The Plains Cross Country Team held their end of season banquet on Tuesday night, recognizing the achievements of the Horsemen and Trotter student-athletes in the 2010 season.  After a pot luck dinner, Head Coach Tony Banovich started the ceremony by showing a video of the season’s highlights.  This was followed by Banovich thanking Junior High coach Gena Ferlan and her outstanding management of the next generation of PHS harriers.  Next, was the recognition of the hard work of the Junior High athletes:  Ryan Ovitt, Carley VonHeeder, Sheridan Martin and Sera Boggess.

Moving on to the High School athletes, Banovich started by mentioning several notable statistics such as - 9 of the 10 runners equaled or set new personal best times; the best team finish (6th by the boys) at state since 2004; and, the team collectively ran over 2,000 miles for the 10-week season (with 5 athletes each running more than 200 miles in those 10 weeks).

Varsity letter awards were then presented to Freshmen Felicia Earhart, Andrea Wood, Teija Gill and Daniel Damschen; Sophomore Garrett Horton; Juniors Carter Montgomery, Robert Earhart and David Damschen; and, Seniors Zoe Banovich and Kenneth Beech.   Special recognition was given to the All-State performances of Montgomery and Beech, as well as Banovich and Beech being 4-year letter winners and the 2010 team co-captains.

The evening concluded with Kenneth Beech receiving the 2010 Outstanding Performer Award.  Said Banovich,  “Kenneth made a real commitment to excellence for his senior season.  He ran over 100 miles more during the season than he did in 2009, he made all of the optional weekend trail runs, he lowered his personal record on three different occasions this year and he capped it all off with an outstanding 12th place, All-State performance at the State Championship meet.  I was proud of all of our kids this year, but, Kenneth had such an incredible, break out year, it gave him the slightest of edges in the overall performance category.”