IFN Top 10 Individuals: 1-5
Our march to our top athlete ends here as we salute our top five athletes for the 2014-15 athletic season.
5. DOING JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING – Paul Marandet did a little bit of everything, and did it all well, for the Tigers.
The junior point guard paced his team in rebounding, assists and blocked shots. Marandet also averaged five points-per-game, was second in steals and was the top defender for coach Doug Ogle’s squad. He earned All-NLC honors for his all-around strong play.
Marandet, the IFN Player of the Year for boys hoops, helped Warsaw post an 18-5 mark. The Tigers also claimed the Northern Lakes Conference title at a perfect 7-0. Marandet should lead a still loaded Tiger team as a senior next winter.
4. EARNING HIS STRIPES – Kyle Hatch turned in a stellar sophomore season for Warsaw on the mat for coach Justin Smith’s program.
The 120-pounder capped his second trip to the State Finals with a seventh-place finish in Indianapolis. Hatch, who placed eighth at the State Finals in 2014, won conference, sectional and regional championships. He also went a perfect 5-0 to win a title at the two-day Al Smith Wrestling Invitational, one of the top tournaments in the state, at Mishawaka High School.
Hatch finished his season with a record of 44-4 with two of those losses coming at the State Finals.
3. THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT CAN – The close of another banner career for a Robinson swimmer happened in February when Breanna Robinson wrapped up her senior campaign at the IHSAA State Finals. Robinson finished fifth and sixth in her two individual swims to run her total to eight championship flight swims in her four years at Wawasee High School.
Robinson also capped a brilliant run at the conference and sectional levels, winning 12 individual and relay titles in the NLC and 12 individual and relay titles in sectional action in her four years.
The Purdue-bound star was also part of a new era in Wawasee swimming, helping set the standard by being a part of a whopping 71 school, pool or event records in her four years, 59 alone her freshman year with her teammates. Bre by herself set 43 records over her four years, five this past season. Bre Robinson’s name sits on at least one line of all eight conference swim record boards and sits on seven of 11 Wawasee pool records and five of 11 Wawasee school records.
2. STANDING VERY TALL – Everybody knew to expect great things from Tippecanoe Valley’s Anne Secrest during the 2014-15 basketball season. She was arguably the area’s top player during her freshman campaign, so her sophomore season was highly anticipated by area hoops fans. But what she did for a follow up was surprising to even the most optimistic of fans.
Secrest was the core of a Lady Vikings team that took the area by storm compiling an undisputed Three Rivers Conference title as well as sectional, regional and semi-state titles on their way to the IHSAA State Finals for the first time in program history. During this historic run Secrest compiled impressive stat lines that were completely untouched by other area cagers.
The sophomore led her team in points per game (17.3), rebounds per game (10.4), blocks per game (3.1), steals per game (3.1) and, just to reaffirm she was no pushover, personal fouls per game (2.7). When the stakes were the highest, Secrest was at her best. She averaged 19.4 points per game during the postseason, eclipsing the 20-point threshold three times. In the sectional semi-final, the sophomore erupted for a season-high 27 points against a NorthWood team that had held her to just 17 points exactly a month earlier.
Secrest’s sensational season was capped with All-TRC honors, an Underclass Large School All-State nod from the IBCA as well as being named IFN’s Player of the Year for girls basketball in addition to other local media awards.
1. IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF – As it turns out, Clayton Cook had a season for the ages and emerged late as our top athlete of the year.
The only athlete to win a state title from our direct coverage area, Cook not only won his 110 hurdles title in track, but owned the event the entire season. Beginning with state-level runs in the indoor championships in March, the Wawasee senior would parlay the success to the Northern Lakes Conference season where the spectacular senior did not lose a dual race all season in the 110. Not just in the NLC, but the sectional, the regional or in Bloomington at the IHSAA State Finals, where his 13.99 championship time was among the best times the state has ever seen.
But Cook was not a one-trick pony. No, no. Cook set the WHS record in the 100-meter dash at 10.93 at the Goshen Relays, was clearing 20 feet when asked to long jump and even cleared a couple bars in the high jump during the season. He also finished eighth in the state in the 200, winning NLC and sectional titles in the event along the way.
Cook was also on the WHS record-setting 4×100 relay team that used it’s 42.72 spin at the state finals to finish 14th overall and rewrite the standard for the school in the event.
In his career, Cook holds all four class records at Wawasee in both the 100 and 200 dashes as well as both school records (10.93/21.76).
Had track not been such a success story, Cook already had football to brag about. Deciding in February to commit to football at Ball State University, Cook’s senior season on the gridiron was a cherry on the top of a big career for the Warriors.
Cook amassed 990 yards of all-purpose yards in combined rushing, receiving and return yardage and scored 10 total touchdowns this past season for the Warriors. Cook was the Wawasee Offensive Player of the Year his senior (and junior) seasons, a First Team All-NLC selection (three times) and named to the IFCA All-State team (two times).
“I think it’s fair to say I’m enjoying my senior year,” Cook said before the track season. “I’m just hoping to hit some goals and have fun along the way.”
We’d say that checklist is pretty much crossed off.