G-E-T’s Schmitz takes top conference honor

As he smashed local and school records in his final season, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau senior Cody Schmitz took home the Coulee Conference’s top award for the third straight year.

The conference announced its boys basketball all-conference teams this week and Schmitz was again named the Coulee Conference Player of the Year. He is believed to be just the second player to earn the award three times, joining fellow G-E-T graduate Nick Wagner who won it in 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

This past season, Schmitz passed Wagner as the school’s all-time leading scorer in boys basketball then topped Lexi Wagner as the overall top scorer. He also broke the overall Trempealeau County record and finished his career with 2,654 points — the fourth-most in the history of the state. 

He topped the Coulee Conference in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 30.1 points and 11 boards per game as the Red Hawks finished third with an 8-4 record. West Salem won the conference with a 12-0 mark, while Onalaska Luther finished 9-3. Arcadia and Viroqua were both 4-8 followed by Westby, 3-9 and Black River Falls, 2-10.

 Joining Schmitz on the all-conference team was Logan Bahr from Luther, Tamarrein Henderson and Kyle Hehli of West Salem and Westby’s Caleb Johnson. Hehli, a junior, is the only player who is not a senior. 

Schmitz’s teammate, Mason Brone, was on the second-team along with Arcadia High School senior Maverick Drazkowski — the conference’s fourth-highest scorer with an average of 19.9 points per game. Joe Sullivan of West Salem, Benson McDowell of Viroqua and Synclair Byus of Luther were also on the second team.

Another Arcadia senior, Prestin Scow, earned honorable mention along with Braylon Backhaus and Colin Zilmer of BRF, Will Huelskamp of Luther, Viroqua’s Andrew Fassbinder and Westby’s Rhett Stenslien. 

The conference figures to look very different next year as 10 of the 15 players honored are seniors.