New Richmond head coach Rylan Shebesta was named the Coach of the Year for both the boys and girls teams.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

The New Richmond and Bethel-Tate cross country teams were the big winners at the Southern Buckeye Conference Fall Sports Banquet on Monday, Nov. 10 with the respective division winners taking home the majority of the individual awards.

Lions’ head coach Rylan Shebesta and Bethel’s Pam Taylor were awarded both the boys’ and girls’ Coaches of the Year awards in their leagues, sweeping the category. For Shebesta, it was the second consecutive year that he was named the American Division Coach of the Year for both teams.

“(The award) is voted on by the other coaches in the league, so it’s quite an honor to get that award,” Shebesta said. “The coaches look at the overall body of work — there are a lot of good coaches in our league — and I consider it an accomplishment that they would vote for me.”

Both of Shebesta’s squads were not only SBC champions, but also regional tournament qualifiers headed up by individuals who were named Runner of the Year.

Bobby Bingham, a senior for the Lions, received the Runner of the Year distinction for the second consecutive year as well.

“Bobby is interesting because he never really ran in middle school, especially cross country, “ Shebesta said of his standout. “So, to do what he did in four years — the guys have won (league) three of the four years he’s been (at New Richmond) — is really impressive.

“If he hadn’t made the decision to come out his freshman year, we wouldn’t have won this year or some of the others. He’s made a tremendous difference in our league. He’s helped to push other kids to make them better, which has been huge for our team.”

Bingham recorded the top time among locals in the Division II regional meet finishing in 32nd place.

Bingham was joined on the First Team All-Conference by teammates Luke Glenn and Charlie Spicker, Amelia’s Justin Tavner and Tom Casavant, Batavia’s Ryan Cooper and Western Brown’s Rick Pride and Jessie Leonard.

In the National Division, Williamsburg sophomore KC Jones was named the Runner of the Year. He was joined on the First Team by teammate Nathan Webb, Bethel-Tate’s Jackson Coates, Felicity-Franklin’s Jared Boeckmann, Blanchester’s Gage Egner and Eric Hinkle and Georgetown’s Matthew Williams.

On the girls’ side of things, New Richmond’s Claire Burns was also a two-time recipient of the Runner of the Year award.

“Claire was the same way (as Bingham); she played soccer and ran cross country her first year and would have been great either way,” Shebesta said. “You don’t have to worry about leadership too much when you have your top runners committed like Claire and Bobby.

“(Burns) has another shot at making it to state next year. She’s not just satisfied with being the best runner in the area and I like that about her.”

Burns finished in 23rd place at the regional meet despite dealing with irritating shin splints.

She was joined on the American Division First Team by teammates Shelbi Simpson, Taryn Rupp and Grace Hauserman, Amelia’s Jessica Sheets, Goshen’s Courtney Turner and Brittany Clark and Western Brown’s Becky Appelman.

In the girls’ National Division, Blanchester’s Savannah Rhodes was named the Runner of the Year. She was joined on the First Team by Bethel-Tate’s Allison Parks, Morgan Reinhart and Haley Taylor, Felicity-Franklin’s Kaitlyn Sharp, Williamsburg’s Heather McIntosh and Georgetown’s Megan Williams and Kelsey Miller.

Complete lists of fall sports All-Stars are available on the SBC website, sbaac.net.