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2025-26 NewsTribune Male Athlete of the Year: Princeton’s Casey Etheridge · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five to twenty six News Tribune Male Athlete
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  Speaker 1: of the Year Princeton's Casey Etheridge, 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: kindly to his brother's pushing, so I didn't have the
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  Speaker 1: best work ethic, and he'd always forced me to come
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  Speaker 1: outside and play football with him. He'd make me run roots,
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  Speaker 1: and every time I'd dropped 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 Ittherridge to great heights. He had a
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  Speaker 1: decorated senior year, named as the News Tribune Offensive Football
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  Speaker 1: Player of the Year for the third time, and a
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  Speaker 1: unanimous All Conference and All State News Tribune co Wrestler
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  Speaker 1: of the Year, and was a state qualifier in track
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  Speaker 1: and field for all he accomplished. Etheridge is the twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five to twenty six News Tribune Male Athlete of
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  Speaker 1: the Year. He also earned the honor last year. He's
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  Speaker 1: a great kid. Whatever he chooses to do in life,
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  Speaker 1: he's going to be successful. Phs track coach Dave Moore
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  Speaker 1: said his work ethic puts him over everything. He's very humble.
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  Speaker 1: He'd rather win than have the notoriety record breaker. Etheridge's
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  Speaker 1: accomplishments and records speak for themselves. He broke the all
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  Speaker 1: time Bureau County rushing record with two hundred and twenty
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  Speaker 1: three yards in the week six twenty eight to twelve
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  Speaker 1: win at Hall, finishing with five two hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 1: six yards and seventy nine touchdowns, also a county record.
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  Speaker 1: The game ball he received and signed by his teammates
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  Speaker 1: is one of his most prized possessions. Those rushing records
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  Speaker 1: meant a lot to me because going into high school,
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  Speaker 1: I 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. My coach said nothing matters
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  Speaker 1: until February. So when the state tournament rolled around, I
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  Speaker 1: was able to beat a kid I lost to two
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  Speaker 1: times previously and go to the semi finals. That there
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  Speaker 1: really made me believe in myself, he said. The Grand
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  Speaker 1: March is easily the best experience of my life. Ethridge
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  Speaker 1: said he was really looking forward to the track season.
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  Speaker 1: In football, I felt a lot faster, so I felt
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  Speaker 1: that would reflect in track, he said right away. I
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  Speaker 1: could feel in hurdles my one hundred and ten s
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  Speaker 1: were a lot better and was able to get under
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  Speaker 1: forty in my three hundred s. My one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: ten s were consistently under sixteen seconds like last year.
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  Speaker 1: My first time running them, I ran seventeen or eighteen seconds,
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  Speaker 1: and I was able to get down to fifteen point
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  Speaker 1: one point five in that Being a leader, no matter
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  Speaker 1: of the sport, Ethridge wanted to grow as an athlete
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  Speaker 1: and as a senior, especially to become a leader. My
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  Speaker 1: important thing coming into each year was just showing growth,
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  Speaker 1: and I felt like I was able to do that
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  Speaker 1: every year in every sport. He said. Football might have
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  Speaker 1: been an overall down year as a team, but I
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  Speaker 1: felt like I grew as a player, especially as a leader.
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  Speaker 1: I coached the eighth grade football team. I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: be able to inspire them and lead them and even
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  Speaker 1: take that into our own football team. I think being
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  Speaker 1: a leader, there's still things I can improve on, but
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  Speaker 1: I think I made growth, especially from my junior year
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  Speaker 1: to my senior year. I was the only junior captain
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  Speaker 1: and then senior year. I knew I had to step
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  Speaker 1: up and become a leader and be more vocal Plattville,
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  Speaker 1: calling Etheridge is ready for the next chapter in his
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  Speaker 1: life at the University of Wisconsin Plattville, where he will
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  Speaker 1: be a running back for the football team. I'm really
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  Speaker 1: excited to get my college experience and step out of
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  Speaker 1: my comfort zone move away from Princeton, he said. MY
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  Speaker 1: goal is to get a good education and find a
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  Speaker 1: team that really fits me, and I think Plattville was
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  Speaker 1: my perfect choice and I'm really excited for my next
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  Speaker 1: four years there. Every year my goal was to grow
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  Speaker 1: in some aspects, so I want to be able to grow.
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  Speaker 1: I know the first couple of years may be tough,
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  Speaker 1: but as long as I continue to grow, that's all
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  Speaker 1: that matters.