National Highlight Reel: USA Baseball honors Bregman, Kibler

The 16-Under National Team has received an unprecedented three major awards from USA Baseball, based in Durham, N.C.

Second baseman Alex Bregman, a junior at Albuquerque Academy (N.M.), was named the Richard W. "Dick" Case Player of the Year.

Past Player of the Year winners have included the likes of Justin Smoak, Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman and Ben Sheets.

Bregman had been named MVP in October while leading the USA to a 9-0 record and its fifth consecutive championship during the COPABE Pan American Youth Championships in Mexico. He led the tourney in batting average (.564) and runs scored (17) and also drove in 17 runs.



The 5-foot-10, 170-pound junior already is a two-time, first-team all-state player in New Mexico and last spring sparked the Chargers to a state title.

The 16-Under squad also was named USA Baseball's Team of the Year and manager Eric Kibler was named Coach of the Year. Last spring Kibler led Horizon (Scottsdale, Ariz.) to the Class 5A state title for the sixth time. He joins a select group which includes Davey Johnson and Tommy Lasorda.

Bregman and Kibler are the first youth team members (ages 18 and under) ever to be so honored.{PAGEBREAK}
WRESTLING: BLAIR ACADEMY AND EASTON WIN MAJOR TOURNEYS
Perennial powerhouse Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.) compiled 248 points to win the 18th annual Beast of the East Wrestling Tournament at the University of Delaware.

Coach Jeff Buxton's Bucs had three individual champions: Mark Grey (125), who won the Ray Mendoza Award for most points, Austin Ormsbee (135) and Brooks Black (285).

The tourney's biggest surprise was unseeded James Fox of St. Peter's Prep (Jersey City, N.J.), who won the 189-pound title and was named the meet's Most Outstanding Wrestler.

* Easton (Pa.) traveled across the country to win the 16th annual Reno (Nev.) Tournament of Champions with 171 points. Mitch Minotti was Easton's lone champion, capturing the title at 145 pounds, but six other squad members also won medals.



The Most Outstanding Wrestler was Isaiah Locsin of Gilroy (Calif.), who was the only freshman to make the finals and won the title at 103 pounds. {PAGEBREAK}
FOOTBALL: 4 SHILOH CHRISTIAN PLAYERS SET STATE RECORDS
Four members of the Shiloh Christian (Springdale, Ark.) football team set state records this year, according to coach Josh Floyd.

They were wide receiver Zann Jones, who had 57 career receiving touchdowns; defensive lineman Samuel Harvill, who had 46.5 career sacks; freshman kicker J.T. Hale, who had 91 PAT kicks this year; and quarterback Kiehl Frazier, who was named MVP in the state championship game for an unprecedented third consecutive year. Frazier accounted for 11,217 yards and 158 touchdowns during his career.

The Saints (14-1) won the Class 4A state title for the third consecutive year and outscored their opponents, 711-261. The mercy rule was invoked against 11 of their 15 opponents. Their only loss was to Trinity (Euless, Texas), which was the Texas Class 5A state runner-up.

Video of Kiehl Frazier

* The Tampa Tribune reports that Jefferson (Tampa, Fla.) quarterback Quentin Williams finished his brilliant career with four state records: career passing yards (10,384), career touchdown passes (109), single-season passing yards (4,451) and single-season touchdown passes (56).

Williams also led his team to an unbeaten season and the Class 3A state title – its first in any team sport. It's no surprise he was named Florida's Mr. Football. The team also set a state record by scoring 746 points.



Video of Quentin Williams

* Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.) quarterback Michael Bercovici is graduating early and will attend Arizona State University, according to the Los Angeles Times. He set school records this year by passing for 3,775 yards and 37 touchdowns.

* Clairton (Pa.) staged one of the biggest comebacks in the history of Pennsylvania's state football playoff title games when it overcame a 24-0 deficit to beat Riverside (Taylor, Pa.), 36-30, and win the Class A state title with a spotless 16-0 record. The game lasted more than three hours due to 27 penalties for 249 yards.

* Taylor Heinicke of Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.) passed for 4,218 yards – No. 2 in Georgia history – this year. {PAGEBREAK}BASKETBALL: LACEY SCORES 51 IN FIRST LOSS
Butler (Huntsville, Ala.) suffered its first loss, 70-69, in overtime to unbeaten Homewood (Ala.) despite a 51-point effort by its senior superstar, Trevor Lacey. Homewood (11-1) is ranked No. 1 in Alabama's Class 6A, while Butler (10-1) is No. 1 in 4A.

* Demarcus Threatt scored 45 points and made six steals as Thompson (Alabaster, Ala.) edged Calera (Ala.), 84-77.

* Verdugo Hills (Tujunga, Calif.) defeated Knight (Palmdale, Calif.), 65-56, as 6-8 senior Christopher Dees produced 19 points, 22 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.



* Wawasee (Syracuse, Ind.) made 14 3-point baskets, but still lost to unbeaten Warsaw (Ind.), 84-76.

* Milestone coaching victories were posted last week by Bob Frankenfield of Wilson Area (Easton) and Jan Johnson of Star-Spencer (Spencer, Okla.), who each won No. 400; Kurt Kinnamon of McPherson (Kan.), No. 300; and Jeff Click of Glen Este (Cincinnati), No. 200.

* Despite being constantly double-teamed, 6-3 sophomore Bri Jones had 24 points, 28 rebounds and seven blocks as Aberdeen (Md.) routed Woodlawn (Baltimore), 78-45.{PAGEBREAK}INDOOR TRACK: YAMOAH VAULTS TO RECORD 17 FEET
The indoor track season is off to a rousing start with Arlington (LaGrangeville, N.Y.) star Jordan Yamoah pole vaulting a state-record 17 feet during the Jim Mitchell Invitational in New York City.

* The nation's premier shot putter, Nick Vena of Morristown (N.J.), fired the iron ball 70 feet, 6.75 inches during the New Jersey Lid Lifter at Drew University.

* Dartis Willis of Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.) high jumped 7 feet, 2 inches - tying the state indoor record – during the Michigan Great Lakes Track & Field Classic in Ypsilanti, Mich.