Thompson, Schoel — top athletes
The Gilpin County School District
Schoell its “Athletes of the Month” for
December.
according to the coach. “Vinny out-
worked his opponent to the point that
he made him so frustrated and tired
he gave up. He carries a high GPA and
sets a high standard for this program to
continue to grow in the right direction.”
Vinny Schoell is the high school’s
member of the Eagles’ football team this
fall.
Thompson’s award was given be-
cause she plays volleyball, basketball
earlier in the year for volleyball.
Lorenz commended Schoell for his “all-
around excellence,” noting, “Vinny has
been the heart and soul of leadership
for this team, exemplified by his locker
room presence, getting the boys ready
before every game, maintaining focus
from everyone throughout practice and
games, making sure everyone is dressed
sharp on game day, and holding every-
one accountable to a high standard, all
while leading by example!”
Andromeda Jordan, head middle
school girls’ basketball coach, said
of Thompson, “Hanna demonstrates
our team’s core value of dedica-
tion. She makes a point to arrive
early to every practice and takes
gym. Hanna attended every single
and worked extremely hard to make
herself and her teammates better.
Hanna plays multiple roles on our team, [including running] the knife position,
dragon, and lock, and plays a huge defensive role for us in every game.
Hanna Thompson
“Everything Vinny does is with the
ride, following in his footsteps. His presence has already created a culture of success
that showed in two monster wins for this program before [the holiday] break. Being
steady under pressure on the court all season, he had a huge moment against Kiowa
in a two-point game late in the third quarter, as their leading scorer was starting to
get hot and take control of the game. We switched defenses to a box and one, mean
ing Vinny was the lone man on their leading scorer, facing guarding him. Not only
did Vinny not allow him to score the rest of the game, but this created chaos in their
offense transitioning to easy buckets for our offense flourishing down the stretch,”
“She always put the team first and looks for opportunities to make something
happen for her teammates. A big focus for the first half of our season has been
our defensive tag up, and Hanna has honed in on this and has demonstrated
an effective tag up in over 85 percent of possessions. Hanna is dedicated to our
culture.” Her coach said.
– Compiled by Don Ireland
