Cooperstown High School's 47th annual All Sports banquet was held Friday night in the Nicholas Sterling Auditorium.

Cooperstown athletic director Mike Cring made note of Cooperstown's athletic teams success on and off the field of play this school year.

Fifteen of the 18 sports teams earned scholar/athlete team status and 65 student athletes earned scholar/athlete recognition. Of course, the stars on the field of play were highlighted as well.

The school year and athletic triumphs began early last fall, when the Cooperstown girls soccer team went through the regular season undefeated and made it all the way to the state Final Four before finally losing. The boys cross country team was a couple of steps better than that, winning the first state title in nearly 40 years. Senior Josh Edmonds led that team, and also helped lead the boys track and field team to its fifth straight Center State Conference crown, and first ever Section Three Class C-1 title.

Individually, Edmonds also made the state track and field meet in the 3,200 meter run, and finished third overall, setting a school and league record in the process.

Also this past spring, golfer Joe Horrigan and tennis player Chris Gentile, both juniors, qualified for the state tournaments in their respective sports.

Senior girls basketball player Dana Leonard was the big story of the winter sports season, breaking the 1,000-point barrier in late January and going on to become the all-time leading scorer in girls basketball at CCS. Leonard and the Lady Redskins advanced all the way to the Section Three Class C semifinals before losing a one-point heartbreaker.

"Our athletes strive for excellence on the playing fields and in the classroom and we are very proud of them for that," said CCS athletic director Mike Cring.

Other highlights of the banquet included the Booster Club's Good Sport Award, which this year was renamed the Ken Kiser Good Sport Award. This year's winners were Lorna and Bruce Wilhelm.

The boys cross country outstanding athlete award was named for longtime coach Don Howard; and the football team added a defensive player award in honor of former player Kevin Belrose, who died in an ATV accident last fall.

Award winners for the evening were as follows.

Outstanding Athlete Awards: Boys basketball: Derek Busse; Boys soccer: Jason Conklin; Girls soccer: Briana Turi and Kristi O'Neil; Volleyball: Julia Drysdale; Girls basketball: Dana Leonard and Samantha Fox; Golf: Joe Horrigan; Tennis: Chris Gentile; Boys track and field: Josh Edmonds and Chris Goodspeed; Girls track and field: Julie Barown and Becky Fisher; Softball: Merritt Schifano and Ariel Baker; Fall cheerleading: Kristin Busse; Winter cheerleading: Kelly Runcorn; Girls swimming: Melanie Garcia; Boys swimming: Josh Edmonds; Baseball: Philip Pohl and Frank Petroskey; Girls cross country: Rebecca Adikes; Boys cross country: Josh Edmonds; Field hockey: Kelly Runcorn and Megan Dennis; Wrestling: Taylor Powers; and football: Offense: Chris Bush; Defense: Jesse Rose.

Director's Award: Matt Gulotta and Caitlin McCaffrey.

Robert James Welsh Award: Charles Hollister.

Lester G. "Red" Bursey Awards: Chris Goodspeed, Chris Bush, Dana Leonard and Merritt Schifano.

The two most prestigious awards of the night are the Ann I. Pink Memorial Sportsmanship Award and the John Terry McGovern Sportsmanship Award. The Pink Award winner was Kelly Runcorn and the McGovern Award went to Derek Busse.

As always, the banquet concluded with Ted Spencer's 15th annual Senior Sports Anthology video, which features action clips, set to music, of all senior athletes.