SILER CITY — Chatham Charter announced its middle and high school athletes of the year Sunday, capping off three weeks of virtual recognition for the teams that contributed to the best overall year in Knights athletics history.
Tennis player Elphie Spillman was named the middle school girls athlete of the year, and soccer/baseball player Aidan Allred was named the middle school boys athlete of the year.
At the high school level, volleyball/basketball player Morgan Lineberry was named the girls athlete of the year, and basketball’s Jordan Hamilton (a Wake Tech commit) was named the boys athlete of the year. Those four athletes, all of whom were nominated by individual coaches, were selected as winners in votes by Chatham Charter’s coaching staff at large.
The Knights also released a list of 18 total fall and winter team MVPs, who were announced intermittently in the video series. Spring sports rosters and coaches were recognized online “but did not have honorees since the season was ultimately canceled” as a precautionary measure against COVID-19, the release said.
Spillman and Allred are both rising ninth graders, and Lineberry, a 6-foot rising senior, was a three-sport athlete this year for Chatham Charter. On the volleyball team, where she was also named team MVP, she started at middle hitter and logged 286 digs (11.9 per match), 202 kills and 108 total blocks.
The Knights’ volleyball team made the 1A state playoffs and finished the season 16-12 after losing in the first round.
In basketball, Lineberry (a team co-MVP) averaged a team-high 15 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. The Knights went 27-4 — that included a 14-0 record in regular-season conference play — and advanced to the 1A round of 16.
Lineberry also appeared in two softball games before the NCHSAA suspended and ultimately canceled spring sport seasons.
Hamilton, a 6-foot-3 forward, was the leader of a Knights basketball team that went 32-2 and advanced all the way to the state semifinals, where the team lost to 1A stalwart Winston-Salem Prep. He was also named team MVP.
The captain shot 62% from the field and also averaged 9.4 rebounds (3.9 offensive), 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He committed to Wake Tech, a two-year junior college in Raleigh, on March 20 and signed his letter of intent Monday.
Here's a full list of the honorees:
Middle school
Girls tennis: Elphie Spillman
Volleyball: Keeley Allen
Girls cross country: Kynzie Jordan
Boys cross country: Colton Todd
Boys soccer: Aidan Allred
Girls basketball: Delana Loflin
Boys basketball: Beau Harvey
Wrestling: Eddie McGaughnea
Cheerleading: Samantha Scott
High school
Cross country: Brandon McKoy
Boys soccer: Clay Griffin and Trevor Golden
Girls tennis: Rachel Brookshire
JV volleyball: Olivia Cheek
Varsity volleyball: Morgan Lineberry
Wrestling: Chandler Steele
Boys varsity basketball: Jordan Hamilton
Girls varsity basketball: Morgan Lineberry and Tamaya Walden
Cheerleading: Kennedy Andrews and Tamia Lipford
Reporter Chapel Fowler can be reached at cfowler@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @chapelfowler.