Parents, coaches and students gathered in the Portage High School auditorium on Sunday evening to celebrate a successful winter season of Indians athletics. There were eight teams and a total of 190 athletes competing in sports during the winter.
Athletic director Jeff Smith opened the awards banquet with his remarks.
“We appreciate the time and commitment from students, parents and coaches,” he said.
Head principal Caren Swickard extended a special thanks to the parents for the time that it takes to be the parent of a busy student-athlete. Swickard said that she is excited about the future of the athletic program with all of the talent of the school’s younger athletes.
Smith announced that the 250 Club, which is a goal of 250 varsity wins which was set by the athletic department, is already at 243 with the full spring season left to go. He expects the Indians to break the 300 win plateau for the second consecutive year.
“We will celebrate that and raise the bar even more next year,” he announced.
After the opening remarks from Swickard and Smith, each of the varsity head coaches took the microphone to talk about the season. Rick Snodgrass of the boys basketball team was first up. He talked about his squad’s eight win season, their best record since 2004. The Indians tied for sixth in the Duneland Athletic Conference, their highest finish since 2003.
“It doesn’t seem like a lot but we’re making strides and I’m very happy about it,” he said.
Lawrence Jones and Tristian Pearman were recognized as three year letter winners. Jones was the recipient of the team’s Most Complete Player award.
Girls’ basketball coach Chris Seibert talked about his team’s improbable postseason run. The Indians upset Crown Point in the semifinal of the sectional on their home court to advance to the championship game.
“This season was a tale of two halves for our team. We finished winning six of our last seven games and playing in the Sectional Championship,” Seibert said.
“That was a great week of basketball and school spirit,” Smith said of the girls’ sectional, which was hosted at PHS.
Tori Bliss, who has signed with Louisiana State University for track and field, took the Top Indian Award and was described as “a champion in life” by her coach.
Boys swimming coach John Zack is proud of the way his team competed, even though he admitted that they did not have the ideal season. Zack named sophomore Cole Ozbolt the team’s Most Valuable Player.
Greg Mundt spoke about his girls swimming team, which exceeded all of his expectations. The lady-Indians placed third out of 15 teams in their sectional. Four year letter winners Liane Cesare and Erika McEwan were honored and junior Taylor Bayer was named the MVP.
Wrestling coach Pat Wilkins explained how much adversity his team had to fight through to achieve postseason success. The Indians won their sectional for the third straight year, had 13 of their 14 wrestlers qualify for the regional and sent one wrestler to state. Luis Acuna placed seventh in the state in his weight class. He finished his career with four varsity letters and a 130-30 record. Acuna was named the wrestling MVP. Tyler Coleman was the other senior to receive his fourth varsity letter.
Gymnastics was the final team to have its season come to an end when the Indians placed fourth at the Chesterton Sectional on Saturday. They missed qualifying for the regional by one spot, but Mackenzie Barcelli and Danielle Solis have both qualified as individuals. Courtesy of her break out sophomore season and all-around status, Barcelli was named the team’s MVP. Paige Bomba was their only senior and four year letter winner.
Assistant athletic director Kelly Bermes took the microphone on behalf of the cheerleading program. Briana Beal was named the cheerleading MVP. Dance coach Renee Sabinas talked about the adjustments her squad had to make in its first year as a part of the athletic department. They performed sixteen times and learned eight different routines. Lisa Cruise was the dance team’s MVP.
Jeff Smith returned to the podium to talk about student-athletes that are also excellent in the classroom. The team with the highest cumulative grade point average was the girls basketball team with a 3.46. Seven of the eight teams had team GPAs above 3.0, while 67 winter athletes were at 3.5 or higher.