Former BA star Victoria Dunlap of Kentucky is among those up for the Naismith Award.

Lady Raptors, Eagles teams also nominated by Sports Council 

Brentwood Home Page news reports
The Ravenwood volleyball and girls tennis teams and Brentwood Academy's baseball team, along with an athlete from each school, are nominated for awards at the Nashville Sports Council's Celebration of Champions March 9.

Former BA basketball standout Victoria Dunlap, SEC player of the year last season as a junior at Kentucky, is up for the Ed Temple Female Amateur award. Her UK team, ranked 19th this year, made the NCAA Elite Eight last season.

" It means a lot, especially for all athletes that have come out of Nashville and just out of Tennessee," Dunlap said Sunday after the Wildcats women's team won for the first time in 25 years at Vanderbilt.

"Just to be recognized as one of the top athletes in the state is a great compliment, it's a great honor.

Ravenwood volleyball star Madelyn Hutson, who already enrolled in the University of Texas in January, is nominated for the High School Female of the Year award.

Nashville Predators' third-generation NHL prospect Blake Geoffrion, who attended nearby Granbery Elementary and whose family lives in Brentwood, is also up for the Sports Person of the Year and Ed Temple Male Amateur awards.

Dunlap's family, friends sport special T-shirts 

The 6-foot-4 Dunlap will be playing again in Nashville next week at the SEC Women's Basketball tournament at Bridgestone Arena, March 3-6. Held scoreless the first half against Vandy, she finished with 10 points including a key 3-pointer and eight boards.

Her mother, Robin, a former Tennessee State track star, had 81 Kentucky blue T-shirts with Dunlap's No. 34 made for supporters of Victoria to wear at Sunday's VU-UK game and the SEC tourney. About 60 or 70 of the family, former high school friends and others were in attendance.

Among those on hand were father King Dunlap V, who played in the NFL and at TSU, and brother George, a Curry-Ingram graduate who plays basketball for Free Will Bible Baptist College in Nashville.

Her brother King Dunlap V, a former BA and Auburn football star, had to work out in offseason conditioning with his NFL Philadelphia Eagles team and wasn't able to make it. Robin Dunlap said six of the shirts, from Gilley's Screenprint, were size 5X.

Victoria Dunlap

"They are actually new shirts this year; last year they were white -- I noticed that," Victoria said. "I was jokingly saying I'd probably have half of Nashville here."

Dunlap, whose 19th-ranked team trailed most of the first half, was finally happy to get a win at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym in front of her family and friends.

"It's a great program. They have history here, the gym is great, and it's just great to win in a place away from home," she said.

RHS, BA state champion teams honored

The Lady Raptors volleyball team, which won the Class AAA state tournament last fall, and the RHS state AAA championship girls tennis team are among five nominees for top High School Female Team.

Brentwood Academy's three-time Division II championship baseball team is nominated as the best High School Male Team.

Geoffrion won the Hobey Baker Award last year playing for the University of Wisconsin and is starring in the Predators minor-league hockey system this season.

The Celebration of Champions dinner will be at 5:30 p.m. March 9 at the Grand Ole Opry House. Tickets or sponsorship info is available at http://www.nashvillesports.com. Nominees announced last week are:

Sports Person of the Year: Alysha Clark, MTSU basketball; Blake Geoffrion, Brentwood native / Predators prospect; Marc Mariani, Tennessee Titans; David Price, Blackman/ Vanderbilt / Tampa Bay Rays; Shea Weber, Nashville Predators.

Ed Temple Male Amateur: Blake Geoffrion, hockey; Jermaine Beal, Vanderbilt basketball; Eugene Clifford, TSU football; Sonny Gray, Vanderbilt baseball; Matt Greener, Cumberland baseball.

Ed Temple Female Amateur: Alysha Clark, MTSU basketball; Marina Alex, Vanderbilt golf; Victoria Dunlap, Brentwood Academy/Kentucky basketball; Calle Nielson, USN / Virginia golf; Brittany Thune, Belmont cross country/track and field.

High School Male: Tra’Daruis Goff, Columbia football; Robert Hansen, Beech baseball; I’Tavius Mathers, Blackman football; Holden Mobley, MBA basketball; Michael Peters, MBA cross country.

High School Female: Kat Banks, Beech softball; Shacobia Barbee, Riverdale basketball; Sydney Campbell, CPA tennis; Madelyn Hutson, Ravenwood volleyball; Kate Maguigan, Page soccer.

High School Male Team: Brentwood Academy baseball; Columbia football; Ensworth football; Martin Luther King track; MBA cross country.

High School Female Team: Ensworth basketball; Martin Luther King track; Ravenwood tennis; Ravenwood volleyball; Riverdale basketball.