Trinity Valley Community College held its annual sports banquet Tuesday night. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go, but my HCN partner Jeff Weinstein did and he said it was an excellent event.
Like sports banquets everywhere there were all sorts of well-deserved awards given out, but there were three standouts.
1. Male Athlete of the Year: Ryan Polite … Polite was the quarterback for a Cardinal offense that often lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine, and was named the Southwest Junior College Football Conference’s Most Valuable Player.
Polite set three conference records last year:
Most Passing Touchdowns, season: 35 (2013)
Most Passing Completions, season: 299 (2013)
Most Passing Attempts, season: 454 (2013)
2. Female Athlete of the Year: Adut Bulgak … A two-time national champion, Bulgak has earned all the accolades she has received, and there have been many. The best may be Junior/Community College Player of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).
“Adut is a special one,” said Lady Cardinal head coach Elena Lovato. “She exemplifies a strong commitment to core values both on and off the court.
“As a two-time national champion and All-American, she naturally established herself as a leader and was named co-captain of the team this year. Her passion for success and diligent work ethic come second to none. She acts with purpose, desire, tenacity and perseverance.”
3. The Cardinal Cup: TVCC Football … Let’s let TVCC Sports Information Officer Benny Rogers explain this one:
“Tuesday night at the fourth annual TVCC Athletic Banquet, the Cardinals were awarded the Cardinal Cup — the prize for a fall/spring semester-long competition in which the college’s athletic department teams/groups are awarded points for supporting each other and for community service.”
“The Cardinals edged out the volleyball team by 56 points, 650-594. Last year, the volleyball team topped the football team by the closest margin in the three-year history of the competition, scoring 606 points for a 34-point winning margin. The softball team was a distant third this year with 238 points.”
“The Cardinal Cup, which began in the 2010 fall semester, is designed as a competition to help encourage student-athletes and other organizations at the college to become more involved and the events that take place on campus, not just athletic events. The program was implemented to create a supportive and active fan base of TVCC students to visibly and vocally support performing groups.”
You can check out more photos from the TVCC Sports banquet here.