Athlete of the Year. The Mustangs were named Team of the Year, and Tom Moore, the longtime architect of the program, won the Jack Cleveland Coaching Award. "It just proves that all the hard work paid off," said Bruns, the record-setting receiver who is headed to the University of Washington this fall. "The individual stats weren't that important. The whole goal was to get to the state championship game." "This just tells you what a team effort this was," Moore said. "Football is the ultimate team sport, and we have a great coaching staff and kids who are willing to put in the effort." A different sort of dominance was rewarded with the girls top honor as Ellensburg's Kayla Standish capped an outstanding four-year career with her second Female Athlete of the Year award. "I was excited and glad when they called my name. It feels good to end (my prep career) with such a great award," said the Gonzaga-bound Standish, who was the top girls athlete in 2006, and was also named the top girls basketball player for the third straight year. Bruns becomes the second straight Prosser football player to be named athlete of year, following Kellen Moore, himself a record-setting quarterback who won the award the past two years. This last season, Bruns had 90 catches for 1,443 yards and 19 touchdowns, giving him career numbers that rank second nationally in receptions (310) and yards (5,177), and third in touchdowns (72). "I felt this was the best year just because of the way it turned out and it being my senior year," Bruns said. "It was sad in a way (after the championship game), knowing I was done playing for Prosser, but it couldn't have ended in a better way." Prosser was by no means a one-man wrecking crew as it rolled through its perfect season, capped by a 42-7 thrashing of Burlington-Edison in the championship game. In addition to Bruns, the 2A state player of the year, the Mustangs had five others named to the 2A all-state first team -- quarterback Jordan Durbin, receiver Kirby Moore, offensive lineman Nate Meeske, defensive lineman Kellen Crawford, and linebacker Daniel Gannon. "We had depth," Moore said. "We were really good at every position and nobody got hurt. That depth pays off in the last few weeks of the season." Standish was a standout volleyball and basketball player, and also was a multi-event performer in track and field. She helped the Bulldogs to a runner-up finish in the Class 2A state basketball tournament, a third-place finish in volleyball, and then had two top-four finishes in the state track meet, giving her nine medals in her career, Standish said the highlight -- and also the toughest part -- of her senior season was playing that one-point loss to River Ridge in the 2A state basketball final. "It was exciting ... but that's when I realized it would be the last time I played for coach (Craig) Faire," said Standish, who finished with 2,076 points in helping Ellensburg make four state appearances and win three team trophies. She also helped the Bulldogs to three consecutive state team trophies in volleyball, capped by last fall's third-place finish. In addition to the prep honors, there were a few other awards handed out Tuesday. The Monday Morning Quarterbacks Club presented longtime official Sam Nishi with the Swede Lindquist Official of the Year honor, and Gary George with the Fred Redmon Service Award for his work with athletics in the Valley. Also honored were Yakima Valley Community College's athletes of the year -- women's basketball player Andrea Blodgett and men's basketball player Anthony Johnson, both of whom parlayed their success this season into NCAA Division I scholarship offers. Blodgett is headed to Idaho State, and Johnson is going to Montana.
Yakima Valley Sports Awards -- List of winners
YEAR
MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR -- Cody Bruns, Prosser FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR -- Kayla Standish, Ellensburg JACK CLEVELAND COACHING AWARD -- Tom Moore, Prosser football TEAM OF THE YEAR -- Prosser football
FALL BOYS CROSS COUNTRY -- Herschel Sanchey, Klickitat GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY -- Sandra Martinez, Davis FOOTBALL -- Cody Bruns, Prosser GIRLS SOCCER -- Hillary Franks, West Valley GIRLS SWIMMING -- Jillian Garrigues, Naches Valley VOLLEYBALL -- Kinzi Poteet, Grandvew FALL COACH -- Tom Moore, Prosser football FALL TEAM -- Prosser football
WINTER BOYS BASKETBALL -- Evan Berndt, West Valley GIRLS BASKETBALL -- Kayla Standish, Ellensburg BOYS SWIMMING -- Zach Ponchene, Ellensburg BOWLING -- Kayla Nickles, Eisenhower WRESTLING -- Isaac Romero, Sunnyside WINTER COACH -- Andy Affholter, Granger girls basketball WINTER TEAM -- La Salle girls basketball
SPRING BASEBALL -- Kevin Komstadius, East Valley FASTPITCH -- Renee Cuillier, East Valley BOYS GOLF -- Zach Wanderscheid, Goldendale GIRLS GOLF -- Christine Cook, Eisenhower BOYS TENNIS -- Abe Chang, Davis GIRLS TENNIS -- Katie Kelleher, Ellensburg BOYS TRACK AND FIELD -- Brett Blanshan, Selah GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD -- Lisa Olander, West Valley SPRING COACH -- Anne Holden, Grandview boys soccer SPRING TEAM -- East Valley baseball
YVCC AWARDS MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR -- Anthony Johnson, basketball FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR -- Andrea Blodgett, basketball
MONDAY MORNING SWEDE LINDQUIST OFFICIAL OF THE YEAR -- Sam Nishi FRED G. REDMON SERVICE AWARD -- Gary George
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