No single school posed as many problems in choosing its athlete of the year than did South Decatur.



Allison Cunningham

Female Athlete of the Year



Three of its top four athletes played both basketball and softball; the fourth played volleyball and basketball. The girl who played volleyball, junior Briana Palmer, played the fall sport with bad knees and added a wrist injury and a whiplash injury to the list during basketball season.

Had she played a complete season without pain and injury, the selection may well have been even more difficult.

The three players who were teammates since fall season ended remain tough choices with Keighlea Owens and Kristin Kirchner slugging it out from the batter’s box to record batting averages of 5.79 and .565, respectively. Teammate Allison Cunningham was playing fast pitch softball for the first time and became a regular slick-fielding centerfielder with sheer athletic prowess.

In basketball, all three handled the ball well but each added additional skills with Owens being the best defender, Cunningham the best shooter and Kirchner the best passer. Palmer also could handle the ball and was the second leading scorer, the leading rebounder, and arguably the main focus for opposing teams.

Cunningham was the team’s most valuable player and scored the most points. Owens had the second-highest free-throw percentage in the state and Palmer had the highest scoring average. Of these three girls, the only one invited to a post-season game was Allison Cunningham who plays in an East-West Class All-Star game Saturday. She also continues showing her leadership as she helps Doug Einhaus conduct the Cougars’ summer basketball camp.

The added leadership and the state-wide recognition separates her from her rivals. In a very close decision, the Daily News names Allison Cunningham South Decatur’s Female Athlete of the Year.



Jordan Clark

Senior Male Athlete of teh Year



A similar situation exists with the boys. Its three seasonal winners were all members of the basketball team, one played football, another golf and two were of the track-and-field squad. All three excelled in two sports. Add to this mix senior Lincoln Hacker who ran well on the football team, played basketball and pitched and played baseball. Hacker deserves notice because he played all three sports, one of two athletes we are considering who played in all three seasons.

The second three-sport athlete was Jordan Clark, our fall selection. Although his role on the basketball team was as a scout team player and mop-up duties, he excelled in both of the other two sports.

In football, he was All-Conference and All-State as a linebacker. Although he did not receive an athletic scholarship, he intends to walk on at Indiana State in the fall in an attempt to further his career at the collegiate level.

In track and field, he qualified for the state meet in the discus and improved his seed in the final finish. He was the only boy from Decatur County to qualify for the state meet and he did it by observing how others threw his best event, the discus.

The winter athlete was the Decatur County Male Athlete of the Season - Chris Scheidler. He led the basketball team to a first-ever state ranking in the top-10 and to a runner-up finish in Sectional 60 basketball to eventual champ Jac-Cen-Del. In addition, he was the No. 1 golfer on a golf squad that lost just two dual meets all year - both to Greensburg at the Greensburg Country Club. He finished second to teammate Dylan Wolterman at the conference meet that the Cougars won by 28 strokes.

The spring athlete was Tyler Mote in a close call over Clark. In the spring, he dominated the area in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter relays and the long jump to lead the Cougars’ successfully in dual meets. In the conference meet where the Cougars placed fourth, he swept the sprints and finished fourth in the long jump to account for over half the team’s points. In basketball he was the team’s second leading scorer averaging more than 15 points per game with a high of 30 points in an overtime win versus Indian Creek.

In a very close call, which nearly boiled down to a three-way tie, the Daily News gives its nod as South Decatur Male Athlete of the Year to Jordan Clark for his overall excellence and state recognition in football and the discus.