With the winter portion of the high school sports season, Battle Mountain High School moved into fifth place in the Division III NIAA Award of Excellence standings.
Battle Mountain won the regional and state championships in wrestling and the spirit squad was named the state academic champions.
The Meadows, the defending champion and a seven-time award winner, piled up 570 winter-season points to move into second in the Division III standings with 1,410 total points. Incline, the 2011 and 2013 champion which had for the sixth consecutive year taken the lead after the fall season, scored 560 points (280 in academics and athletics) to take the lead with 1,480 points. Yerington (1,130) North Tahoe (990) and Battle Mountain (980) round out the top five.
Faith Lutheran, the 2009, 2014 and 2015 champions, continued its lead in the Division I-A standings with 1,730 points. South Tahoe moved into second place with 1,70 points. The Vikings scored 440 points in the winter. Clark (1,330), Truckee, the 2003 and 2008, 2010 winner (1,310) and Spring Creek (1,240) hold down the third, fourth and fifth-place positions, respectively, after the winter season. Rounding out the top nine are Churchill County (1,120), Boulder City (1,110), Lowry (1,100), Elko (1,020), Sierra Vista (1,050).
The Buckaroos scored 320 points during the winter season for academics, with the girls basketball and wrestling teams being named the academic state champions.
The Lowry wrestling team finished second at the state tournament, while the girls basketball team won the regional championship and advanced to state championships.
Whittell, the defending Division IV champion, has gotten off to another hot start, tallying 510 points in the winter to lead with 1,000 points. Pahranagat Valley, the eight-time consecutive champion until the Warriors’ victory two years ago, remains in third with 690 points.
Sierra Lutheran, new to the top of the standings, is second with 740 points.
Rounding out the top seven are Wells (600), Eureka (440), Sage Ridge (410) and Smith Valley (390).
The NIAA, the governing body of high school athletics in the Silver State, began the Award competition in 2001. The scoring system awards points to schools based on their varsity teams’ performances in the classroom, at the athletic venue and in the Citizenship Through Sports initiative.
Each of the three major categories of high school activities — academics, athletics and sportsmanship — are weighted equally and boys and girls programs are combined in the standings.
Spirit points have been added and leadership points will be added after the
state conference. Points will be deducted at the conclusion of the spring season for ejections and other acts of unsportsmanlike conduct.
