2012 Athlete of the Year

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2 Athlete of the Year • Week of June 18, 2012

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Athlete of the Year • Week of June 18, 2012 3Female

Athlete of the Year Carlie NewmanHigh school sports have taught me many

things that will help me later in life.Most important is how to work with other

people to obtain a common goal. Everyone might share the same desires and goals but ev-eryone’s approach to obtaining them is very dif-ferent. I’ve learned that getting to know and un-derstand your teammates is as important as skills and ability.

In today’s world you have to be competitive. With a slow economy and limited jobs you have to set your goals high and be persistent on reach-ing them. Sports teach you that nothing comes easy and if you want to win you must work hard and never give up. Learning to be competitive al-lows you to not only want something that every-one else wants but gives you that natural motiva-tion to push harder and fight for what you want.

Being on a sports team teaches you how to work with other people who share the same de-sires and goals. You don’t have to be friends with everybody but sports can bring together people from different backgrounds, cultures, etc. They give you a chance to work with people you thought you didn’t or wouldn’t like only to find out once you get to know them they’re usually always better than you thought. Several of my good friends today are girls a few years ago I thought I’d never get along with but it was only because I didn’t know them. You are going to meet and work with people all throughout your life and getting involved in high school sports is the best way to really get to know what people are really like.

Practicing good sportsmanship today will in-still values that can be utilized throughout your entire life. Learning to cope with the many dif-ferent personalities encountered while playing sports and still being respectful towards them can be difficult and frustrating but is a quality that will further you in life; improving your relation-ships with your family, co-workers, and friends.

This is a rare trait, difficult to achieve but a powerful one to possess to give you the charac-ter needed to be successful in all aspects of life.

This is what I have been taught and what I have practiced throughout my 13 years of sports. Whether this is just the niceness within me or how I was raised, it is just something that has come natural to me and it is very discourag-ing to see the disrespect some student athletes have to their opponents, coaches, and even their own teammates. Seeing how this upsets me, I have learned to deal and interact with the behav-iors of those who choose to uphold those actions and it has helped better myself as a person and athlete.

The advice I would offer to future high school athletes is to be respectful be yourself, and be open minded to meeting new people. If they practice these three qualities they will better themselves and help them have a more success-ful career in their future.

By SCOTT [email protected]

Brandywine senior Carlie New-man has been selected the Leader Publications Female

Athlete of the Year.Newman, who lettered in three sports

for the Bobcats, was selected from the weekly fall, winter and spring Athletes of the Week.

She was selected by a panel of judges, who reviewed applications submitted by the senior Athlete of the Week winners from Leader Publications’ four newspa-pers (Niles Daily Star, Dowagiac Daily News, Cassopolis Vigilant and Edwards-burg Argus.)

Newman, who has a grade point aver-age of 3.9 and finished eighth in her graduating class at Brandywine, was a four-year starter in basketball for the Bobcats, helping lead them to four straight district championships, three consecutive Lakeland Conference cham-pionships, three straight regional cham-pionships, two quarterfinal appearances and a trip to the state semifinals in 2010.

During her career, Brandywine was 88-12.

She was a three-time Class C All-State selection and a two-time Academic All-State pick.

Newman also competed in cross coun-try, soccer and tennis for the Bobcats.

She helped the tennis team win the Division 4 Regional championship earli-er this year and qualify for the state fi-nals. Newman and doubles partner Mac-kenzie Shelton fashioned an undefeated regular season. The two remained unde-feated until they were eliminated at the state tournament.

“I just have always been into sports,” Newman said. “It teaches you a lot of life lessons you never thought you would learn. I can’t imagine myself not in sports.”

But as much as sports has been a part of her life, Newman knows that it’s just part of a balanced educational experi-ence.

“Academics has always come first for me,” she said. “I ended up in the top 10. You definitely have to stay up late and study after games. You have to be able to

put extra time in. After practice and games you might get home late, but you still have to make time for your home-work. It is a lot harder than being a nor-mal student.

“School will take you farther in life than athletics.”

But Newman wouldn’t change a thing. Her hard work on and off the course translated into a college scholarship.

The Bobcat senior signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her academic and athletic career at Spring Arbor Uni-versity where she will play basketball.

She will major in health and exercise science.

Besides sports, Newman was also ac-tive in Student Council and National Honor Society at Brandywine. She was a community leader in blood and food drives.

Newman said that her advice to any-one interested in being a student-athlete should remember that it takes dedication.

“Hard work definitely pays off,” she said. “If you put in the work, you will get something out of it.”

She is the daughter of Michael and Tina Newman.

Cortney Shirrell Brandon Partee

Newman

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By SCOTT [email protected]

Dowagiac senior Craig Zebell has been selected the Leader Publi-cations Male Athlete of the

Year.Zebell, who lettered in three sports for

the Chieftains, was selected from the weekly fall, winter and spring Athletes of the Week.

He was selected by a panel of judges, who reviewed applications submitted by the senior Athlete of the Week winners from Leader Publications’ four newspa-pers (Niles Daily Star, Dowagiac Daily News, Cassopolis Vigilant and Edwards-burg Argus.)

Zebell, who as the Class of 2012 Vale-dictorian at Dowagiac Union High School, finished with a 4.0 grade point average.

He lettered in soccer, basketball and track for the Chieftains.

He was a four-time All-Wolverine Con-ference pick, four-time Division 3 All-District selection, three-time All-Region and three-time All-State pick.

He is also a Michigan High School Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete, only the second in Dowagiac’s history.

Like soccer, Zebell played four years of basketball, helping the Chieftains to the Class B state semifinals in 2010-11. He was a captain on both squads.

This past spring he lettered for the first time in track, where he was also named a captain.

While his sports resume may be im-pressive, it’s his work in the classroom and in the community that really stands out.

Zebell has made mission trips to Zam-bia, where he helped build a school, and to Peru on three separate occasions where he helped build a church.

He has also worked in a soup kitchen for Feed the Hungry and been a camp counselor. He has helped with the Awana Youth Program for four years.

He is a member of the National Honor Society, Student Senate, Interact (which is part of Rotary International), school tutor-ing, Humanities Club and been a Science Olympiad participant.

“High school helped prepare me for college with my study habits and being dedicated,” Zebell said. “It helped me to develop socially amongst studying and sports. A good balance between all of that.

I has given me a passion to be a life-long learner.”

Zebell credits his success in the class-room to a good educational foundation es-tablished early on.

“I went to Sister Lakes and I had some good teachers there and my parents al-ways pushed me hard,” he said. “I just re-member my teachers at Sister Lakes made learning fun and exciting. Really, from a young age I just really worked hard.”

Zebell will attend Moody Bible Insti-tute in Chicago this fall where he also plans to play soccer and basketball. He will study Sports Ministry or International Studies.

He said he feels that athletics, as well as academics, are an important part of the overall educational experience.

“It was hard sometimes because I had practices and so much homework, but you just really had to meet deadlines,” he said. “I know it will be even more in college. With practices and games, you just really had to stay on top of your studies. There were some late nights and some sleepless nights, but I just persevered through it all. I’m glad I did it.

“I think sports helped me stay focused because you always had to be going and meeting deadlines. I think that helped.”

Zebell is the son of Stephen and Clau-dia Zebell.

Male

Athlete of the Year Craig ZebellThe discipline of soccer and sports has helped

develop my character in many ways.For instance, my junior year, my soccer team

made it to the regional semifinal match that was played at Hope College. Up to that point, our sea-son had been going really well in spite of the fact that we had a young team.

Our opponent that game was Grand Rapids South Christian, who ended up winning the state championship. We were hopeful of going all the way to the finals and winning as South Christian did; however, despite or laborious effort, we lost 7-1.

It was difficult to lose that badly, and on top of that, the season ended with that game. In the weeks that followed, I had to overcome the sad-ness I felt at the disappointment. But the discipline gained from having trained for soccer reminded me that through the pain comes gain.

Physical pain results in stronger muscle, and in-ner pain results in stronger character. There will be greater disappointments to deal with in life, and this sport’s experience helped prepare me for the future — joy and sadness. Working hard at soccer showed me that it’s possible to accomplish great things when great effort is put forth. This experi-ence and principle will serve me well in my future endeavors.

Another challenge came my way during the basketball season my junior year. I was part of the varsity basketball team but didn’t get a lot of play-ing time. Sometimes I would get to play only the last minute of the game, or maybe only the last 30 seconds, and occasionally not at all.

At times it was difficult to feel as though I had any impact on what happened during the game. However, I soon realized that I had a huge, differ-ent role to play, In practice, I had to give my best every day so that the other players would be well prepared for the game. I had to help cheer the guys on during the game and encourage them off the court when they were discouraged.

With new perspective, I was able to accept not playing as much, I was able to enjoy the season more, and I was able to have fun. I respected all the players a lot, and they seemed to respect me as well. It was a trial to embrace and an obstacle to get around, but sticking with it and persevering was more than worth it.

A bonus this year has been becoming a starter. As a result, I was actually able to see hard work pay off.

Advice that I would like to pass on to future high school athletes is to never give up no matter what kind of adversity is standing in the way. The obstacle may seem insurmountable, but with de-termination, strong will, and solid friends, no ob-stacle is too great.

I would also encourage every athlete to have fun. Sure we need to be competitive, but at the same time, we need to enjoy what we do as well.

Zebell

Jessy Cooper Sam VandenHeede Hannah MacDonald Whitney Donaldson Chris Gantt

Fall Sports

Athlete of the Year • Week of June 18, 2012 5Fall Sports

Logan Pellow

Brittany Williams

Adam Kendall

Reese Ellison

Chanc Ravish

Holly Luth

Anthony Dopp

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Matthew McLaughlin

Haley Smith

Evan Brown

Andrea LaPlace

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Myles Busby

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Winter Sports

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Col Hunsberger

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Kennth Carlson

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Austin Parks

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Brooke Smith

Matt Lyle

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MHSAA Scholar-Athlete

Zebell wins Dowagiac’s second awardBy SCOTT NOVAK

[email protected]

Dowagiac senior Craig Zebell was one of 32 individuals who will be given a $1,000 college scholarship as the win-ner of a Class B Scholar-Athlete Award.

Zebell is only the second Dowagiac Union High School senior to receive such a scholarship.

Andrew Cuthbert was an award win-ner in 2007.

The Class C and D awards were an-nounced last week. The Class B awards were announced Tuesday by the Michi-gan High School Athletic Association in conjunction with Farm Bureau Insur-ance, who is the sponsor for the award.

Also winning Class B scholarships were Sara Marie Barron, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; Kathryn MacDermid Boll-man, Williamston; Julie Buursma, Hol-land Christian; Rachel Neumann, Flint Powers Catholic; Jordan S. Daley, Grand Rapids Christian; Andrew Kelley, Allegan; Nathaniel P. Gaynor, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; and Nicolas Huston Parnell, Spring Lake.

“I definitely feel honored and hum-bled too,” Zebell said. “Being friends with Andrew, I actually talked to him,

so it’s cool that we could share that. Be-ing only the second one, I feel privi-leged.”

Zebell has letter four years in soccer and was a three-time All-State perform-er for the Chieftains, including a first team selection this past season. He was Dowagiac’s captain his junior and se-nior seasons.

Zebell also helped the Chieftain bas-ketball team reached the Class B state semifinals in March 2011 and is cur-rently a member of the team.

A former Outstanding Freshman Ath-lete winner, Zebell has also been Aca-demic All-State in soccer. He is a four-year member of the student senate and is vice president this year.

