Jimtown High School

On Tuesday, May 13th, the Kiwanis Club of Elkhart honored four Jimtown athletes with the Spring Sport Athletes of the Year Award. The four recipients were Connor Christman, Mason Armstrong, Kendal McPhee, and Kiyla Eberhart. Information on all the recipients are found below. Congratulation to these four outstanding Jimmies on this well deserved award! Connor Christman is a Senior at Jimtown and the son of Chad and Dawn Christman. Connor plays baseball and football for the Jimmies. Connor was 2nd team all conference as a baseball player last season in the NIC and Academic all conference (conference and season awards have not been given yet this season). He plays 2nd base, shortstop, and will sometimes pitch. He is the leadoff batter for the Jimmies. He has a career batting average of .413 and a career on base percentage of .514. Last season, he had a two home run game to help Jimtown defeat South Bend St. Joseph. Coach Squib says of Connor," Absolute "Field Rat"! Connor loves the game of baseball and leads through example by buying into our hitting philosophies and is evidenced by leading the team in batting average and on-base percentage. Has set an amazing example for future players on how to approach the game." His stats for the season as of last week are: batting average .455, 27 runs, 11 RBI, 5 2B, 1 HR, 9 SB. Connor also played football for us. He is a big part of our team the last few years; being 2nd team all conference as a Junior in the NIC. Unfortunately, he broke his collarbone and missed most of the season but came back to play an integral part in the last few games of the year even scoring a touchdown on his first game back. Not only is Connor a great athlete, but he excels in the classroom as well with a 3.88 GPA and is 30th out of 128 Senior Students. He is in the National Honors Society. Coach Vincent says, “ Connor is a great, perseverant young man who fought through a devastating injury during his Senior football season to come back just in time to score a huge touchdown for us in the playoffs. He is an intelligent and bold young man who will do great things in life!" Connor plans on continuing his education at Spring Arbor where he will play baseball and pursue a degree in business administration. Mason Armstrong is a Senior at Jimtown and the son of Erick and Tori Armstrong. Mason is on our baseball and football team. He was even a practice member of our girls basketball team for a year. Mason has been a three year starter for our baseball team. He is a pitcher and plays left field and 3rd base for us as well. As a pitcher he is often tasked with the best team of the week. Even with that he has maintained a 1.59 era with 27 strikeouts. 2-0 on the year and a complete game shutout. Coach Squibb comments on Mason," Leader in the dugout and vocal leader on the field. One of the leaders in many pitching stats...including wins, strikeouts, and ERA. He has also set the bar for future Jimtown baseball players." He is also one of our best bats with a 300 plus career batting average. He has a great arm in the field and has thrown out many baserunners from that position. Mason was our quarterback this past season and was first team all conference as well as academic all state. In football, He was a part of our conference championship this year as well as NIC champs his Freshman and Sophomore year. He also excels in the classroom with a 4.03gpa and is 20th out of 128 students. He has been on high honor roll all four years while at Jimtown high school. Coach Vincent, “ Mason is an excellent leader who is a very talented athlete. He embraces challenges and is a fierce competitor. Mason will undoubtedly be successful in life and has been a great ambassador for Jimtown athletics. He plans on attending Olivet Nazarene University to play baseball and pursue a degree in marketing management. Kendal is a Senior at Jimtown and the daughter of Richard and Lisa McPhee. Kendal is a key member of our softball and volleyball programs and has also wrestled and played a year of basketball for the Jimmies. Kendal is a 4 year varsity softball starter. Her career stats as of last week - .410 batting average, 89 hits, 69 RBIs, 95 runs and fielding percentage of .927. This year as of last week - .488 batting average, 27 runs scored, 26 hits, 9 rbis, leads the team with the most triples and fewest strikeouts, fielding percentage .976 and has thrown out every runner trying to steal on her this year. She was NIC all conference as a Junior as well as being voted as team MVP. She also received the Golden Glove award as a Junior. She was the leading hitter, homerun leader and club leader as a Junior Kendal was a member of our last Softball sectional team in 2022 and our NIC small conference champion. She is a 3 year team ironman award. She has played 9 years of travel softball as well. She is also a four year varsity starter for volleyball. As a volleyball player, she was all conference this past season. American Volleyball Coaches Association voted her as Best and Brightest 3rd team in Recognition of Outstanding Athletic Performance. She was a finalist for the Indiana High School volleyball coaches association North All star team this past season. As a wrestler, she was Most Improved Girl Wrestler. She also played one year of varsity basketball her freshman year. She has a 3.6 GPA and is 39th out of 128 students. She has been on the student council for 2 years, volunteered at Food bank South Bend for three years, feed my starving children for 2 years, Gymtown food pantry, and adopt a family initiative for 3 years. Kendal will be going to IUSB in the fall and studying Nursing. Coach Eberhart had something to say about both girls from softball being awarded, “ A little back story on these two: Kiyla and Kendal - They have played softball together since they were 8 years old. They were the first ever Diamond Divas pitcher/catcher duo. By 10 they were competing together at NSA state placing in the top 7. As 11 and 12 year olds they repped new colors and defended the diamond better than ever earning handfuls of trophies week in and week out. They went separate ways as junior high age players and met back up on the high school field as teammates once again. To see these two at the top of their games and being presented this award together is just amazing and well deserved by both. To watch these two grow up on the diamond, as their talents sored, they got stronger, smarter, faster and better with every day. It's been an absolute joy to watch. What a ride for both these young ladies! Congrats to both of them on their absolute talent and comradery." Kiyla Eberhard is a Senior at Jimtown and the daughter of Jordan and Brandy Eberhart. Kiyla is a softball player for Jimtown. Her career stats - .405 batting average, 56 runs scored, 64 hits, 21 rbis - this season .550 batting average, 25 runs, 33 hits, 12 rbis - leads the team in base hits. Pitching stats - 1.55 era, 300 strikeouts, .182 on base%, .123 batting average against, .981 fielding percentage - season 0.00 era, 39 strikeouts, .989 fielding. Kiyla received honorable mention for pitching last year in the NIC. She was a member of the NIC small school champs team and the 2022 sectional championship. She is a 4 year team ironmen award - 80 percent or more of all off season workouts. Kiyla is also good in the classroom with a 3.2 gpa. She has been on the honor roll every nine weeks. She volunteers at Gymtown pantry. She has been umpiring at Jr. high softball games and helping at youth softball camps. She is not quite sure what she plans to do yet, but she plans to be the first to move out of her parent’s house.