I'd like to recognize/commend 2 outstanding freshmen from Yokota High School.

Male category: Derick Seward -- outstanding freshman with a positive attitude both on and off the field/court and soon to be track. A real team player who doesn't quit...no matter what. A down-to-earth athlete, he never likes to portray himself as better than anyone else, and is always looking to better himself in anything that he does. He is a "sleeping giant" and reliable in the clutch. I look for big things for him in the years to come.

Female category: Charae Caldwell -- another outstanding freshman with a positive attitude on and off the court. She really stepped it up this year on the court!

I won't go into long drawn out reasons for my 2 suggestions, but those who know these individuals won't disagree that they are not worthy of your consideration.

i think to get athlete of the quarter you need alot more than a good attitude...

They are both good athletes, and definetly have what it takes to become future athletes of the quarter, mvps, etc., but as freshmen they're not the ones you think of when u put up names like barney, brown, spencer, etc.

Willie Brown, Seoul American High School. Willie was the MVP of the Hong Kong basketball tournament in November and MVP of the Far East basketball tournament in February.

I agree sports_fanatic, just because they are good for their grade level doesn't mean they are the best nominees for Athlete of the Quarter. Especially individuals like D.Steward whose team didn't even do outstanding at any point in the season. What did Yokota win in basketball? 60 percent of their games? But like Tony said maybe in the future when he is or if he ever even does become an exceptional athlete than maybe his chances would be better. However, I have a few Yokota wrestlers in mind who I could see being selected. In my opinion only someone who dominates their competition or maybe makes an "epic" comeback at Far East and dominates there should be considered for this honor. I would recommend giving this to an undefeated wrestler or one who came close to it. No basketball team went undefeated this season or even came close. Maybe one of the thirteen Far East Wrestling Champions. Plus it's a whole lot easier to name a wrestler outstanding since its an individual sport. In wrestling you can't have a bad day and expect other teammates to compensate for your flaws like in basketball. Here are my nominees (not in any specific order) for Baseketball and Wrestling.

Boys Basketball: Jamil Barney(Kadena) or Willie Brown(Seoul)

Wrestling: Daniel Polaski(Zama), Cameron Butts(Kinnick), Kevin Radford(Edgren), Tony Pressnel(Yokota), or Andrew Blankenship(Edgren).

I don’t know too much about female athletics.

I would like to nominate Cameron Butts for showing oustanding performance throughout the season and especially at Far East. He was the oustanding wrestler at both Kanto Finals and Far East.

Tony Presnell and Mark Meade from Yokota both have come a long ways to be where they are now. I feel that they deserve some recognition. I have been watching them wrestle since they were freshmen's and they have made a tremendous amount of improvement. Congratulations to both wrestlers for their title.

More then one of the thirteen Fareast Wrestling Champions went undefeated in THEIR weight classes,
115 Scott Wood ( 3 fareast championships),
122 Craig Bell (Undefeated),
135 Cameron Butts (other than 2 loses to 141s 2nd place finisher),
141 Harry Bloom (a loss to 148 champion/big brother),
148 Jake Bloom ( 3-time champ and undefeated),
158 Tony Presnell (Undefeated),
168 Kevin Radford (Undefeated),
215 Daniel Polaski (Undefeated at 215, loss at 180 in Misawa)

Daniel Burns from Seoul American would be a good candidate.
He's a three-sport player and the captain for all football, basketball, and soccer. He possess great leadership qualities on and off the field otherwise he wouldnt be the captain.

In basketball this year, was the starting point guard and made all tournament in Yokota at the news years classic and all-tournament in the far east tournament. Hes not your Willie Brown, but he gives it his all at all times and watch out for him on the soccer pitch this spring.

Daniel Polaski.

Jamil Barney

Kevin Radford is a great candidate, i don't know how his performance last year is relevant to be selected as THIS athlete of the quarter but either way he deserves to be recognized :)...

No one has mentioned any of the EJ King players. I think you need to look at Fernando Rico. He led that team to a second place finish this year. He has started on the that team for 4 years and been a captain for 3 years. Anyone who knows that team will tell you that he is the rock the kept them together, and as he goes they go. They are a totally different team when he is not around. He has been All Far East Basketball twice and Tennis this past year. He is also the Student Council President and an Honor Roll student. Everything you are looking for in an Athlete of the Quarter.

This year Edgren has been put on the map. Taking Class A Football by strorm as back-to-back champions and their wrestling team is still climbing to be one of the Pacific's best. As for the Winter Season Athlete of the Quarter, you have to really look at Andrew Blankenship. The stud FB on Edgren's (Fantastic Four) Football Team. Also, being the only Senior on Edgren's Wrestling Team, winning the 180lb Far East Title and leading them to their best finish in school history.

It's pretty clear that everyone has legitimate candidates for the Athlete of the quarter. (Interestingly, almost the whole argument has been for the male athlete). Everyone has submitted great candidates, and there are many more out there who are deserving. I know there are a few from my school who I feel have earned the nomination. One of the best parts of naming one athlete is that we can all say "Good choice, but what about XYZ". This blog is a great place for us to sing the praises of the kids we feel are deserving, and undoubtedly some will not agree with the choice but that's life. Thanks for the forum Dave.

Not to be rude, but i thought this was the Winter season athlete of the quarter, Misawa football has nothing to do with it, Yokota is a smaller school then Edgren and Yokota won both of the football games.

