CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Sports editor
The Beaden School District held its Annual All Sports Banquet on Monday to celebrate and honor its student athletes.
The event was catered by La Loma Grill, and attendees were lead into the newly- built auditorium at the high school to enjoy their meal.
Bearden first recognized its lettermen by classes before going into individual awards.
One highlight from the event was the recognition of the 44x100 Relay State Champions - Shanara Coleman, Kayli Heigelman, Jaylah Williams and Destiny Johnson.
The team of talented student athletes repeated as state champions during the 2A State Track meet.
Girls Track Coach James Murray recounted how the raced unfolded and talked about how special it was to see the girls perform.
“Coach (Anthony) Hammonds is on one side of the track and he has his phone out and we’re live on Facebook,” Murray said. “Shanara takes the lead passes four ladies out of eight. She hands off to Kayli Heigelman - she hits the back stretch and she’s digging! She passed a couple more ladies. Then we hit the third corner, she hands off to Jaylah. Jaylah looks like she’s shot out of a gun. She goes around the last corner, cleans the last two up and hands it off to our anchor Destiny. If any of you are close to my age, you’ll know she’s like our Flo-Jo (Olympic champion Florence Joyner). Long fingernails and she can run! She hits the home stretch and you can hear Coach Hammonds say on the video, “They got it!”
Murray then stated that is a goal to purchase the young ladies a state championship ring for their awesome performance but that it would require donations from the community. The attendees supported the idea and donated funds during the event.
The baseball and softball teams acknowledge its seniors as each sport’s senior games were rained out.
Bearden Head Coach Trey Outlaw thanked his coaching staff, administration, booster club and his student athletes for their hard work over the season. Outlaw also introduced next year Head Coach Greg Anthony.
“It was a great year to be a Bear,” Outlaw said. “I’m thankful for it and I’m better because of it.”
The sports awards are as following:
Archery
• Best Female Archer - Karli Humphries
• Runnerup Female Archer - Makenzie Larson
• Best Male Archer - Kase Humphries
• Runnerup Archer - Jason Enlow
• Special Recognition - Scott Graves
Softball
• Managers Award - Angel Edwards and Lexi Brazil
• JV Player of the Year - Makenzie Larsen
• Most Improved Player - Shanara Coleman
• Newcomer of the Year - Leilani Victorian
• Pitcher of the Year - Carrington Word
• Defensive Player of the Year - Jaylah Williams
• Offensive Player of the Year - Taylor Hall
• Most Valuable Player - Evie Porter
Cheerleading
• Bear Spirit Award - Allaynah Finley, Madison Olvera, and Kayli Heigelman
• Sportsmanship Award - Abbie Owens
• Rookie of the Year - Taylor Hall
• Leadership Award - Allaynah Finley
Girls Track
• State Qualifiers - Evie Porter, Kayli Heigelman, Karli Humphries, Destiny Johnson, Shanara Coleman and Jaylah Williams.
Boys Track
• Best runner - Kase Humphries
• Best Thrower/Field Event - Garrett McWhorter
• All Conference - Nate Ernest, Kase Humphries, Garrett McWhorter
Baseball
• Pitching Award Golden Arm - CJ Quarles
• Golden Glove - Garrett McWhorter
• Team Spirit/Golden Bat - Cohen Word
• Most Improved - Zach Larsen
Basketball girls
• Spirit Award - Abbie Owens
• Leading scorer - Latreese Wright
• MVP - Evie Porter
• Coaches Award Evie Porter
Basketball
• Most Points - Lavarious Hughes
• Most Assists - Kendrick Juniel
• Most Rebounds - Garrett McWhorter
• Most Blocks - R.J. Miller
• Best 3 Point percentage - Zion Waller
• Hustle Award - Drake Wilson
• Most Improved - Jalen Wade
Football
• Fordyce News Advocate First Team All Offense - Kendrick Juniel, Drake Wilson, Carson Williams, Cohen Word and Robert Miller
• Fordyce News Advocate First team All Defense - Garrett McWhorter, CJ Quarles, Scott Graves, Jaden Meads, Jalen Wade and Marquise Nelson
• Fordyce News Advocate First team All Specialist - Javion Robinson
• Fordyce News Advocate Honorable Mention Mathew Neugebauer, Gage Hobbs and Billy Miner
• Fordyce News Advocate Most Valuable Defensive Player - Garrett McWhorter
• Fordyce News Advocate Offensive MVP - Cohen Word
• Best Back - Cohen Word
• Best OLine - Carson Williams
• Best receiver - Garrett McWhorter
• Best DLine- Drake Wilson
• Best Linebacker - RJ Miller
• Secondary - Kendrick Juniel
• Videographer - De’aundre Edwards