Dirksen is state honorable mention

Abraham Dirksen had a spectacular senior season.

He was undefeated in conference to earn him a spot on the All-Allen County Athletic Conference.

Earlier this year he was named to the All-District Team for District 4.

The awards just keep rolling in for the Jay County No. 1 singles player.

On Friday, Dirksen was named honorable mention all-state by the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association.

Dirksen was one of 79 players to earn honorable mention from the IHSTCA. 

Dirksen made it to the IHSAA individual sectional championship before falling to Alex Sagara — who was named to the second-team all-state — 6-0, 6-0. The senior ended his season with a 20-5 record.

Other players Dirksen played against who were recognized as honorable mentions includes Frankton’s Sam Barr, Madison-Grant’s Luke Gilman and Marion’s Ryan Sebastian.

Dirksen is the first Jay County High School boys tennis player to receive such honors from the IHSTCA.

Two selected

The Midwest Athletic Conference announced all-conference selections Thursday, with two Fort Recovery football players making teams and four more as honorable mentions.

Troy Homan made the first team All-MAC for defense as a cornerback along with Coldwater’s AJ Harlamert. During the season, the senior picked off two passes and made 25 tackles. Two and a half of those were for a loss that totaled 50 yards.

On the offensive side, Reese Guggenbiller made the second-team All-MAC at the wide receiver position along with Trey Heitkamp of Anna and Andrew Pohlman of Marion Local. Guggenbiller led the team with 41 receptions for 576 yards and four touchdowns. He also had two touchdowns on 20 rushing attempts.

Listed as honorable mentions from Fort Recovery are seniors Alex Evers, Conner Kaikala and Owen Knapke, and sophomore Reece Wendel.  

Striker sweep

The Jay County boys soccer team had nine players make All-Allen County Athletic Conference teams.

Five Patriots made the first team All-ACAC. Jay County swept the forward position with Levi Muhlenkamp, Dylan Marentes and Oskar Alart Mateo all making the first team.

Muhlenkamp led the Patriots in goals with 26 while Marentes had 12 and Alart Mateo had four. Marentes earned a team-high 24 assists with Muhlenkamp next with four and Alart Mateo had two. In the four ACAC games, Muhlenkamp had eight goals and Marentes had eight assists.

Other first team selections include defender Brayden Collins and goalie Kaleb Coppock who made it as an at-large.

Players named to the second team include defenders Gavin Young and Alan Ortiz, midfielder Cayden Buckland and forward Hugo Gutierrez.

Super six

Six players from the Jay County girls soccer team were selected to All-Allen County Athletic Conference teams.

Two of the Patriots’ defenders made the first team All-ACAC in Emma Hatzell and Ellie Wendel. Hatzell made the team as the at-large selection.

Also on the first team were forward Morgan DeHoff and midfielder Aixa Lopez. Both players scored double-digit goals on the season with DeHoff finding the net 18 times and Lopez 10. Lopez also lead the Patriots with 318 steals 

Jay County had two girls make second team All-ACAC as well. Molly Muhlenkamp made it in as the first midfielder while Jayla Huelskamp was the second forward. 

Muhlenkamp worked as the focal point in the midfield for the Patriots, where she tallied 248 steals. She also had eight goals and five assists to finish third in points with 21 behind DeHoff (40) and Lopez (29).

Huelskamp would often bounce back and forth between playing as a forward and defender. She ended the season with a pair of goals and assists while racking up 243 steals.

Muhlenkamp and Hatzell graduate, but Jay County returns the other four.