Jessica Hirsch named DHS Girls Athlete of the Year
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It came as no surprise who the DuQuoin High School Senior Girls Athlete of the Year was. Jessica Hirsch, daughter of Denise and Shannon Hirsch, received the Senior Athlete Award at the dinner on Tuesday evening. Jessica is a three-sport athlete, and has earned 12 Varsity letters in her time at DHS. She has led the volleyball, basketball, and softball teams for four years and along the way set many school records.
Hirsch will attend John A. Logan College on a softball and basketball scholarship next year.
Coach Jason James was the evening's host, and welcomed the crowd to the DMS Commons. The dinner was catered by Kitten's Cafe of Pinckneyville. Coach Shawn File said the blessing before dinner was served.
After dinner, the program began with introductions of the Athletic Director, John Campbell, and the DHS Coaches. James thanked the coaches and Athletic Director for all their hard work. James recognized the Indianettes for 5 years straight of going to State and their Championships, the Basketball Team for their 23 wins (a new record), and the Softball Team for their 27 wins (a new record) and a Conference Championship. Coach James thanked several people individually for their contributions: Pat Ferrari, DuQuoin Evening Call, Dwight and David Hill for their pictures, Dave, Linda, and Cody for their help, and the Administration for their support.
All athletes were introduced individually. Senior Athletes were presented with a medal. Senior athletes honored were: Keawna Anders, Michaela Brown, Jenna Doerr, Kati Dunmyer, Magen Edwards, Airika Galli, Tomi Hamlin, Lauren Helsley, Blair Hester, Jessica Hirsch, Dominique Johnson, Megi Jones, Kirsten Knapp, Sasha Mozelewski, Trini Pham, Fatima Pirtle, Shelby Presley, Andrea Smith, Christy Toler, and Brittany Ward.
The Kris Stacey Scholarship Award was presented to Shelby Presley. The $600 scholarship is donated by family and friends of Kris Stacey. Kris Stacey was the first Senior Athlete of the Year in 1979, the year the dinner and award were first started. Kris was an outstanding athlete at DHS, who became a teacher and coach at Elverado. She is the only female athlete in the DHS Sports Hall of Fame.
The Scholar Athlete Award went to Jenna Doerr, who has a GPA of 4.0. This was also a $600 scholarship.
The final award was the Senior Athlete of the Year Scholarship Award, which went to Jessica Hirsch. Hirsch thanked her family, God for her talent, her friends and teammates, her coaches, and the fans, who attended her games.
The banquet is made possible by the generous donations of the following sponsors: Community Hope, Beta Sigma Phi Sororities, Banterra Bank, DuQuoin Athletic Boosters, Mathis and Sons, Inc., Black Diamond's Bootheel Harley-Davison, Dr. Richard Weinberg, Steve Marek of Country Ins. and Financial Services, DuQuoin State Bank, DuQuoin Elks Lodge No. 884, Jerry Smith, Attorney, Frank Deaton Insurance Agency, Jackson Pools and Spa, All American Trophy Sales, and Dr. Isaac Davison.
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