Trenor Hildreth Among Blue Ridge Athletes Honored at Fall Sports Awards

FARMER CITY, Ill. -- At Monday's presentation of the fall sports awards, it was announced that Trenor Hildreth was named the No. 1 defensive player on the News-Gazette's All-Area football team.

He was also announced as a Heart of Illinois Conference Honorable Mention (along with Devin Voyles, Johnny Bruden and Jordan Schrock) and presented with a team award for defensive player of the year.

A few years ago, Hildreth seemed a long shot toward any of those achievements. Due to multiple concussions and bouts with head trauma, he was told by doctors that he would never be able to play football again.

However, thanks in part to the mentoring of assistant coach Shane Halcomb, Hildreth strengthened his condition enough to be able to return to the gridiron.

And in 2011, the senior linebacker led the Champaign-Urbana area with 142 tackles and 81 solo tackles. At the award ceremony, Halcomb (as seen in the photo above) presented Hildreth with a framed copy of the area stats that showed him as the leading tackler.

For all his achievements, Hildreth said he would like to thank his team and the doctors at the hospital who helped him recover.

"They were there every step of the way," Hildreth said.

Soccer

For what head coach Marty Price said was "about two hours," J.J. Malone held the IHSA record for most goals scored in a career with 162.

That record now belongs to Crete-Monee's Carlos Posada, who ended the 2011 season with 177 career goals.

Regardless, J.J. Malone was nominated as a member of the Chicago Fire All-Academic team. He also received the team MVP award.

The Dedication Award was given to Conner Builta (not Nick, as Price accidentally called him). The Most Improved Player Award was awarded to Wes Thompson.

The Defensive Player of the Year award went to goalkeeper Josh Plunk, who led the Champaign-Urbana area with the least amount of goals allowed per match, allowing 21 goals in 25 matches. He also produced 16 shutouts.

Volleyball

Kaitlyn Zelhart finished her career with the Lady Knights with a total of 1,105 kills.

She also had 67 blocks, 54 aces, 288 digs and 171 service points. So it was no surprise that Kaitlyn Zelhart received the team award for Most Valuable Player or that she was nominated as a member of the HOIC's First Team.

Her sister, Emily, finished the 2011 season with 411 assists. As a result, she was named as an Honorable Mention in the HOIC.

Jordan Wheeler received the Coach's Award as well as an HOIC Honorable Mention. The Players' Award went to Kasey Sedberry.

Golf

The boys team advanced past regionals for the first time since 2000, and Amber Tsevelekos qualified for sectionals as well for the girls team.

For these achievements, the boys team (Austin Maxwell, Mason Potts, C.J. Bishop, Dylan Weidner and Justin Jamison, among others) and Tsevelekos were recognized at the awards ceremony.