The Encore staff loves seeing athletes succeed! It is our job to help all injured athletes get back to their game as soon as possible. Over the past few months we have seen/heard about many athletes that didn’t quite get the recognition they deserved. Throughout the months of June and July, Encore hosted an Athlete Recognition Contest for all the high school athletes to gain some recognition for their accomplishments. We received many qualified submissions and had a difficult time deciding who the winners would be. After much consideration and reviewing, we have chosen the following three athletes as the winners for this year’s contest.

1st Place Winner – Elena Guavara

Elena is a rising senior and only member of the Good Hope High School Wheelchair Track Team. She is one athlete Encore highly respects for chasing her dreams. Her Junior year accomplishments consist of winning 4 AHSAA State Championship titles in the wheelchair shot put, 400 meter, 200 meter, and 100 meter dash. (I’m not sure about anyone else, but our arms hurt just thinking about that!)

2nd Place Winner – Jordan Holifield

Jordan is a 16 year old, rising junior and varsity pitcher on the Baker High School softball team in Mobile. She holds the record for most strike outs at BHS. Jordan also plays travel ball for Birmingham Thunderbolts and was the winner of the 2014 Coastal Alabama softball performance of the week poll on AL.com.

3rd Place Winner – Ryan Bradford 

Ryan is a upcoming senior at Falkville High School and right handed pitcher on the baseball team. Ryan had a great junior year! His accomplishments consist of 2014 All Area, 2014 All State, 10-1 pitching record, 2.60 ERA and was named All Tennessee Valley Baseball Team honorable mention.