Lake Info
Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea
Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 321.83 Water Temperature:
76 degrees - top
62 degrees - bottom
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EHS
coaches name 5 top athletes
Monitor Staff Reports
ATHENS–The sheer quality of this year’s senior class made it impossible for
Eustace High School coaches to select a single boy and girl as “athletes of the
year.”
So, coaches introduced two girls – Jenny McConathy and Victoria “Tori”
Bynum – and three boys – Trevan Johnson, Chris Compton and Joseph
“JoJo” Bradburn – as this year’s top athletes to a gathering of
parents, students, booster club members and school administrators Saturday night. 
Both veteran volleyball coach Chuck Powers and head coach/athletic director Doug Wendel
noted they didn’t particularly like naming more than one person for a top award.
However, once coaches decided to pick more than one student, deciding who to select became
much easier, both coaches said.
“We’ve been blessed with two girls who have pride, poise and all the
characteristics you look for,” Powers said.
One (McConathy) started as a gym rat, and wound up playing almost every sport offered all
four years of high school, he said.
As a senior, McConathy participated in volleyball (district MVP), basketball (honorable
mention all-district), track (regional qualifier) and softball (second team all-district).
Bynum bounced back from reconstructive knee surgery and then had to recover from a broken
back to return to the playing field as a senior, running cross country, playing volleyball
and becoming a regional qualifier in track.
Bynum also had to endure a couple of personal tragedies along the way, but still managed
to be a straight-A student and the highest-ranking senior this year (she finished as
salutatorian) with perfect attendance for eight straight years, Powers said.
“She is the true epitome of what we’d like to have our daughters to be,”
Powers said.
Picking the three boys “was an easy decision; in fact, a unanimous decision,”
Wendel said.
“Great champions raise the level of play of everyone around them, and that’s
what they did,” Wendel said.
All three are multi-sport stars, particularly the speedy Johnson, who qualified for the
regional track meet in four different events (setting a new school record in the long
jump) as well as being an all-district performer in football and basketball.
Johnson’s record-setting 22-9 leap in the regional track meet was good for fourth in
this 3A region, but would have won state in 4A, the audience heard.
Compton has the rare distinction of being named the district’s “Newcomer of the
Year” in both baseball (as a freshman shortstop) and football (as a sophomore
quarterback), and recently signed to play baseball at Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla.
Bradburn’s football speed forced defenses to not key on Johnson, and he became a
regional track qualifier in two events (800 relay and 1600 relay).
“Our mission is to run a first-class program and to practice winning every day,”
Wendel told the crowd in his welcoming address.
A major aspect of a top program is academic performance, and 54 EHS athletes were named to
academic all-district teams, while 10 were named academic all-state.
This year’s valedictorian, Jesse Contreras, was named elite academic all-state in
football, the highest designation available, Wendel pointed out.
“Out of our 14 varsity teams, eight of them participated in post-season play, and
three of them (volleyball, boys track and baseball) were district champions,” Wendel
added.
During volleyball season, the girls raised more than $7,500 for breast cancer research,
Powers pointed out.
During the event at the Cain Center’s main ballroom, students also received
scholarships from the Courtney Howard Foundation and the Eustace Athletic Booster Club.
Howard Foundation scholarships were presented to Caleb Bailey, Kimberly Austin Bennett,
Bynum, Compton, Contreras, Ariel Gilbert, Erica Sanchez and Taylor Snow.
Booster Club scholarships went to Michael Brown, Amanda Herrera, McConathy and Compton.
Three-year Booster Club president Shelley Compton turned over the club to incoming
president Wendy Renteria.
Joining Renteria are vice president DeeDee Parrent, secretary Stephanie Kirkhart,
treasurer Nita Sawicki, concessions Jimmy Kirkhart and Sharon Strickland, and spirit Gayle
DeAlba and Norma Herrera.
Individual sports standouts were recognized during the three-hour program, and are listed
below. Sophomore Catania Grant was noted as the Newcomer of the Year in both volleyball
and basketball.
Volleyball – Newcomer of the Year Grant, Heart Award Bynum, co-MVP Kim Austin Bennett
and McConathy.
Cross Country – Heart Award Bynum and Ben Huddleston, MVP Nancy Murff and Evan
Arambula.
Football – no individual awards; Contreras recognized as academic elite all-state,
Zach Bennett first-team academic all-state, Compton honorable mention academic all-state.
Powerlifting – no individual awards, Kelsey Maltos recognized for qualifying for
state and setting a new regional record in the squat (425 pounds).
Girls Basketball – Heart Award Aurora Beasley, Most Improved Megan Renteria, Role
Player Award Vanessa Lopez, Newcomer of the Year Grant, Offensive Player of the Year (POY)
Ashley Phillips, Defensive POY McConathy, MVP Allie Cass.
Boys Basketball – Offensive POY Addison Scott, Defensive POY Johnson, MVP Guy
Hargrove, Heart Award to entire team.
Girls Soccer – Offensive POY Hailey Mathis (also received Heart Award from district
coaches), Defensive POY Chelsea Grimes, MVP Kayla Ward.
Boys Soccer – Offensive POY Michael Brown (eight goals, school season record),
Defensive POY Dakota Mitchell, Most Improved Taylor Brown, MVP Zach Bennett (noted as
scoring the first goal in school history as a freshman).
Softball – Defensive POY McConathy, Newcomer of the Year Chelsea Oldham, MVP Josie
Collie.
Baseball – Heart award to whole team (won six straight to tie for district
championship), MVPs Compton and Braden Strickland. (Compton noted as first player in
school history with 100 hits, finished career with 137.)
Girls Track – no individual awards; Grant, Bynum and Cass recognized.
Boys Track – MVPs Johnson and Bradburn.Bettis
named all-state
Monitor Staff Reports
KEMP–Graduating Kemp High School senior Sharda Bettis recently was named to the Texas
Girls Coaches Association All-State track and field team. 
Bettis, who won the state championship in the 100 meter hurdles as a freshman (in
Mississippi) and as a junior (in Texas), finished a close second in the Class 3A race at
the state track meet May 15.
TGCA members selected 15 girls in each classification for the all-state team.
Only one other area girl – Farmersville junior Charla Craddock – was selected
for the 3A team, which included athletes from Argyle, Waco Connally, Lubbock Estacado,
Iowa Park, La Grange, La Vernia, Witney and Cameron Yoe high schools.
Bettis has accepted a track scholarship with Prairie View A&M in south-central Texas,
a Division I university in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, where she plans to study
communications and train for a future Olympics bid.
Upcoming
games |
| Yachting May
29
Round the Lake Regatta
June 12
Skipper’s practice sail/clinic |
Semi-Pro Football |
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