Ultimate honor: Elyria Catholic's Annika Bredel and Vermilion's Ben Rini named Lorain County student

LAGRANGE — Each high school sport in each high school season is filled with athletes who are hoping to earn recognition for their hard work and individual performances, but few awards prove to be as prestigious as one that is given to one athlete for all-around greatness.

Such was the case Monday night at Grey Hawk Golf Club when Vermilion’s Ben Rini and Elyria Catholic’s Annika Bredel were named the Lorain County Senior Athletes of the Year by the Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association.

“I’m shocked and completely honored to receive this award,” Rini said after receiving a plaque in a private ceremony in front of friends and family. “I didn’t have maybe the best outcomes in my sports — I fell just short of state in swimming and fell short of state in track — but to receive this is kind of like the icing on the cake for my high school sports career. It just feels good to be recognized as a whole athlete and as a person.”

Rini earned 12 varsity letters in four sports during his high school career — four in football, three in basketball and swimming and two in track and field.

“From the time I was young I was preached to try everything and if you don’t like it, it’s OK,” Rini said. “But my coaches would tell me that playing basketball helps me with football and swimming helps my endurance with basketball … all the sports work together and they all have the same underlying premises.”

Rini landed on the All-Lorain County first team, All-Sandusky Bay Conference second team and received all-district honorable mention during his football career. He was a four-time district qualifier in swimming, All-SBC second-team pick in basketball and was the SBC Lake Division shot put champion, shot put district champion and discus district runner-up in track.

“It was just too hard to let one of (the sports) go,” said Rini, who will play football for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. “If I was able to balance it out and still produce for my teams, I was going to do that. When you’re a freshman you think you’re on top of the world and you know everything, and you don’t really listen when everybody tells you to enjoy the moments because they go by so fast. I remember my last football game like it was yesterday and that feeling of getting to play with your teammates and for your coaches and for your city for the last time. It’s a heartbreaking feeling, but you still look back on all the good moments and you just could never get enough of them.”

Bredel was a four-time letterwinner in basketball and softball for the Panthers, earning a long list of awards along the way. But not many felt as special as being named the county’s top athlete.

“It means a lot having so many people think so highly of you,” she said. “Not just your fellow teammates or players or coaches, but people from other schools … I think that’s what really means the most.”

While some athletes make the choice to specialize in one sport in an effort to achieve greatness, Bredel is a proponent of high school athletes diversifying their talents.

“I think it’s so important that kids play multiple sports,” she said. “For me, especially playing basketball and softball, I think both sports complement each other.”

Bredel earned All-Ohio honorable mention in basketball after her sophomore season, then finished on the all-state second team the last two seasons. She was also named the Lorain County Division III and Great Lakes Conference Player of the Year and reached the 1,000-points milestone during her senior season.

In softball, despite missing her sophomore year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bredel finished as a two-time All-Ohio first-team selection, was named the county and GLC Player of the Year the last two seasons and capped her career by being named Co-Miss Softball and Co-Lorain County Player of the Year. She set the county records for career home runs (37) and batting average (.626) this season.

“It’s pretty crazy how fast it goes,” said Bredel, who will play softball at the University of Findlay while majoring in Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability. “But I’ve met so many awesome people, amazing coaches, teammates and friends that will last a lifetime, really. It’s been an amazing four years and I thank the entire Elyria Catholic community for all the support.”

The LCAAA has presented the county’s top award the past five years. The group said the award is in recognition of the various athletic accomplishments of the individual while displaying exemplary sportsmanship and being a positive contributor to his/her school and community.

Nominations are submitted in May and the group uses an objective formula involving academics, athletic accomplishments, extracurricular activities and community service to narrow down the pool of candidates. The two award recipients are then selected by a vote from the committee, which is comprised of any Lorain County athletic administrator who wishes to take part.

“I came here thinking this was a dinner for all the nominees,” Rini said. “Little did I know my family and my athletic director knew I was getting this award. It just feels good to be recognized by everybody.”

Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter.