Article by SMT Contributing Writer
Dexter, Missouri - Players, coaches, parents and adminstrators all came together last night in the DHS cafeteria to celebrate the Fall sports season and recognize the Dexter players for their accomplishments. The evening kicked-off with the traditional meal that was provided and served by the Dexter Bearcat Booster Club. The Club has done this for a number of years, and it shows their committment to aid and support the Dexter activity programs.
At the conclusion of the meal, Athletic Director Derek Urhahn performed the duties of the MC and welcomed everyone to the Fall Sports Banquet. Urhan also introduced all the guests and members of the School Board.
The first presenter of the night was Vicky Windham, the Coach of the Footbal Varsity Cheerleading team. Coach Windham recognized all the girls on the team and thanked them for their hard work this season.
The next speaker was Girl's Tennis Coach LeeAnn Dooley. Coach Dooley introducted her team and gave a summary of their 10-4 season. She was very proud of the way her team played and was quick to note their successes in beating Farmington, Cape, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff this year. Coach Dooley, who has coached the team for several years also accounced that this was her last year of coaching. Her hard work and dedication to the sport of tennis is greatly appreciated. Coach Dooley recognized Makayla Waldner for the player who won the most doubles matches. She also noted that Waldner and Kendra Stevenson tied for most singles matches won. The award for MVP was presented to Baylee Cooper, who played in the number one spot all season and was dealt the task of competing against the best player from all the other area schools.
Girl's Volleyball was next on the agenda, and first year Coach Carmen Morgan thanked all those associated with the volleyball program; such as the assistant coach, the maintanence staff for setting up and taking down the nets, the parents, and the Booster Club for purchasing an iPad and a stats program for the team to use this season.
Coach Morgan stated that the JV team went 12-7 this year and she looks for those players to greatly improve next year and play a role at the varisty level. Coach Morgan then sang the praises of her Varsity team that went 22-9 this season. She went on to say that 6 of their losses were to Bernie, Perryville and St. Pius, and each of those teams went to the Final Four this year.
With a team of no seniors this year, it would certainly appear that the future of volleyball in Dexter is a bright one. In recognizing her players, Coach Morgan went on to say that Shyann Jines led the team in service aces and digs, and that Paige Patterson was the most improved player throughout the season. The Defense Award was given to Shyann Jines, and the Kill Award and Setting Award were both received by Hannah Noe.
Dexter Football Head Coach Aaron Pixley was the next person to take the podium. He named off the members of the Freshmen and JV football teams, and spoke briefly about their season and his outlook for the future. He then recognized all the lettermen and provisional lettermen from the Varsity team. Coach Pixley went on to say that despite the record of 1-9 he felt that the team was in alot of games this season in the first half, but being undersized and having to deal with a tough schedule and lots of injuries led to the disappointing season record.
Coach Pixley praised his players for their commitment to the sport and their dedication to this team. They fought great odds this season, but they practiced hard and they did not quit. The awards for the football team are voted on by the players. The Most Valuable Back award went to Ryan Joyner. The Most Valuable Lineman award went to Chase Noe. The Most Valuable Defensive Player award went to Trevor Waldner, and the Most Valuable Player award went to the player that never came off the field this year, and that was Chase Young.
The final Fall sport to be recognized was cross county. Presenting the awards was their Coach, Leonard Morse.
This was the first year with Morse at the helm and he thanked the kids and the school adminstration for thier assistance in the transition. He also thank the previous CC coach for the input and advice that she gave him throughout the season.
Morse noted that the size of the team was down this year, and that they only had 10 members. However, they worked hard and all runners, even the underclassmen, completed at the varsity level all season. Morse went on to say that all the runners improved over the season, and during the Semo Conference Meet, that 9 of the 10 members of the team set personal records with their time.
The Outstanding Female Runner was presented to Katie Justice. The Outstanding Male Runner and the Outstanding Leadership awards were given to Senior Alex Rybolt. Rybolt finished all the meets this year with the best time on the team.
For the final presentation of the evening, Brett Dorton went to the podium to announce the winner of the coveted Bland Award. The Bland Award honors the most outstanding senior student athlete from the Bearcat football team.
The Bearcat that is selected to win this award must meet very strict criteria and excel in all areas of the scholar-athlete life, which includes: scholastic ability, school participation, community involvement, leadership, attitude and athletic ability. In no way is this award to be viewed as an award strickly for athleticism.
The voting is done by the coaching staff, the statistician, a school counselor, a school teacher, the athletic director, and by a representative for Charlie Bland. The winner of the 2012 Bland Award was Ryan Joyner. Ryan becomes the 19th winner of the Bland Award, which began in 1994. This year's voting was tight again, with only 4 votes separating the top 3 spots.
