The Portage Township School Board Meeting commenced with a lengthy student recognition session on Monday night as a wide spectrum of distinguished Portage students received the opportunity to be presented in front of the school board.
Just two days removed from winning the state title at Ball State University, the Portage gymnastics team greeted the board.
“They did a phenomenal job,” head coach Karen Barcelli said. “We want to thank everybody’s support. It was amazing coming home to a police and fire engine and people waiting at the school- sorry about the silly string.”
The marquee in front of South Haven Elementary School, the location of the board meeting, displayed a message congratulating the state champs. There are various other signs around the city congratulating the team, including the marquees at Willowcreek Middle School and Dairy Queen.
The wrestling team’s state qualifiers were also recognized as seniors Exvonte Jones, Dylan Logsdon and freshman Gaige Torres were in attendance, while senior Danny Roach qualified for state but could not attend the meeting.
After placing seventh in the state as a freshman, Torres has an opportunity to become the first four-time state placer in school history. He will be leaving next Friday to compete in Iowa Nationals.
The wrestling team was competing in the Indiana State Wrestling Association this past weekend when it received word of the gymnastics team’s state title.
“It was great for Portage wrestling and for Portage overall that they won because we sat in a hotel room and our guys said, ‘We want to win the state title now,’” Vega said. “It’s nice, it sparked our guys.”
Diver John Fannin, who placed sixth at regionals at 17th and state, was the last of the winter athletes to be honored. Fannin also plays varsity tennis and holds a 4.35 grade point average, which is good enough to rank seventh in his class.
“John is one of those kids that does it all,” Athletic Director Kelly Bermes said.
Senior Sydney Yingst, sophomore Marko Mavrovic and junior Mason Hooper comprised the Portage High School speech team, which is set to compete in state.
“People have a tendency to look at our small team at tournaments and count us out of competition,” speech coach Stacy Bachman said. “Historically, larger teams like Munster and Chesterton sweep the board. This year we proved that David can beat Goliath.”
Yingst will compete in state in original performance, while Mavrovic will compete in the discussion event.
Indiana Student Journalist of the Year finalists Brandon Vickrey, Collin Czilli and Eric Mesarch received recognition for their accomplishment, as did the elementary students that participated in the Math Bowl Competition.
The Math Bowl was hosted in Portage for the first time ever, with 15 schools competing from the surrounding areas, including Myers, Saylor and Jones. Students from each of those schools had the chance to shake hands with the board members and PTS Superintendent Ric Frataccia.