In order for the Portage High School Athletic Department to run smoothly, a large number of individuals put in countless hours of hard work. Many of those people were recognized at Thursday night’s Fall Sports Awards Banquet in the PHS East Auditorium. At the conclusion of each season in which athletics are played at PHS, the athletes, coaches and parents from all of the varsity, junior varsity and freshmen teams come together to celebrate the teams’ accomplishments and achievements.
PHS Athletic Director Kelly Bermes announced the winner of the coveted Team Grade Point Average Award. The girls cross country team received the plaque by virtue of its academic excellence, narrowly edging out the boys tennis squad.
During her comments to the teams and parents, PHS Principal Caren Swickard talked about how proud she is of the school as a whole for receiving an A grade from the state of Indiana.
“Portage High School and the community have a great deal to celebrate,” Swickard said.
Swickard also recommended that athletes “cherish and nourish” the relationships they form with their teammates and expressed her satisfaction with the girls cross country team, which was able to “get the job done” both inside and outside of the classroom.
Veteran boys tennis coach Gary Hayes, who may have finished his final season as the Portage boys tennis coach because of his new job as the head boys basketball coach at Griffith High School, spoke about the progress that his team made over the years that he and Joe White coached the program. He also compared PHS to all of the other schools that he has stopped at during his long and winding coaching career.
“I’ve coached over 100 seasons of athletics and this is a quality place to work,” Hayes said. “It’s been an honor to coach these guys. Our consistency throughout the season never let down.”
Hayes added that he had “some of the best parents to be around” this season. Senior Jeff McElfresh was named the team’s Most Valuable Player by virtue of his 16-7 performance at No. 1 singles, while Patrick Derr was a three year letter winner. C.J. Haupt and Chris Klenk finished the boys tennis season with a record of 24-1 helping the team to its 16-3 mark. The boys tennis team was the sectional runner-up, sent two players to the All-Conference team (McElfresh and John Fannin), one to the All-District team (McElfresh), had two Academic All-State Honorable Mentions (McElfresh and Haupt) and was led by the District Coach of the Year.
Girls golf coach Tim Kunstek said the administrators at PHS are the “nuts and bolts that put the athletic events together.” He handed the girls golf MVP Award to four year letter winner Mackenzie Barcelli. The team qualified for the regional this season.
“I’m so proud of my girls,” Kunstek said. “We had five girls that went out every match and played hard as a team.”
Senior, first time golfer Haley Hodges was named Academic All-State by the state of Indiana.
Boys cross country coach Tom Erickson extensively thanked the parents of the runners for their hard work.
“When we go to Culver, our parents do such a great job with our team cookout,” he said. “We had some of the best spaghetti dinners that we’ve had in my time here.”
Girls cross country coach Jay White agreed that the parents make a big impact on Portage cross country, saying that they travel all over the state of Indiana to watch them race. Zach Swets and Tim Huber were honored as boys cross country four year letter winners, while Tylor Hudson was named the team’s MVP. Freshman Kyra Ball notched the girls cross country MVP award. The girls cross country team qualified for state this season, placing 21st in Terre Haute.
Senior Logan Cole received the boys soccer MVP award from head coach A.J. Monroe, who returned to PHS for his second stint atop the boys soccer program. Cole, Derik Novina and Alex Becker were four year letter winners, while Greg Prohl and Taylor Felinski won three boys soccer letters.
Girls soccer coach Ashley Severs named senior Nicki Monahan the team’s MVP. The rest of the senior class, Heather Figueroa (three year letter winner), Katie Bylak (four year letter winner) and Lauren Zack (four year letter winner), was honored with Monahan, who was a four year letter winner.
The volleyball team may have finished the season with a record of 12-22 (1-13 in the Duneland Athletic Conference), but fans saw the initial signs of a turnaround during the second half of the season, when three set losses turned into five set thrilling matches. Junior Mariah Wright and three year letter winner Cloe Carda were recognized from the volleyball squad. Second year Portage head coach Brian Zofkie said that two aspects of Portage volleyball matches that stand out to him are that Principal Caren Swickard frequently attends and the tremendous fan support that the volleyball program receives.
“I’ve never seen that kind of fan support at a volleyball match and it does impact our matches,” Zofkie said.
Head football coach Wally McCormack said that it is nice that the athletic department is bringing in Portage High School graduates as coaches that are dedicated to the school and have no plans of going anywhere. He was one of many coaches to mention athletic secretary Diana Rivera for her hard work.
“The most valuable person in an athletic office is the athletic secretary,” McCormack said.
Rashaan Coleman and Jeron Blake were the team’s three year letter winners, while Nate Johnson was given the Special Teams Awards for his 27 touchbacks, field goal percentage of approximately 80 percent and just one missed point after touchdown, which came in the season opener.
Coleman, a versatile athlete who plays three sports and has served in just about every capacity in his time on the Portage football team, was honored as the football MVP.
Click here for more photos from the banquet!!!