KVOE announced the 2022-23 Emporia Main Street Emporia High and Area High School Athletes and Coaches of the Year Saturday.
The Emporia High Athletes of the Year are Xerarch Tungjaroenkul and Rebecca Snyder. The Coach of the Year is Boys Basketball Coach Lee Baldwin.
The Area Athletes of the Year are Mitch Budke of Chase County High School and Brooklyn Jones of Lebo High School. The Coach of the Year is Chris Schmidt the football and boys basketball coach at Olpe High School.
Xerarch Tungjaroenkul was a 2-time state wrestling champion for Emporia High and a 4-time state placer. He will be attending Central Missouri University.
Rebecca Snyder was a member of the Emporia High volleyball, girls’ basketball, and track and field team. She was 1st team All-State and All-Centennial League in basketball and received All-Centennial League honorable mention for volleyball. She will be continuing her basketball and academic career at Washburn.
Mitch Budke was a four-sport athlete at Chase County. He played football, wrestled, played baseball, and competed in track and field. He has been selected to play in the 8-Man All-Star game after leading Chase County to the Divisional round of the 8-Man Division I playoffs. He has also qualified for state in the Javelin with a first-place finish at regionals. He will be attending Emporia State University.
Brooklyn Jones was a 4 sport athlete at Lebo. She was a member of the 1A Division II State champion volleyball team. She was also a member of the girls’ basketball team that was the State champion runner-up. She also played softball and is a State track qualifier in the javelin. She is the defending state champion in javelin.
Lee Baldwin, in his first season at Emporia High, guided the boys’ basketball team to a 15 and 6 record.
Chris Schmidt guided the Olpe football team to the sectional round of the state playoffs and an 8-3 record. He guided the boys’ basketball team to a 4th place finish and a record of 22-4.
The Student-Athletes also receive a $300 scholarship.
