Dexter, MO - Dexter High School held their annual Fall Sports Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 8th in the DHS Auditorium. Several awards were given as well as First Time Letters "D" were awarded. A special honor to retiring Coach Aaron Pixley and the Charles Bland Award was also presented.
Awards were presented to each Fall Sport. Up first was Coach Starla Pulley with the Volleyball Awards.
Volleyball
The Lady Bearcats finished 19-10-1, including winning the Stoddard County Athletic Association (SCAA) Tournament Championship.
Offensive Player of the Year: Carly Long
Defensive Player of the Year: Magi McBride
Assists Leader: Dulcie Pullen
Most Valuable Teammate: Andie Kruse.
Girls Tennis
Coach Kristi Boles, trying not to shed a few tears, gave out four awards. She also said that she had never seen so many fans in attendance at tennis before. She was even nervous at a couple of matches with the number of fans who showed up to support her girls.
The Lady Cats went 8-10, and the season was highlighted by Julianna Rivera and Maci Comfort’s doubles second-place finish in the Kennett Invitational.
Highest Win Percentage in Singles: Maci Comfort. She went 7-7 while playing the No. 2 position.
Best Win Percentage in Doubles: Natalie Bolin. She went 11-12.
Most Valuable Teammate: Julianna Rivera on varsity and Grace Marvel on Junior Varsity.
Cross Country
The Bearcats sent five athletes to the MSHSAA State Cross Country Meet.
Coach James Deberry presented the awards.
Female Runner of the Year: Gabby Brown. She finished 19th place at state bringing home an All-State Medal.
Male Runner of the Year: Ben Dowdy.
Cheerleading
Coach Lindsay Woods announced that Rachel Lin earned the Football Cheerleading Award which is voted on by her teammates.
Football
Retiring Coach Aaron Pixley recognized the football team for their accomplishments and announced four awards which were selected by the players.
The Bearcats finished the 2021 season 6-5 and credited his 14 seniors for the program's great success this year.
"I am truly honored to go out with this group of young men," stated Pixley.
Most Valuable Player: Josh Alday
Most Valuable Defender: Lucas Alday
Most Valuable Lineman: Frank Wirz
After the awards in an interview with Pixley, "We went from two years ago winning one game, last year winning three games, and this year six games. So It's headed in the right direction.
Pixley will continue to work with his players as the school’s weightlifting coach and the assistant wrestling coach in preparation for handing over the program to a new coach in 2022.
Dexter High School athletes who won awards at the fall sports program Monday night are:
(front row, from left) Magi McBride, Dulcie Pullen, Andie Kruse, Camden Riley, Maci Comfort, Julianna Rivera, Natalie Bolin, and Rachel Lin
(back row, from left) Ben Dowdy, Josh Alday, Carly Long, Lucas Alday and Frank Wirz.
