Top area athletes honored at Semoball Awards

More than 150 high school athletes from Southeast Missouri were recognized Saturday at the inaugural Semoball Awards at the Show Me Center.

Nineteen individuals were named the Player of the Year in their respective sports, and two-time ESPY award-winning athlete and the first quadruple amputee to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Kyle Maynard, spoke at the event.

He replaced scheduled keynote speaker and Hall of Famer St. Louis Cardinal Ozzie Smith, who attended the funeral of his friend and fellow Hall of Fame baseball player Tony Gwynn on Saturday.

Among the athletes honored were Notre Dame's Josh Haggerty, who was named the Baseball Player of the Year. Haggerty set multiple offensive records during his senior season and played a big role in the Bulldogs returning to the state quarterfinals.

"There's a lot of great athletes and great baseball players in the area, and it feels good to be amongst the top of them," Haggerty said.

Kelly's Alexis Dock was the Softball Player of the Year. Dock has helped her team to the state final four the past two seasons -- and she just finished her sophomore year.

"I know that I've been working really hard like my whole life at softball and everything so it's like hard work finally pays off," Dock said.

Luke Dobbelare, Perryville's goalie that contributed to the Pirates reaching the state quarterfinal round for the first time in school history, was named the Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

"It means the world to me, and I think it also means the world to my team," Dobbelare said. "I mean, I'm really a representative for our defense. We had a great defense this year and I think I'm just a representative of that."

Jackson's Caitlyn Palmer was named the Girls Swimming and Diving Player of the Year. Palmer had two top-10 finishes in individual events at the state meet as a sophomore.

"It's an amazing privilege," Palmer said. "I've been granted the talent by God. He's just blessed me in my whole swimming career. It's just an awesome privilege."

Top honors of the night went to South Pemiscot's Carrie Shephard and Kennett's Kevonte Mitchell.

Shephard, who was named Miss Show Me Basketball and will play basketball at the University of Missouri next year, was awarded the Female Athlete of the Year as well as the Girls Basketball Player of the Year.

Mitchell, a standout basketball and baseball player, was named the Male Athlete of the Year. The Southeast Missouri State baseball signee was selected in the 13th round of the 2014 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs and signed with the organization to begin his professional career.

Dexter girls basketball coach Chad Allen was named Coach of the Year. Allen led the Bearcats back to the Class 4 state final four for the second year in a row and to the championship game for the first time in school history, where they finished second in the state behind one of the top teams in the country in Incarnate Word.

Leopold's Denai Arnzen was named the Comeback Player of the Year.

Arnzen, who played volleyball and softball at Leopold, tore her ACL for a second time and had surgery a few months before her senior volleyball season began. Arnzen finished rehab before the start of the season and her defense and hitting helped the Wildcats reach the Class 1 state championship game.

"I worked really hard to get where I was, and I guess it paid off," Arnzen said. "I'm really surprised right now, nervous.

"Four days a week of hard physical therapy for 3 1/2 months, which I wasn't supposed to be done for like five months, but I pushed myself hard enough to make it."

Kennett's Declan Wallace, who was noted for his continued encouragement of teammates and respect of opponents even as he missed time during his senior football season with an injury, was the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award.

Poplar Bluff won the award for Best Fans in Southeast Missouri, which was voted on at semoball.com.

The Scholar Athlete Award recipient was Malden's Darren Green. The winningest pitcher in Malden baseball history sacrificed his high school football career in order to pursue leadership roles within the National Beta Club.

Green, who had a 4.0 GPA and was Malden's valedictorian, was elected both state and national Beta Club President and that position has given him the opportunity to travel to 19 states and speak to more than 100,000 Beta Club members.