INDIANAPOLIS — Columbus East saw its baseball season end with 3-2 loss to Hamilton Southeastern in the IHSAA Class 4A State Championship at Victory Field, but one Olympian senior was honored with a prestigious award.
A few minutes after the conclusion of the game, which started late Monday and stretched to early Tuesday, the IHSAA Executive Committee selected Julian Greenwell as this year’s recipient for the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award for Class 4A. Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance presented Greenwell a check of $1,000 to the general scholarship fund at East in his name.
The award is named in honor of the late L.V. Phillips, who served as the second commissioner of the IHSAA from 1945-62. It is given to an outstanding senior participant in each state championship game who has best demonstrated excellence in mental attitude, scholarship, leadership and athletic ability in baseball.
“It means a lot to me. It means a lot that they believe that I’m an overall well-rounded person, not only on the field, not only in the classroom, but in the community,” Greenwell said. “It’s just a great honor, and it just makes me feel good that they gave this award to me.”
Academically, Greenwell served in the National Honor Society and Student Assembly, where he helped organize and run events for the school. In the community, he gave back to youth baseball by participating in the East/North Youth Baseball Camp.
Greenwell is a four-year varsity letterman with the baseball team. He is the son of John Greenwell and Missy Borkhardt. He plans to continue his baseball career at Wright State University, where he will pursue a degree in the medical field.
“He deserves that award. Honestly, any of our three seniors (Greenwell, Nash Murphy and Jonah Wichman) could have been up for that award. (Greenwell) has been about one of the best players in our program’s history. We’ve had some great players in our history, and he is one of the top,” East coach Jon Gratz said. “He does it in the classroom, he does it off the field and leads in practice. Just like the other seniors, any of the three could have gotten it, but he definitely deserved it.”