In his essay about sportsmanship, Ze-bell wrote, “I have learned that if a player has an incredible talent but lacks sportsmanship, then he won’t leave a lasting legacy. I feel that sportsmanship is what makes a good athlete into an even better one, and sportsmanship isn’t to be displayed only in games, but also in practice and in life.

“I did work hard on that application,” Zebell said. “I was hopeful, but I guess I didn’t now if I would make it. I knew there were 32 kids from Dowagiac do-

ing it and kids from all over the state. I was hoping, but I wasn’t expecting it.”

Actually, one of those 32 other ath-letes who also filled out the application inspired him to “step up his game.”

Zebell said he talked with Erica Greenwood, who was named Miss Dowagiac over the weekend, and she was really excited about her essay.

“I had to step up my game a little bit after she told me about hers,” he said. “She inspired me.”

Zebell will attend Moody Bible Insti-tute in Chicago, where he will continue his soccer career. He will study either sports ministry or international studies.

“He is what we are looking for in our student-athletes,” first-year Dowagiac athletic director Brent Nate said. “He is a three-time all-stater. He will be vale-dictorian of his class. He demonstrates character on and off the court and he is respected by all his peers, teammates and staff. That’s what we look for in our Dowagiac athletes.

“We are honored and proud not only as an athletic department, but as a school district and a community. We should be honored and proud have him as a member of it and a representative of Dowagiac.”

Zebell and the other winners will be honored during halftime of the Class C boys basketball finals game March 24 at the Breslin Events Center on the cam-pus of Michigan State University.

Zebell


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Athlete of the Year • Week of June 18, 2012 11Spring Sports

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Brandon Partee

Cody Fairleigh

Brande Overholt

Alex DeJonge

Jessy Cooper

Dontel Highsmith

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jordan Juday

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Taylor Brandstatter

Madison Proshwitz

Michelle Briand

Amanda Craft

Matthew McLaughlin

Chris Gantt

Ashley Love

Ryne Willming

Madison Pellow

Regina Kennedy

Quintin Irby

Rachel Bailey

12 Athlete of the Year • Week of June 18, 2012Spring Sports

Kyle Slack

Andrea LaPlace

Aubrey Ritchey

Kaley Frank

Kevin Hatcher

Robert Saxton

Jessica Waldschmidt

Meagan Ruff

Breanna Coleman

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College Signing

Brandywine’s Newman picks Spring ArborBy SCOTT NOVAK

[email protected]

The best offensive player to ever put on a Brandywine girls’ basketball uni-form committed to Spring Arbor Univer-sity Monday afternoon.

Carlie Newman, who is the Bobcats’ all-time leader in points and 3-point bas-kets, signed a National Letter of Intent with the Cougars in front of family, friends and coach Josh Hood.

Newman said that Spring Arbor really was the only school she was looking at during the recruiting process.

“I like the small campus,” she said. “I made one visit. I stayed the night there and I really liked it. The players were re-ally nice. It’s the perfect distance from home.”

Hood was excited to have another player sign to play at the next level and expects more to come.

“This is the culmination of her hard work,” he said. “Her parents have pro-vided a lot of resources for her since she was little to travel all over and she’s tak-en advantage of that. I know it’s an ex-citing day for everybody.”

New Spring Arbor coach Ryan Frost says that Newman will be a perfect fit in

the Cougars’ program.“I was able to see Carlie five or six

times over the summer and I really liked how hard she worked on the floor,” Frost said. “Her shooting ability is kind of obvi-ous and stands out. She can really shoot the ball. Physically I think she will be able to adapt to the college game real well. She’s a real strong player who rebounds the ball well.”

Leader Publications Photo/File

Brandwyine’s Carlie Newman (front) signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her career at Spring Arbor University. In back from lef t are Bobcats’ coach Josh Hood, mother Tina, father Mike and Spring Arbor coach Ryan Frost.

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2012 Athlete of the Year

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