On Tuesday Roanoke Rapids High School held its annual Athletic Awards Night to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of more than 250 student-athletes from RRHS and Roanoke Rapids Early College. 

Students representing 22 varsity and five junior varsity teams were honored for their dedication, teamwork, and success throughout the athletic year. 

Over the course of this year, the Yellow Jackets earned four conference championships, produced five Conference Players of the Year, and had two Conference Coaches of the Year.

Conference Championship Teams:

Men’s Basketball, Men’s Golf, Softball, Men’s Tennis

Conference Players of the Year:

Cadence Ball, Softball

Bobby Hawkins, Men’s Track

Quen’Tez Richardson, Men’s Basketball; Edenilson Saravia, Men’s Soccer;

Claire Walker, Women’s Soccer

Conference Coaches of the Year:

George Collins, Men’s Basketball and Steve Harris, Tennis

The evening included the presentation of individual team awards by each varsity program, followed by the recognition of the RRHS Athletics major award recipients. 

Major awards

This year’s major award winners are listed below:

The Sports Club Spark Plug Award is given to the students who contribute unselfishly and freely of their time, are dependable, take pride in their work, and do not expect or seek recognition. These students perform behind-the-scenes tasks that often go unnoticed by fans and players and are considered the coach's right-hand support. This year’s Sports Club Spark Plug Award winners are Makenna Whitley and Jeremy Robertson.

The Aimee Erwin Award is given to a senior female athlete possessing the following traits: outstanding leadership, outstanding athletic ability, both individually and as a team player, and loyalty to the school and administration. This year’s Aimee Erwin Award winner is Morgan Beam.

The Mickey Gukich Award is given to a senior male athlete possessing the following traits: outstanding leadership, outstanding athletic ability, both individually and as a team player, and loyalty to the school and administration. This year’s Mickey Gukich Award winner is Quen’Tez Richardson.

The Cranford Hoyle Award recognizes a senior male and female athlete for achievements which exemplify the traits so valued by Coach Hoyle, long-time teacher, coach and Athletic Director at RRHS. 

The recipients of this award must have lettered in one or more sports, been loyal to his/her community and to his/her school, taken advantage of his/her educational opportunities, been competitive when the game of life became challenging and have demonstrated that adversity in life can be overcome by dedication to a better way. This year’s Cranford Hoyle Award winners are Matti Margaret Cutchin and Dylan Dixon.

The RRHS Best All-Around Athlete must have lettered in at least two sports, possess the traits of sportsmanship, citizenship, attitude, dependability, leadership and teamwork every time that they compete for RRHS and are role models for every athlete who wears the Yellow Jacket jersey. This year’s Best All-Around Athletes are Emilee Campbell and Bobby Hawkins Jr.

Free sports physicals

During the event, Athletic Director Mark Snead encouraged all RRGSD students interested in participating in athletics at Chaloner Middle School or Roanoke Rapids High School next year to attend a free sports physical event at the RRHS Gym on this evening at 6. 

Sports physicals are valid for 13 months, meaning this physical will cover the entire 2026–27 school year.