Advertisement
Editorial: Girls earn ‘outstanding season’
Op-Ed · April 09, 2015


Sophomore Haley Mullinnix made a statement at West Branch High School’s girls basketball awards night that sums up the ever-striving attitude we admire in coaches and players: “I feel I need to improve. I don’t want to be just ‘honorable mention.’”


This reminds us of a plethora of advertisements for athletic clothing that show determined, sweaty athletes working out in otherwise empty gymnasiums and weight rooms long after everyone else went home.

It’s the effort, the constant push to raise the bar, that we most appreciate in all of our sports teams. Wins are great, but did you push yourself to improve? To inspire others to do the same?

The girls basketball team certainly did when we see this kind of talk coming from a sophomore.

Head Coach Jarod Tylee said the team had an “outstanding season,” and they produced a 17-6 record — which ties the school record — to show for it.

The Bears finished second in the River Valley Conference South Division and beat two of the teams that qualified for the state tournament. West Branch went undefeated against all of the RVC North Division teams and all of their non-conference opponents.

Impressive.

Junior Allyson Simpson was named to the Elite Team, which covers all of the 13 teams in the RVC superconference, and was named to the Class 2A Region 5 All-Regional Team. Senior Maddy Russell was named to the RVC South’s First Team and also received the Girls Coaches Association All-District Class 2A Southeast recognition. Junior Haley Poula was named to the RVC South First Team and Mullinnix earned RVC South Honorable Mention.

And we would agree with Tylee that one of the highlights of the season was seeing the girls beat Regina. Regina, like West Branch, is strong in many sports from year to year, and we have nothing but respect for what they can do on the field and court, which is a big reason for the rivalry between the Bears and Regals.

Congratulations to the West Branch High School girls basketball team on another great year!