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Big brother’s advice pays for off Casey Etheridge: 2026 BCR Male Athlete of the Year · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Big brother's advice pays for off Casey Etheridge twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: six BCR Male Athlete of the Year Written by Kevin Hyronymus.
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  Speaker 1: This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by Everlett Casey. Etheridge learned a valuable lesson
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  Speaker 1: about taking brotherly advice when he was in the seventh grade.
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  Speaker 1: His older brother, Carson, tried to get him to work
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  Speaker 1: on his game with some conditioning involved. Casey didn't take
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  Speaker 1: too kindly to brothers pushing. I didn't have the best
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  Speaker 1: work ethic, and he'd always forced me to come outside
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  Speaker 1: and play football with him. He'd make me run roots
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  Speaker 1: and every time i'd drop the ball, he'd make me
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  Speaker 1: do push ups, said Etheridge, a Princeton senior. And I
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  Speaker 1: hated him for it at the time, but once you
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  Speaker 1: get older, you're like, dang, that really helps me out.
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  Speaker 1: He really showed me how to get into lifting and
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  Speaker 1: how to work hard. His influence helped me a lot
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  Speaker 1: getting prepared for high school. That little nudge by his
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  Speaker 1: brother helped push Etherage to great heights. He had a
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  Speaker 1: decorated senior year, named as the BCR Football Player of
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  Speaker 1: the Year. The BCR Co Wrestler of the Year and
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  Speaker 1: the BCR Mail Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
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  Speaker 1: To no surprise, he is the twenty twenty six BCR
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  Speaker 1: Male Athlete of the Year. He is the eleventh Tiger
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  Speaker 1: named since the awards start in nineteen ninety five to
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  Speaker 1: ninety six and six and seven years. He's a great kid.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever he chose to do in life, he's going to
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  Speaker 1: be successful. Phs track coach Dave Moore said his work
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  Speaker 1: ethic puts him over everything. He's very humble. He'd rather
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  Speaker 1: win than have the notoriety record breaker. Etheridge's accomplishments and
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  Speaker 1: records speak for themselves. He broke the all time Bureau
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  Speaker 1: County rushing record with two hundred and twenty three yards
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  Speaker 1: in the week's six point twenty eight to twelve win
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  Speaker 1: at Hall, finishing with five two hundred and thirty six
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  Speaker 1: yards and seventy nine TDDs, also a county record. The
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  Speaker 1: game ball he received and signed by his teammates is
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  Speaker 1: one of his most prized possessions. Those rushing records meant
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  Speaker 1: a lot to me because going into high school, I
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  Speaker 1: never thought, oh, I'll be contending for the rushing record,
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  Speaker 1: he said. I never had to prove to other people
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  Speaker 1: I could do something. I just had to prove to myself.
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  Speaker 1: I would have never had the confidence, Oh, I could
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  Speaker 1: have done this in football, I could have done this
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  Speaker 1: in wrestling, I could have done this in track. Once
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  Speaker 1: I got closer and closer, I realized, oh, yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: can do that. Just living up to my own expectations
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  Speaker 1: was the important thing, and being able to prove to
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  Speaker 1: myself you can do it. And the records were kind
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  Speaker 1: of like the icing on the cake, showing I was
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  Speaker 1: doing something right. In wrestling, he moved up the podium
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  Speaker 1: from fourth place to second, although he was a bit
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  Speaker 1: disappointed in not making it all the way to the top.
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  Speaker 1: I started off the season a little rough, had a
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  Speaker 1: couple losses to kids I'd beaten previous years, so my
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  Speaker 1: morale was low, he said. Coach said nothing matters until February.
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  Speaker 1: So when the state tournament rolled around, I was able
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  Speaker 1: to beat a kid I lost to two times previously
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  Speaker 1: and go to the semifinals. That there really made me
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  Speaker 1: believe in myself, he said. The Grand March is easily
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  Speaker 1: the best experience of my life. Ethridge said he was
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  Speaker 1: really looking forward to the track season in football, I
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  Speaker 1: felt a lot faster. So if I felt that would
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  Speaker 1: reflect in track, he said right away. I could feel
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  Speaker 1: in hurdles my one hundred and ten s were a
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  Speaker 1: lot better and was able to get under forty in
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  Speaker 1: my three hundred s. My one hundred and ten s
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  Speaker 1: were consistently under sixteen seconds like last year. My first
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  Speaker 1: time running them, I ran seventeen or eighteen seconds and
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  Speaker 1: I was able to get down to fifteen point one
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  Speaker 1: five in that. Being a leader, no matter the sport,
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  Speaker 1: Ethridge wanted to grow as an athlete and as a senior,
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  Speaker 1: especially become a leader. My important thing coming into each
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  Speaker 1: year was just showing growth, and I felt like I
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  Speaker 1: was able to do that every year in every sport.
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  Speaker 1: He said. Football might have been an overall down year
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  Speaker 1: as a team, but I felt like I grew as player,
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  Speaker 1: especially as a leader. I coached the eighth grade football team.
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to be able to inspire them and lead
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  Speaker 1: them and even take that into our own football team.
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  Speaker 1: I think being a leader, there's still things I can
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  Speaker 1: improve on, but I think I made growth, especially from
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  Speaker 1: my junior year to my senior year. I was the
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  Speaker 1: only junior captain inn and then senior year, I knew
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  Speaker 1: I had to step up and become a leader and
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  Speaker 1: be more vocal Plattville, calling Etheridge is ready for the
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  Speaker 1: next chapter in his life at the University of Wisconsin Platteville,
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  Speaker 1: where he will be a running back for the football team.
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  Speaker 1: I'm really excited to get my college experience and step
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  Speaker 1: out of my comfort zone move away from Princeton, he said.
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  Speaker 1: MY goal is to get a good education and find
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  Speaker 1: a team that really fits me, and I think Plattval
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  Speaker 1: was my perfect choice and I'm really exited for my
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  Speaker 1: next four years there. Every year my goal was to
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  Speaker 1: grow in some aspects, so I want to be able
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  Speaker 1: to grow. I know the first couple of years may
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  Speaker 1: be tough, but as long as I continue to grow,
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  Speaker 1: that's all that matters.