SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of Jan. 9, 2019
Kiernan Hutchinson was looking forward to closing out her high school soccer career on a high note. With her sights set on a collegiate track career, the fall season would be the Central Bucks East senior’s final go round with close friends she’d played soccer with since second grade. Things didn’t exactly go as planned. In the Patriots fifth game of the season against Souderton, Hutchinson went down after a collision with an opposing player. An MRI confirmed her worst fears. Hutchinson had torn her ACL. The Patriots went on to win just five games and missed out on a postseason bid in a rare subpar season. Coach Paul Eisold acknowledged that losing Hutchinson proved costly for reasons that could easily go unnoticed. “What she contributed was a work rate that really was modeled for the rest of the team,” Eisold said. “She worked tremendously hard, was always fit, had a desire to learn and was easy to coach. We lost a piece of our season when she went down because she was such a contributor in terms of how to work hard and how not to quit, and we never got that piece back. It definitely affected us.”
Instead of going the usual route of reconstructive surgery, the East senior opted for an alternative solution.“We started talking to doctors, and they said a lot of people end up living without their ACLs or get ACL surgery later in their life,” Hutchinson said. “I went to a clinic at the University of Delaware. I did a lot of physical therapy. They tested my strength, and they said since I was very fit and strong just to keep my strength up because the muscles around my ACL will be able to compensate for not having one at all. I’ve been working really hard to stay strong. I did CrossFit, and I’ve been running a little bit on the treadmill.”
Although Hutchinson could not return for her final soccer season, she hasn’t given up on the idea of running track. “Track was my main thing,” she said. “My mom ran track for Penn State, and my goal was to run track at Penn State. I’m still going to try and work towards that even with my ACL. I’m going to try and run this last track season and see if I can run in college.” Hutchinson – whose specialty is the 800m - burst onto the scene at CB East. “She did CYO track in middle school and came to CB East with a lot of talent,” coach Sam Losorelli said. “She proved it by anchoring the freshman 4x100 team that won the Penn Relays, and that’s a real plus. Her sophomore year she was very instrumental with her talent in helping the team get to states in the 4x800 relay. She was very supportive and encouraging of her teammates.” She has been to states with the relays all three years in both winter and spring track and medalled with her 4x800 relay team as a sophomore.
Outside of the athletic arena, Hutchinson is a member of the National Honor Society, Student Council and Key Club at East and is involved with Athletes Helping Athletes. She has volunteered her time at the NOVA Thrift Shop and has collected food and gift cards for the Shelter for Homeless. Hutchinson has collected shoes in the community and donated them to Soles4Souls. She also excels in the classroom and is taking four AP classes this year after taking four last year. The East senior has been accepted into the prestigious Smeal College of Business at Penn State University as well as five other highly regarded schools. She will major in marketing.
To read Hutchinson’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/kiernan-hutchinson-0082366
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Jan. 9, 2019
Over the course of his high school football career, Bradley Kraut morphed into Council Rock South’s very own Swiss Army knife. In four years, Kraut had two separate stints as South’s starting quarterback, while also having plays designed for him as a member of the team’s offensive backfield. On defense, he tended to be entrenched at linebacker, but also had experience playing defensive end during his middle school days. However, Kraut’s most impressive adaptation on the gridiron came this past August during training camp when teammate Nick Gallo’s older brother, Eric, who played on the offensive line at Virginia Tech and was serving as an assistant for South, recommended that Kraut give O-line a shot. Kraut, who stands at 5-foot-6 and weights 195 lbs., eagerly accepted the challenge. “I just thought, why not?” Kraut said. “I ended up starting every game at guard and linebacker for us.”
The surprising move to offensive line was the best thing to happen for both Kraut and South. Kraut became an All-SOL selection on both sides of the ball, and now that he no longer had to worry about pinballing around the field, he settled into his established positions and got locked in. Kraut and company ended up succumbing to Truman in the first round of districts, but the season was a success for South, which made the playoffs for just the third time in school history and Kraut’s first as a member of the varsity program.There was clearly a change in culture within the program, and Kraut, as eloquent and thoughtful as he is loquacious, led the charge from the players’ side. “This season was possible because of strong senior leadership,” he said. “By senior year, many of us had been playing together for years. We’ve always been extremely tight and willing to put in the work. We went to (head) Coach (Vince) Bedesem and told him we had new ideas for practice, game day rituals, and he was so open-minded and let us do our thing. That culture change helped transform our season.”
Bedesem certainly noticed the strides the program took when the seniors stepped up and decided that this season would be different.“When coaches talk about kids who are one of a kind, he definitely is one of the few that qualifies as one of those,” Bedesem said of Kraut. “He’s an energetic young man, very well-spoken and has a perspective on life that’s a lot different than your typical 17- or 18-year-old. When it comes to football, he’s a sponge. He wants to know the ‘whys,’ and that transitions into his life. Bradley the human being is what makes Bradley the student, Bradley the community leader and Bradley the football co-captain. He’s a hustler, always willing to work. He really helped stir this season on and gave a good B12 shot to the program in terms of how things are done right. Bradley and I had instant chemistry. He lives a larger-than-life persona, but in a good way rather than an egotistical one. Just a very humble young man always striving for excellence, and that will be a tough void to fill next season. Bradley not only set the bar, but he made the mold and broke it too.”
Kraut brought the thunder in the classroom the same way he did on the football field and holds a 4.0 GPA. As for college, Kraut is down to two schools in Big Ten country: Penn State and Ohio State. He’s already been accepted to Penn State’s main campus and is waiting to hear back from Columbus. He’d like to major in business marketing with a minor in something fitness-related.
To read Kraut’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/bradley-kraut-0082353
- Log in to post comments
