Edmunds County Tribune -

The athletic portion of the 2018-19 Ipswich High School Academic/Athletic Night capped the evening last Thursday in the Ipswich School Theater.

And a highlight of the night was that Kamryn Heinz and Ben Kulesa were named the Outstanding Senior Athletes, announced by Ipswich AD Dan Knust. And that shouldn't come as too big of a surprise, even though the Class of 2019 accomplished no end of memorable athletic achievements throughout their senior year and careers.

For starters based on their numerous athletic accomplishments, the pair were obvious candidates for the Ipswich School Hall of Fame along with classmates alphabetically, Daniel Braun, Abigail Grabowska, Bailey Hammrich, Sydney Loken, Taylor Maurer, Reece Moehlenbrink, Riley Nehlich, Jacob Nierman, Aleah Steger and Ashlee Thorson. Meanwhile, the Scholar Athlete Awards went to one girl, Abby Grabowska and one boy, Jacob Nierman.

The coaches of the respective IHS sports summarized their varsity seasons, along with some individual special awards and one of the highlights that got a lot of mention was the IHS girls basketball team featuring Heinz and her senior classmates with its first trip to the state tournament in 31 years and a seventh-place finish, coached by Brian Hogie. (And Hogie also got to coach the 2018-19 football team that earlier in the school-year had gotten back into the play-off hunt for the first time in a few years).

Switching gears, Ipswich finished second as a team at the 2018 girls' cross country meet and several cross country runners on both the Tiger and Lady Tiger rosters are still in the hunt for some track and field glory, under head coach Todd Thorson. (That regional will be held on Thursday, May 16 in Gettysburg and the State B is slated for May 24-25 in Sioux Falls.) That's also the case for the Lady Tiger and Tiger golf teams with the upcoming regional meet on Monday in Huron and the state meet scheduled for Mitchell on June 3-4.

Altogether 95 letter-winners were announced Thursday evening starting with three seventh-grade newcomers and ending with no fewer than 23 seniors. And that lengthy list features several letter-winners with more than one letter.

Those 2018-19 IHS letterers are:

Seniors: Daniel Braun FB/BBB/TR, Jared Bjordal FB/BBB, Thomas Goetz FB/TR, Olivia Gohl VB/GBB, Abigail Grabowska VB/GBB/TR, Bailey Hammrich GBB/TR, Kamryn Heinz VB/GBB/TR, Kari Kanable CC/TR, Ben Kulesa FB/BBB/CC/TR, Kyle Larson FB, Sydney Loken VB/GBB/TR, Taylor Maurer TR, Trevin Maurer FB, Matthew Miller BBB, Reece Moehlenbrink FB/BBB/TR, Riley Nehlich FB/TR, Sheldon Neitzel FB/TR, Jacob Nierman FB/BBB/TR, Abby Olson CC, Jadon Onken BBB/TR, Ashlee Thorson CC/VB/GBB/BBCH/TR, Carson Simes BBB/TR, Aleah Steger CC/GBB/TR

Juniors: Tyrone Braun FB, Derrick Dobberpuhl FB, McKenzie Evans TR, Lily Gaston BBBST/TR, Maxwell Geditz CC/BBB/TR, Ethan Gilbert CC/BBB/GF, Carter Heinz, FB/WR/TR, William Kadlec BBB/TR, Tessa Kilber CC/GBB/TR, Lucas Metzinger FB, Kendra Osborne VB/BBCH/TR, Jessica Pullman VBST, Jordan Richardt FB/BBB/TR, Alexa Rossman FBCH/BBCH, Jayna Sanborn FBCH, Lexi Stafford FBST, Avery Sylte VB/FBCH/BBCH/TR, Emily Thorson FBCH/BBCH, Dillon Weig FB

Sophomores: Hailey Bierman VB/GBB/TR, Jacob Davies FB, Katelyn Geditz VB/FBST/GBB /TR, Lindsey Grabowska VB/GBB/TR, Halle Heinz VB/GBB/TR, Halie Feldman VB/FBST/GBB/GF, Matthew Hettich FB/BBB/TR, Tarynn Kleffman VBST/FBST/GBB, Ashton Loken VBST/GBB, Josh McQuarie FB/TR, Paige Mehlberg VB/BBCH/TR, Chesney Olivier VB/GBB/TR, Dylan Owens CC/TR, Bailey Pitz VB/GBB, Austin Russell FB, Eric Severson FB/TR, Tyler Tran FB, Logan Weig FB

Scholar Award winners were Abigail Grabowska and Jacob Nierman

Freshmen: Jake Bakken BBMGR, Emily DeRaad CC/TR, Makala DeRaad FBCH/BBCH, Zach Geditz FB/WR, Carson Gohl FB/TR, Chloe Jager FBCH/TR, Matthew Jaenisch FB, Izabella McQuarie TR, Ty Kadlec BBB/TR, Jordan Nierman FB, Luke Peterson FB/GF, Christian Reynolds TR, Kylee Sanborn FBCH, Taylor Thorson CC/TR

Eighth Grade: Katie Bierman GBBMGR/TR, Vanessa Diaz TR, Sami Feldman GBBMGR, Carter Geditz TR, Madison Geditz TR, Tyler Hettich BBBMGR/TR, Jailey Hutson TR, Baylee Kulesa TR, Gracie Lange TR, Quincy Olivier GBBST/TR, Evan Onken CC/TR, Ashley Ptacek CC/TR, Austin Rawden BBBMGR, Turner Thorson TR, Colby Sylte TR, Brady Unser WR, Ashlyn Weig TR, Kaitlyn Williams TR

Seventh Grade: Trevor Heinz BBBMGR, Chet Peterson GF, Denver Wolff WR

Watch for the Academic Awards in next week's newspaper