Six seniors awarded honors at boys' hoop banquet

Mar 21, 20190

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Colfax seniors honored at the hoop banquet Monday were, from the left, Bennett Gray, Mason Miller, Carson Cloaninger, Kelan Becker, Bryan Rubin and Cameron Hiatt. Gray and Becker were named most inspirational, and Hiatt was voted most improved by team members. Cloaninger was voted for the most valuable teammate honor. He also received a basketball from Coach Reece Jenkin which was painted with a 1,374 for the number of points he scored during his career. Cloaninger was named league MVP for the league for the second year. Rubin was also named for all-league honors.

Final chapter of Colfax hoops for the boys team ended Monday with six seniors at the head table. The senior crew played a big role in the year's campaign which saw the Bulldogs take the NE-south title race and battle into the final rounds of long district playoff at West Valley.

Recalling a glum 0-3 summer run against three NE teams, Coach Reece Jenkin said he was proud of the way the Bulldogs learned how to battle.

"They learned how to come back," Jenkin said.

He noted the Bulldogs were still battling in their final game at West Valley when they were too far down for a rally.

"There was no quit," he commented.

Six seniors honored were Mason Miller, Cameron Hiatt, Bryan Rubin, Kelan Becker, Bennett Gray and Carson Cloaninger.

Cloaninger, second-year league MVP, received the team's MVP award.

Coach Jenkin presented Cloaninger with a basketball with 1,374, the senior's career point total, painted on it. The coach noted Cloaninger is only the second player he has had who booked more than 1,000 career points.

Cloaninger will play in the state all-star game this week.

Gray and Becker were co-winners of the inspirational award, and Hiatt was named most improved. Other seniors were Bryan Rubin, also named for all-league honors, and Mason Miller.

The individual awards were decided by a team vote.

Also getting varsity award were juniors Hunter Claassen, Gavin Hammer, Gunnar Aune, Cole Baerlocher, Cotton Booker, Layne Gingerich, and Damian Demler. Freshman John Lustig also earned a varsity letter, but was unable to attend Monday's banquet.

Jayvee Coach Ben Aune noted his team rolled up a 17-2 record with losses to Lakeside and Liberty. They evened the score with Liberty at the end of their season.

He presented jayvee awards to Booker, Hammer, Aune, Layne Gingerich, Damian Demler, Dyamin Vanek, Kyle Dial and John Kinley.