St. Regis honors basketball players, cheerleaders

St. Regis parents, athletes and sports fans crowded in to the school's cafeteria Thursday evening for an awards ceremony honoring their basketball players and cheerleaders for a season well played.

“We're always real proud of our kids,” said St. Regis principal and Lady Tiger's head coach Don Almquist.

Almquist said around 150 people came out to celebrate another Tiger's basketball season and cheer on the players one last time. Almost all of the basketball players were in attendance.

“It was one of the best turnouts we've ever had,” Almquist said.

All of the awards were decided on by coaches and individual player statistics, Almquist said.

The boy's basketball team Most Valuable Player award went to senior Nathan Cantrell-Field. The “Ruler of the Boards” award, which honored the player with the most rebounds for the whole season, went to junior Pat Quinlivan. The final award given to the boy's basketball team was Most Improved, which went to freshman Tim Cranley.

The Lady Tigers' Most Valuable Player was sophomore Heather Pruitt. The Coach's Award, which Almquist gave to the two players he felt were the most fun to coach, went to seniors Tailor Davis and Ryanne Burklund. The award for Most Improved Player on the girl's basketball team went to sophomore Morgan Hill.

The cheerleading team also gave out awards to their athletes at the ceremony.

The Coach's Award went to Dawn Froehlich, the Team Spirit Award went to Kawun Alicia Chan and the Captain's Medal went to Ashlee Ramsey.

“It was a great one last time for all of our parents and families and all of our other fans to show up and really honor our kids,” Almquist said.

Almquist said that both teams had really terrific seasons despite not having a wealth of players.

“The girls did an outstanding job with only six players on their team,” Almquist said. Almquist said five of the players on the boy's team had never played basketball on a team before. He added that since St. Regis is such a small school, they often have a hard time filling out their teams.

“We just don't have very many athletes at our high school right now. But the kids that turn out do an outstanding job,” Almquist said.

Almquist said that he's looking forward to next year's season and expects the Tigers to continue to improve.