Honors continue to roll in for what can only best be described as “The Year of the Champion.”
Or rather, “The Year of the Champions.”
That’s the kind of year it’s been at Center Grove High School.
It began in early June, when Cameron Tidd won the discus championship at the IHSAA State Track and Field Finals.
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It continued in mid-June, when the softball team won the Class 4A state title.
It resumed in late October, when the boys soccer team won the Class 2A state championship.
And it reached a crescendo last month, when the football team won the Class 6A state crown — and in the process became the first-ever unbeaten champion in that class.
Not surprisingly, the accolades keep coming.
Two weeks ago, senior defensive tackle Jovan Swann, the Daily Journal’s 2015 Player of the Year, was named a Semper Fidelis All-American. By virtue of being selected, he will play in the Jan. 3 Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in Carson, California.
But Swann isn’t Center Grove’s only football All-American. Nor the only one going bowling.
Tidd, a senior defensive tackle — and the defending discus champ — was selected this week as a Blue-Grey North-South All-American.
With his selection, Tidd, a Vanderbilt recruit, will play in the Blue-Grey North-South All-American Bowl on Jan. 9 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
Hayden Gorall is an All-American, too.
A senior standout on the state champion soccer team, Gorall was named this week to the 2015 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Fall High School Boys All-America Team.
Gorall, a two-time first-team All-State selection, is one of 56 players nationwide selected for the NSCAA All-American Team. The players will be honored at a Jan. 16 luncheon in Baltimore.
FC athletes recognized
Franklin College football players Austin Carlton, Nate Bryan and Dylan Jenney have been named All-North Region by the D3football.com.
Carlton, a senior offensive lineman, earned first-team recognition. Bryan, a senior defensive lineman, was named to second team. And Jenney, a senior tight end, was selected to the third team.
All three played prominent roles on the Grizzlies’ Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship team, and all three were also first-team All-HCAC selections.
In women’s soccer, Maddie Fleet and Clare Lenart earned Great Lakes All-Region honors by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Fleet, a freshman forward, was named to the first team, capping a remarkable debut college season. The Perry Meridian graduate scored a school-record 24 goals, scoring in 17 of the Grizzlies’ 19 matches, and was earlier named the HCAC Offensive Most Valuable Player and Freshman of the Year.
Lenard, a sophomore forward, was a second-team Great All-Region selection. A Seymour graduate, she had nine assists and seven goals, including three game-winners.
Franklin won a school-record 16 matches and earned a share of the HCAC championship.
