OTTOVILLE – For the second straight season Ottoville’s Nicole Knippen was named the Putnam County League Player of the Year.
Knippen, a senior led the voting as she helped the team to 14-8 regular season record and a three-way tie in the league championship chase at 6-1 with Columbus Grove and Kalida.
In winning the award Knippen adds another award to her mantle as she finished the fall sports season by being rewarded as the conference soccer player of the year as well and joins sister Kasey to form three straight trophy victories.
“It is a great honor to receive this award as our league is very competitive and has many talented athletes. To win this award twice is a special feeling and accomplishment. This award was not won solely on my own performance but by the people and performance around me as well who helped mold me into the athlete I have become. The push from my teammates and coaches keeps me striving to improve each day” Knippen said.
First awarded to Sue Honigford of Ottoville in the 1977 season and then again in the 1978 campaign, the award has been won seven previous occasions more than one time by a single player, last in the 2012 and 2013 seasons by Big Green standout Abby Siefker who went on to play collegiately at Bowling Green State University.
Of the eight times a player has been bestowed the honor more than once, four have come from Ottoville as Knippen joins Siefker, Honigford, and Karla Wenzlick who is the only player to win three such awards from 1994-96.
Asked her thoughts on Knippen winning the award, Big Green coach Michelle Leach said “I honestly can’t say enough about Nicole as a student athlete. She is special! Nicole has worked so incredibly hard through all of her athletic seasons to always give her best. That’s the effort you know you are going to get from her every day whether practice or a game.”
Joining Knippen on the first team are Miller City Wildcat teammates Abi Lammers (15.1 ppg), and newly minted all-time leading scorer Natalie Koenig who broke the mark last Friday night with a 31-point performance against Fort Jennings.
Kalida’s Grace Klausing was rewarded for her senior campaign with her second consecutive 1st team nod as she helped to lead the Wildcats to a share of the PCL title and a win over Liberty Benton with a buzzer beater on the Eagles home court.
Finishing up the first team for this season is Columbus Grove sharpshooter Kenzie King who was named not only a first team Putnam County League pick on Monday evening, but also a 1st team Northwest Conference selection as well for the third straight season in helping the Bulldogs to a 14-7 season and top seed in their district.
Second team honors went to the Leipsic duo of Liz Scheckelhoff and Whitney Langhals, Catelyn Etter of Continental, Lacie Fenstermaker of Pandora-Gilboa, Erin Downing of Columbus Grove, and Alexa Honigford from Ottoville.
Honorable Mention:
Continental: Maddie Burke, Brynn Tegenkamp
Columbus Grove: Sage Clement, Jaylen Sautter
Fort Jennings: Jessie Foust, Reilly Fitzpatrick
Kalida: Brenna Smith, Kathryn Siebeneck
Leipsic: Marissa Hermiller
Miller City: Krysten Kuhlman
Ottoville: Elise Kramer, Tori Thomas
Pandora-Gilboa: Makayla Kinsinger, Lexie Neuenschwander