Shiner St. Paul closed out last season’s accomplishments with three year-end awards. Head coaches Dana Beal-Sestak and Jake Wachsmuth have been honored for the second year in a row by the Texas Association of Private & Parochial Schools (TAPPS) as the female and male coach of the year in their 2A division. Meanwhile, St. Paul graduate Austin Barton won male athlete of the year in TAPPS 2A.
“Austin has represented St. Paul in a tremendous way,” Wachsmuth said. “He is one of the best athletes I have coached but more importantly he is a person who lives his life with great character. I’m very happy that he has been recognized as Athlete of the Year, because he has never been about individual awards. He has always been team first.”
Barton’s accomplishments throughout the year spanned through many different sports.
In football, Barton led the team to a second consecutive state championship and was named first team all-state athlete. Some list of accomplishments include:
In basketball, Barton was a first team all-district player who helped the team achieve a district championship for the second year in a row. Some of his accomplishments include:
In baseball, Barton was a second team all-district player as part of a district runner up team. Other accomplishments include:
Barton led his team to a state track and field champions for the third year in a row, winning the discus toss, finishing second in shot put, sixth in the 400-meter run and ran legs on the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays that both finished fourth at the state track meet. Overall he’s:
The Cardinal graduate also had accomplishments in the classroom as he was named an academic all-state athlete for two years.
On the coaching side, both Beal-Sestak and Wachsmuth have won their year-end awards for the second year in a row.
“This is not about us,” Wachsmuth said of the award. “Our students deserve the glory for all of their hard work and dedication. It’s only because of them that we received this honor.”
Beal-Sestak has won the award three times and her accomplishments during the 2016-17 school year include:
In previous years, Beal-Sestak has won the following awards:
This was the third time Beal-Sestak has won female coach of the year for her division.
Meanwhile, Wachsmuth won the male coach of the year in TAPPS 2A for the following accomplishments:
in prior years, he’s won the state title in football in 2010, 2012 and 2015. He’s also coached the team that won the state title in boys’ track in 2015 and 2016.