Wheelchair tourney rolls in $2,000
By Jennifer Archibald Staff writer

Father and son on opposite teams Carroll Jr.-Sr. H.S. principal Charles Huckstep, left, tries to block a pass from his son Daniel, right, in the wheelchair basketball tourney on Saturday. Also pictured are teacher Tom Hedde and Josh Spray. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald

The 3-on-3 wheelchair basketball tournament at Carroll Elementary School on Saturday raised more than $2,000.

Event coordinators Kathy Sanders and Jenelle Gish say half of the proceeds will go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which helps Carroll students with MDA, and half will go toward the purchase of a new wheelchair for another student. Carroll has four students in wheelchairs.

Eighteen teams participated in the tourney. Members of the winning team were Josh Spray, Jeremy Huckstep, Tyson Damitis, and Dwayne Ewing.

It was a close final game, and coming in second was the team of Adam Spesard, Drew Yoder, Weston Rinehart, and Riley Eller.

Josh Spray was on two teams, and it turned out that they were to play each other in the semi-finals. One team included his two physical therapists, and the other was made up of his friends from school. He chose to stay with his friends, and that team was defeated.

In control Josh Spray, left, was on two teams in the wheelchair basketball tourney. One of his teams came in first place and the other came in third place out of 18 teams participating. Also pictured in this photo is Eric Miller. Comet photo by Jennifer Archibald

However, by unanimous decision, it was decided to let Josh play with his other team in the final game. Thus, he was on the winning team as well as the third place team. Each of the winning team members received a trophy.

His teammates on the third place team were Conner Wells, Daniel Huckstep, and Kaitlynn Capitanio.

Those on the fourth place team were Drake Harper, Dallas Butcher, Ethan Glascock, and Jordan Brumbaugh.

The team that had the distinction of being the first one eliminated from the tourney (but very good sports) consisted of John Sayers, Charles Huckstep, Fred Schnarr, Tom Hedde, and Drew Carter.

The tourney originally was scheduled to be double elimination, but because so many teams signed up, it was changed to single elimination.

Game officials were volunteers Don Shively, Mike Hyman, and Katie Seward.

Sanders and Gish said many individuals, organizations, and businesses donated money and volunteered their time to this event. They said they have already had requests to repeat the event next year.