Yokota was still a smaller school then Edgren, we chose to play Class AA football, our enrollment is something like 300 kids? Just because we're in a different league doesn't mean we cant be smaller.

i understand that yokota has like 300 students but thats still bigger than edgren. What makes you think that Edgren is bigger? The school only has 280 or so students 7-12. i absolutely hate when people throw the size factor in therre. we all know that the sizes are always a conflict but lets get rid of that excuse...its getting a lil tired

was simply going on what i was told from others, but i do know we could play small school football , but thats off topic anyways

Well,since there was no 129 pound included to this list.
How about Matthew Maza from Kubasaki Dragons.Whom was part of that group whom took both Individual / Team Championship in 2005.
He went undeafeated last season and also brought home another gold medal at Far East.
He claimed two Far East Gold and 1 silver. And numerous island meets to his belt.
He is a quite and well manner wrestler and does not blow his horn.
And yes, he was the only wrestler that denied Jake Bloom his 4th crown back in 2005.Both men are best of friends outside the mat.BUT, come wrestling time .Warriors they are. These two and all who wrestle on Okinawa have a bond only these wrestlers understand. They are family then and will always cherish their glory and lost being a wrestler from the island of Okinawa. Which these fine young men will call home.

Matt was definetly one of the top three wrestlers in the 2006-2007 Far East tournament, if not the best. And sorry if you felt i was excluding him, but i was only mentioning the 2007-2008 season guys

Matt was definetly one of the top three wrestlers in the 2006-2007 Far East tournament, if not the best. And sorry if you felt i was excluding him, but i was only mentioning the 2007-2008 season guys

knowitall

the graduating class of edgren High is less than 65 buddy.. as a matter of fact i must apologize for saying that we only had about 280 sumthin students, we actually have 295, which is still a very small amount......

This is for this year...Matt Maza didn't even wrestle, he GRADUATED..haha, take and second to think about what you are talking about

wait were you trying to say John Prager was a two time pacific champ?

I'm still kinda new here i guess... lol... What tournament is that, just one of the regular in-season tournaments, or out of the kanto/fareast league?

There are basically 3 groups of people who post on this site:
A: Coaches, officials, and others who are relatively unbiased and like to talk about what's going on in the Pacific.
B: Student Athletes who often add nice perspectives
C: Proud mommies and daddies who think their child is the greatest ever and get very upset when anything to the contrary is written or when they're left out.
Sorry da Kang, but I have to call you out for a minute...
You asked for facts but went a little postal in your last post and criticized others for speaking only with emotion. Take a look at your posts my friend you are all emotion, thanks for the chuckle. To go all CAPS CRAZY about someone mixing up the Radford brothers is a little excess. They are in adjacent weight classes, and look very similar, and their names are similar. It is easy to mix them up unless you know them both very well. Second, you are correct that Kevin Radford is a very solid wrestler (both brothers are) but you get a little far fletched with your argument. First of all the wrestlers that you mention who Mr. Radford had to beat may be solid, but not standouts by any stretch of the imagination. Also, if you look at some Far East history, 168 is typically one of the weaker weight classes (no offense to all who wrestle in it, but it's true). Bringing up the argument that Prager is a 2x APAC champ is kind of sad. Everyone who attends the tournament knows it's pretty much a joke and the only reason it was used is because the Int'l Schools wanted to give their kids a trip to fill the void of Far East (as soon as Rumble was initiated, they dropped the Guam tourney). However Prager is a solid wrestler. Presnell wasn't the only roadblock to 158-180 dominance, Cody Cash of Kadena beat Radford pretty handidly.
158, in many people's opinion was by far the toughest weight class. Cash was an Okinawa Prefecture champ and bronze medalist in the Junior Olympics (so I was told), Hernandez of Guam was very good (much better than Neighbors) not to mention Presnell and Radford.
Being a sophomore should have nothing to do with winning the accolades, otherwise what about everyone who ever won a FE wrestling title as a freshman?
I like the objectivity of most blogs, but when the passion of a parent/girlfriend/coach is in a blog, it always give me a great laugh.

Did you put into factor that Cash only weighed 150lbs? Yes, as you might not have known he wrestled UP the whole season. So he was at a bit of a disadvantage in the duels. Other wrestlers who cut to 158 were able to shoot back up to 160's or above I’m sure. When you have to wrestle someone who has a good 10 lbs on you it can really have a big effect.

And even if Kenneth did manage to get the best of Cody in the duels, Mr. Cash beat him where it counted and earned himself a well disserved silver medal. So no matter what you say, or how you put it, Cash got a silver and Kenneth got a bronze.

I mean no offence what so ever to Kenneth, he is a solid wrestler, but I don’t believe he is better than Cash.

All great comments,

I was at the tournament and the 158lb class was the most competetive. Most of the other brackets had two good wrestlers. With the kid from Guam, Radford, Cash and Presnell this group had the most (sheer numbers) tallented wrestlers. Presnell beat all of them, so he gets my vote if I only get one. I will say when the Kadena wrestlers lost, they were not all "good sports". Mr. Cash wouldn't even shake Mr. Presnell's hand. So he gets no vote here. The other two would get my vote if I had more than one. Here's one for you, what about the girl who won a far east wrestling match?