The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) recently announced the awardees for its annual Commissioner’s Trophy. The trophy is awarded to recognize NCHSAA member schools and their student-athletes for their service and community outreach initiatives during the school year. Up to eight schools, ideally one per district, are awarded a stipend to help support their respective service projects. For their continued outstanding community service, the Franklin High School (FHS) Indoor Track Team, along with the FHS Student Leadership Program, were recognized.
On April 4, FHS announced the winners and added, “The Commissioner’s Trophy is one of the highest honors awarded by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. It is presented to teams and programs that demonstrate outstanding achievement, sportsmanship, and positive impact within their school and community. Representatives from both groups will be invited to the NCHSAA Awards Ceremony on June 18, where they will each receive the Commissioner’s Trophy along with a check to help fund future projects.”
For their part, the track team has now been recognized three years running for the award. Said Track Coach Matt Harlfinger, “We are pretty proud of it. It’s historically a tough award to win with over 450 school competing, and probably 12-16 teams at each school. Conservatively speaking, that’s 4,500-8,000 sports teams in N.C. and they only award eight of them each year.”
The team’s participation in last year’s Macon Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Christmas was highlighted by the NCHSAA.
“The Center is one of the most populated facilities in Macon County, with more than 150 residents. The FHS indoor track team saw the need to provide the joy and spirit of Christmas to residents who had no local family or visitations during the holiday season.”
The FHS Leadership Program is made up of student athletes across the school’s spectrum, including football, volleyball, track, baseball, softball, basketball, wrestling, cross-country, tennis, golf, swimming and diving, and cheerleading.
The NCHSAA website lauded the school’s efforts in recognizing the Leadership Program by releasing this statement: “Franklin High student-athletes are very active within their community and participated in numerous worthy and impactful community outreach initiatives this year. These included volunteering their time and efforts to assist those in need following the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, fundraising through a ‘Coins for Conference’ project and donating funds to each school within their conference, establishing the Panther Legacy Handoff, an initiative that pairs seniors with kindergartners, and finally, their Unify March Madness initiative.”
NCHSAA focused on the students’ participation in the annual Unify March Madness event, which pairs student-athletes with Unify Buddies in a basketball game showcase. The production is designed for individuals with disabilities to have an opportunity to learn and compete.
Finally, NCHSAA last week awarded the OrthoCarolina Athlete of the Month award for March to Kendall Rumans (pictured above, center). With her 11 home runs so far this season, she is currently ranked number one in North Carolina. She is also on pace to break the existing FHS school record for a season (17) held by 2024 graduate Tori Ensley.