February is a short month, even with it being a leap year. So here at the Register, we needed a couple extra days before we decided who was worthy of nominations for this month’s Allen County Area Athletes of the Month awards.
Here are the athlete getting love from us this past month:
Logan Brown — Brown became Iola High’s first state wrestling champion on Saturday in Salina. The remarkable thing is Brown pulled two incredible wins over 43-0 Evan Dean of Santa Fe Trail, and No.1 heavyweight wrestler in 4A, Aysten Perez of Ulysses.
Trent Jones — Jones captured the award last month, and the 145-pound Mustang wrestler is worthy of another award for his efforts at the state wrestling meet. As a sophomore, Jones placed fourth in his second appearance at the 4A state wrestling tournament.
Andrew Watts — Iola’s Brown and Jones were not the only local wrestlers to make noise at the state tournament. Watts made history of his own at the 3A-2A-1A state meet in Hays, becoming the first Cub to place at the state meet by taking sixth in the 285-pound division.
Cheyenne Harris — Harris is receiving her second consecutive nominations for her efforts on the mat in the month of February. Harris led Lady Cub wrestling to their first Tri-Valley league title, and made history by becoming the first girl from Humboldt to qualify for state wrestling.
Ariel Walker — While the Allen Community College Lady Devils struggled in the later stages of the season, Walker did all she could to keep the Devils afloat. Walker averaged 19 points per game in the month of February, including a 26-point performance on 6 of 11 from beyond the arc to conclude her ACC career.
Madelynn Collins — Collins has been the heart and soul of the Lady Cats this winter. Most recently, Collins scored 16 points in a tight 37-35 loss to rival Humboldt. Collins has also committed her softball future to ACC.
The poll is currently live on iolaregister.com and will remain open until midnight Thursday. We’ll announce the winners Saturday in both our print and online editions.
