Midway High School held its Spring Athletic Banquet this past Monday, May 22 inside the schools auditorium. As the rain fell outside, athletes inside soaked up the admiration and support of hundreds of parents, teachers, and community supporters. After enjoying a meal catered by Sandpiper Seafood Restaurant in Clinton, attendees of the banquet were treated to a special night honoring the athletes and coaches that the Midway community respects and loves.
Throughout the night, a number of Raider athletes received their emblems or bars, as well as All-County, All-Conference, All-District and All-State honors. For Midway, highlighted athletes also earned the Raider Award, which recognizes the most outstanding contributor and leader in each sport.
Raider Award recipients were:
• Tommie Bates — Women’s Winter Track
• Adam Butler — Baseball
• Faith Byrd — Cheerleading
• Ruth Core — Swimming
• Riley Kinlaw — Women’s soccer
• Brian Lucas — Men’s Spring Track
• Alex Navarro — Men’s winter track
• Greg Orr — Men’s Basketball
• Logan Patrick — Men’s Golf
• McKenzie Warren — Women’s Spring Track
• Leah Williams — two awards: Softball and Women’s Basketball
In addition to the Raider Awards that were presented, two worth athletes received the Heart of a Champion Awards. These awards credit one young woman and one young man who overcame adversity and long odds to excel in their sport. The female Heart of a Champion recipient went to Abby Baggett, and the male Heart of a Champion award went to Derrick Loftis.
Finally, the Female and Male Athletes of the Year were named, honoring their all-around excellence. The Female Athlete of the Year honor was given to Riley Kinlaw and the Male Athlete of the Year recipient was Austin Raynor.
To conclude the night, Midway Athletic Director Beth Best summarized Midway’s tradition of excellence, a fact proven by various Raider coaches achieving high marks of their own.
Midway baseball head coach Jason Fussell and first year golf head coach Glenn Patrick each were selected as the Four County Conference Coach of the Year their sports. Also of note, women’s soccer head coach Trey Apperson notched his 100th victory as the leader of the Lady Raiders toward the end of the season.
