The postseason accolades for fall sports on the field, court or diamond have been handed out months ago, but now the postseason academic accolades for the student-athletes are rolling in.
The Missouri Football Coaches Association, the Missouri Track & Cross Country Coaches Association, the Missouri High School Fastpitch Coaches Association and Missouri Volleyball Coaches Association all recently released their respective academic all-state teams.
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The West Platte Bluejays softball team ranked sixth in Class 1 with a team GPA of 3.796 last fall. The following softball players also received academic all-state honors: Lea Moose, Alyssa Knox, Taylor McNair, Rachel Heili and Kaitlin Larison.
Football
Park Hill South led the coverage area with seven all-state picks from the Missouri Football Coaches Association’s Academic All-State team.
To be selected for the team, a player must be nominated by their coach, who must be a member of the MFBCA. A player must be a starter in 70 percent of games played and be between a sophomore and junior.
The second set of criteria is the players must score 25 or higher on the ACT of 1740 or higher on the SAT or have a 3.5 GPA or higher or must rank in the top 10 of his class.
Honored from the Panthers are sophomores Nathan Sharp, Ryan Owens, Kellen Danielson, Matt Suchanick, junior Sam Beuerlein and seniors Christian Holferty and Taylor Gunther were all honored in Class 5.
Park Hill had five selections in Class 6. Those players were Kolby Heinerikson, Haden Wallace, Randen Plattner, Zach Mikuls and Grant Mertz.
Three players represented Platte County in Class 4 — Peyton Stoner, Kobe Cummings and Dakota Schmidt.
North Platte and West Platte each had multiple academic all-state picks in Class 1.
North Platte seniors Bart Owens, Austin Snook, Remington Wilson and Van French were selected. West Platte seniors Aiden Sullivan and Paul Thomas, along with junior Julian Trelow represented the Bluejays.
Volleyball
Park Hill headlined the area selections with nine players that earning postseason academic honors, given to athletes with a GPA of 3.6 or higher and participated in 75 percent of varsity matches.
Park Hill honorees included seniors Kaikea Welsh and Kayla Huffman, juniors Sabrina Lane, Rachel Pella, Landyn Powell and Kori Smith and freshmen Hannah Graves, Kristen Birmingham and Alie Aiono.
The area had 15 other all-staters in Class 4.
Platte County selections included senior Haylie Jerome, Kenzie Polley and Lauren Walker, juniors Jaycie Stubbs, Kinsi Hoegler, Carli Hensley and sophomore Ashley Bell.
For Park Hill South, senior Annika Welty, juniors Hannah Knight, Cassidy Hedrick and Michelle Dvorak, sophomore Rachel Francis and freshmen Adah Anderson, Arley Anderson and Abigail Day were honored.
The Panthers from North Platte had six selections in Class 2. The honorees were senior Katie Sanders, junior Kelsey Reynolds, sophomore McKenzie Brockhoff and freshmen Alyssa Zion, Brianna Bridger and Tatum Green.
West Platte had six selections in Class 1: seniors Emily Norman, Ciara Davies and Karen Knox, sophomores Faith Stevens and Tori Norman and freshman Lexie Smither.
Cross Country
A total of 25 runners were honored between three teams in the MTCCCA all-state team, which requires a student to have a 3.6 cumulative grade point average and/or a 25 ACT.
North Platte had the top number in the area with nine, while Park Hill South and West Platte had eight each.
For the Panthers of North Platte, the all-staters were McKenna Fulton, Bailee Romaker, Savannah Lingle, Madison O’Neill, Amanda Ochoa, Caleb Crumley, Tyler Meadows, Chase Bridger and Daniel Fleshman.
Maryann Ball, Keely Danielsen, Marisa Garcia, Marti Heit, Skyelar Nelson, Emma Roth, Olivia Roth and Paige Snider were the honorees from Park Hill South.
West Platte all-staters were Matik Heskin, Coy Taylor, Rachel Heili, Lea Moose, Lexi Elmore, Katy Tharp, Bella Clark and Sophia Rush.
Softball
West Platte and Park Hill South had two of the smartest softball teams in the state during the 2017 season.
Park Hill South had the fifth-best team grade point average in Class 4 in a list released from the Missouri High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association with a 3.720. West Platte’s team GPA was 3.796, the sixth best in Class 1. The highest GPA in the state was a tie between Jefferson and Helias Catholic at 3.900.
Park Hill South, West Platte and Park Hill were all considered Academic All-State teams.
Academic all-staters from Park Hill South and coach Josh Walker included Taylor Johnson, Sam Ahrendt, Emma Beurelein, Grace Dieleman, Kate Kobayashi, Jessie Hagen and Meggen Keller.
Jackie Qualls’ Park Hill squad had a team GPA of 3.60 and had two all-staters — Alexa Lashbrook and Katie Wood.
West Platte and coach Bailee Giger had five all-staters: Lea Moose, Alyssa Knox, Rachel Heili, Kaitlin Larison and Taylor McNair.