When looking back on the past year in sports covered by ThePerryNews.com, I found myself asking several questions.
Where there momentous changes? Moments of individual triumph? Rewarding team achievements? Events eliciting you-had-to-be-there excitement?
The answers were common enough that it became unfair to rank such events — better to simply note the ones with, as one might argue, the most impact.
First up would be the retirement of Perry baseball head coach Mike Long, a year following his resignation as girls basketball head coach. Long manned the dugout in Perry beginning in 1978 and six times took teams to the state tournament. The number of players he impacted and the life lessons he imparted on and off the diamond over those 41 years are a legacy in itself.
The girls basketball season was a special one for Panorama. The Panthers reached the state tourney and finished 23-2 in the process. Along the way, senior Devyn Kemble and junior Bailey Beckman became the fourth and fifth 1,000-point scorers in school history. Beckman is at 1,287 points and counting after helping her squad to an 8-0 start this season.
Zach Stewart capped a 55-5 senior season by becoming Perry’s fifth state champion wrestler after claiming the 3A title at 138 pounds. Kaleb Olejniczak might make it consecutive Bluejays at 138 after he was stopped in the 126-pound finals. His current win total of 153 is five shy of Kane Seeley for second place all-time at PHS, with Zach Thompson’s 174 well within reach. Thompson finished fourth at 120, becoming Perry’s only four-time state medalist.
Woodward-Granger’s Cody Fisher was second in 1A at 195 for the second consecutive year. The ISU-bound junior is currently ranked number one at 220.
Panorama sent five to state, with Trevor Carey (182) fourth and Danny Nordquist (126), Wyatt Appleseth (132), Gunnar Grunsted (170) and Dalton Holmes (195) all finishing eighth.
The Panther girls were third at state track and seventh at state cross country, with numerous individual plaudits earned, including Ella Waddle placing fifth. Kolby Shackelford was the boys golf runner-up, with Madison Fear playing in the girls tourney.
Perry’s Alyssa Kruger finished sixth at state golf, with W-G’s Cierra DeHoet qualifying in 2A.
The Perry boys soccer team played their way to state for the fourth time in five seasons, with the Jayettes having another solid season.
Freshman Jaylene Karolus qualified for the state cross country meet for Perry while helping the Jayette swim team have an excellent season.
Perry Elementary Assistant Principal and PHS cross country coach Ryan Marzen also made a splash, finishing second in his age group at the Chattanooga Triathlon and achieving a lifelong goal of earning a coveted spot in the Kona, Hawaii, Ironman this autumn.
There were other bright moments as well, but these are the ones that, for a myriad of reasons, drew the most attention, and all are worth saluting.
If 2019 produces a similar harvest of successes, it will prove to be another bountiful sports year!
