Coaches nominated for state honor

The Daily Inter Lake

Greg Adkins and Ivanna Fritz, speech and debate coaches at Glacier High School, are finalists for the 2009 Anne Sullivan AA Coach of the Year Award.

Libby Brunnell-Oliver of Missoula Sentinel and Butte's Teri Hartline-Belke also have been selected as finalists for the activity's top coaching award.

All Class AA coaches may nominate coaches for the award; the top four vote-getters are placed on the ballot.

The award will be given at the Montana Forensic Educators Association's Hall of Fame Dinner on March 21 in Bozeman.

Adkins and Fritz, who led Glacier to a third-place finish at the Class AA state tournament in Butte Friday and Saturday, have been nominated for the award several times. Adkins won in 1995 and 1997.

Before moving to Glacier when the school opened in fall 2007, both coached at Flathead High School. As head coach from 1994 to 2006, Adkins coached nine state champion teams. His teams have finished first, second or third at state in 14 of Adkins' 15 years as a head coach, and he has coached more than 25 national qualifiers or state champions.

Fritz also has coached more than 25 national qualifiers and state champs.

For their successes, Fritz and Adkins have won Double Diamond Awards from the National Forensics League, awards given to coaches based on how well their students perform.

Fritz has coached with Adkins since 1995; before that, she coached at Billing West and at Roseville High School in Minnesota.