Five challenge Bradley Central's Brooke Copeland for Scrappy Moore Award

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog
photo Brooke Copeland - basketball - Bradley Central
photo Samantha Caswell - tennis - Baylor
photo Victoria Wicks - Baylor School - Track
photo Carrie Cheeks - basketball - Sonoraville

Six of the Chattanooga area's most accomplished female high school athletes have been named finalists for this year's Times Free Press Best of Preps Scrappy Moore Award.

The six finalists for this year's female Athlete of the Year are Bradley Central's Brooke Copeland, Baylor's Samantha Caswell and Victoria Wicks, Sonoraville's Carrie Cheeks, Signal Mountain's Mallory Young and Chattanooga Christian's Hannah Henry.

The winner will be revealed at Thursday's annual Best of Preps banquet, where two-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. will help honor the area's top athletes and coaches. Doors will open at 6 p.m. for the 6:30 dinner.

Copeland is a University of Florida basketball signee who scored more than 2,000 career points and played two other sports, including volleyball, where she also was a Best of Preps selection. She earned the Scrappy Moore female award as a junior.

Caswell was recently named an All-American by the national high school tennis federation and has signed to continue her tennis career at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She was ranked among the top 40 high school players in the nation this season, finishing 12-3 in singles, and after winning state singles titles the previous two seasons she won the state doubles championship with teammate McCall Morgan.

Wicks was a high-scoring forward on the Baylor girls' soccer team, finishing the fall 2013 season with 25 goals and earning all-state honors. She won the state championship in the 300-meter hurdles each of the past two seasons and has signed with Samford to continue running track.

Cheeks was a two-sport all-star this year, leading Sonoraville's basketball team to a Georgia Region 5-AAA tournament title by averaging 23.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 blocks and two steals per game. She also had 427 kills, 55 blocks, 222 digs and 38 aces for the volleyball team and has signed a basketball scholarship with Lee University.

Young was named cross country runner of the year, winning five times and placing in the top three in each of the nine races in which she competed. In track and field, she led the Lady Eagles to the program's first Class A/AA team state title, winning the 1600-meter run and finishing in the top three in two other events to score 24 team points by herself.

Henry is a three-sport standout who finished with 16 goals and six assists in soccer last fall, advanced to the Class A/AA singles semifinals in tennis and was one of the top scorers on a Lady Chargers basketball team that advanced to the Region 4-AA tournament.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

photo Mallory Young - Signal Mountain High School - Track
photo Hannah Henry - tennis- Chattanooga Christian

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