Celebrating the Wolves

Coaches for both the girls' and boys' basketball teams celebrated the season and the progress and sportsmanship of the Wolves at the annual banquet last Thursday evening. The athletes sat at the head table, a position of honor, as their hard work and accomplishments were recognized.

They and almost 90 other guests enjoyed a dinner of prime rib, multiple side dishes and several desserts before the ceremony commenced. The room also enjoyed a rundown of the season with a slideshow of candid pictures from several games, bringing chuckles to many watching.

Head basketball coach for the boys, Nick Redden stepped to the podium with his assistant coach Sonny Merchen standing nearby and shared his appreciation of the year, saying, in part:

"This was an amazing season [and] a special group of guys...The boys started playing their best basketball at just the right time."

The coach mentioned the losses, but expressed his pride in the team's accomplishment, stating, "The goal going in was [that] we were going to get Moorcroft basketball respect and we're going to leave a mark... and that's exactly what we did. I thank you guys for that."

Redden went on to commend three seniors and what each brought to the team:

Cole Stripp: "A silent leader...in a game, he'll do anything you ask him [and] he led by example. He averaged 31.5 minutes a game and that is something you don't see a lot...from the first quarter to the fourth quarter, he never stopped."

Olliver Schroeder: "One of the hardest workers I've ever seen; he's nonstop...from the start of a game to the very end...I will say that he is the only player that I've ever had to say to stop smiling...He led his own way."

Kyler Smith: "Thousand-yard stare. I never got the thousand-yard stare, I'm glad – it was kind of scary...He was aggressive from the start and when he got in the game, he knew his job and he did it well."

After presenting awards to these Wolves with further words of commendation, the floor was passed to head girls' basketball coach Dustin Petz and his assistant, Arlen Hulm.

Petz spoke to the parents of the team about the most important part of the season, in his opinion: "It doesn't matter what level you coach at or what you do, you're judged by your wins and losses; whether you're a coach, player [and] parents feel that, too."

Alluding to the previous video of the actual time in the game, the coach opined, "To me, really, that's what it's about – all the memories, all the good times...the bus trips, sometime you don't have any idea what goes on on a bus trip – in locker rooms and training rooms, those are the things that, for us as coaches, I think, we really value the opportunity to spend time with your kids."

Petz commended his Lady Wolves, "You work as hard as you can and whatever the scoreboard is at the end of it is what it is and we move on...I'm really proud for this team; it could not have been done without the senior leadership and all the girls on the team."

He said the five seniors on his team this season, "They're such a special group, I don't think you can say enough about what they've done for the Moorcroft Wolves."

Kyan Meek: "Kyan's quick with a smile, she can make you laugh...she's put in the time [and] worked hard."

Kailee Gill: "She has this intense focus, determination and desire [for] everything to be correct – everything has to be done perfectly. You won't find any mistakes when Kailee's doing something."

Talissa Fischbach: "She's the first one into practice; in the early mornings, she's down there, shooting on her own... she did a good job getting where she wanted to be."

Madi Weeda: "She's worked to get to where she's at; she wasn't used to playing where we asked her to play and she made the adjustment...she didn't complain, she just showed up."

Camlyn Connally: "Because of her tendency to foul, we spent a lot of time on the bench together just talking about things... She wasn't always the biggest, but she worked hard..."

Coach Hulm spoke for a moment about the junior varsity games: "I thought we did a great job; the last game was probably the most exciting JV games we've ever been in – to go into overtime! Normally, I'm pretty loud, but there was no sense yelling that night because you couldn't hear me anyway, everybody was screaming so loud; it was incredibly exciting!"

Though the Wolves did not win that match, Hulm opined, "I've always been a believer that we learn from adversity; if we won everything, we wouldn't get anywhere."

The girls stepped up as their names were called to receive, in their turn, the awards recognizing this season's hard work.

Before the end of the evening, the seniors were given the opportunity to speak to the audience and each spoke to their teammates and parents of their appreciation and memories.

The coaches also recognized the support of all of the others who helped the Moorcroft athletes accomplish this season with particular attention given to the patience of their families.

With applause from the audience, the evening ended with winning smiles and lessons learned.