Who is this week’s Centre Daily Times high school athlete of the season? Vote here
Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times will publish a weekly poll on Monday mornings for readers to choose the Athlete of the Week for the previous week of competition. Please go to CentreDaily.com and click on this story to cast your vote.
Here are this fall’s nominees for the Centre Daily Times high school athlete of the season presented in alphabetical order. They were selected by editor Lauren Muthler and sports reporter Jon Sauber via stats compiled by the CDT or sent to cdtscores@centredaily.com, and by readers’ votes in the weekly polls. Vote for your favorite.
If you’d like to nominate a player’s performance for future weeks, or believe a deserving nominee is missing from this week’s poll, please contact the CDT via email at cdtscores@centredaily.com.
The poll closes at noon Friday, and a short profile of the winner will appear in Sunday’s paper.
Brady Bigger, State College
Bigger led the State High boys’ cross country team to a District 6 title in October in the Class 3A meet held at Reedsville. Bigger finished the race with a time of 15:37, 14.2 seconds ahead of second place. Then he took home the PIAA Class 3A individual state title in cross country, becoming the first Little Lions boys’ cross country runner to win the title since 1977. He ran the race in 16:07 and led State High to a fifth-place finish.
Owen Irvin, Bald Eagle Area
Irvin led the Bald Eagle Area football team in a transition year as its top option at wide receiver. He caught 29 passes for 591 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Eagles, along with completing his only two pass attempts for 51 yards, according to MaxPreps. He finished the season with four games in which he finished with over 100 receiving yards and caught his five touchdowns across five separate games. His best game came in a 28-6 victory over Philipsburg-Osceola in which he caught four passes for 152 yards and a touchdown.
Jadyn Butler, Penns Valley
Butler became the first Penns Valley volleyball player in school history to reach 1,000 career digs when she hit the mark on Sept. 29. She became the school’s all-time leader in digs with 1,017 at the end of the week in which she won Athlete of the Week. Butler has been a key piece for the Rams this season. She helped them to a 12-6 record on the year which helped them qualify for the postseason and make the District 6 tournament. They finished fifth in the district rankings for 2A schools.
Kalista Butler, Philipsburg-Osceola
Butler was a key piece of the Philipsburg-Osceola girls’ volleyball team this season. She was an important part of the program making its first ever trip to the PIAA Class 2A state championship game and going 20-1 on the year. Butler tallied 53 assists, 10 service points, two aces and two blocks in Philipsburg-Osceola’s PIAA state quarterfinal matchup with Maplewood in one of her many prolific performances. P-O won that match, 9-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-23, 15-9 to advance to the semifinals.
Reese Hazelton, Philipsburg-Osceola
Butler was an important piece of the Philipsburg-Osceola girls’ volleyball team this season. She was a vital part of the program making its first ever trip to the PIAA Class 2A state championship game and going 20-1 on the year. Hazelton had big performances all season and led the team in kills, including 60 combined kills in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals and semifinals on the team’s way to winning the District 6 Class 2A title.
Kelsey Hull, Penns Valley
Hull led the Rams girls’ cross country team to a Mountain League Championship on Oct. 21. She won the race — and the league’s most valuable player award — with a time of 20:02. Her time was good for a 20-second difference between her and the race’s second-place finisher. Hull continued her success, leading the Lady Rams to a first-place finish in the District 6 Class 1A championships. Hull placed second individually with a time of 19:37. She went on to finish seventh in the PIAA Class 2A state championships with a time of 20:46, leading her team to its first-ever PIAA girls’ cross country title.
Ethan Rossman, Bellefonte
Rossman battled injuries all season but still managed to lead the Bellefonte Red Raiders football team to a playoff appearance. He finished the year with 453 passing yards and four passing touchdowns to go with 365 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on 68 carries, all while battling injuries. Rossman was dominant on the ground in the team’s season-opening victory, leading the team with 113 rushing yards on 21 carries while accounting for Bellefonte’s only two touchdowns in the game.
Colton Sands, Penns Valley
Sands led the Penns Valley boys’ cross country team to their seventh straight Mountain League Championship in October. He won the race at Spring Mills with a time of 16:39, finishing 36 seconds ahead of the field. He then led the Penns Valley boys’ cross country team to a District 6 title in the Class 1A meet held at Reedsville. Sands finished that race with a time of 15:55.5, 42.9 seconds ahead of second place. The senior North Carolina commit closed the season when he won his second straight PIAA Class A individual state title in cross country this month, leading the Rams boys’ cross country team to a second place-finish. He finished with a time of 16:42.
Lexi Skripek, Bald Eagle Area
Skripek helped the Bald Eagle Area Lady Eagles volleyball team to the District 6 finals after important performances in the quarterfinals and semifinals. The senior had 22 digs and four aces in Bald Eagle’s 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 27-25 win over Tyrone in the quarters. She followed that up with a season-high 57 digs in the Eagles’ 25-17, 23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-13 victory over Forest Hills in the semifinals.
Kaleb Stamm, Philipsburg-Osceola
Stamm was the workhorse of the Philipsburg-Osceola Mountaineers’ football team this season. He led the team in rushing with 770 yards and six touchdowns on 134 carries on his way to winning athlete of the week three times. He was a key part in helping the Mountaineers win multiple games in a season for the first time since 2011. Stamm had four games with over 100 rushing yards, including a dominant performance against Northern Cambria to close out the season. He ran 23 times for 171 yards and three touchdowns to end his high school football career.
