OTTUMWA — Ben Kramer and Kelsey Nickerson were named outstanding female and male athletes of the year Tuesday at the annual Ottumwa High School “A” Club Honors Banquet.

The two athletes were picked out of a handful of nominees that were voted on by Ottumwa High coaches.

Kramer played football, basketball and runs track and field and Nickerson ran cross country, played basketball and is a member of the girls golf team. Kramer will play football at South Dakota next season and Nickerson will continue her basketball career at William Jewell College next season.

Kramer earned second-team all-state honors and first team all-conference honors in  football as well as second-team all-conference in basketball. Nickerson has earned first-team all-conference and all-district honors in her last three basketball seasons.

Nickerson and Kramer, however, were only two of many athletes honored at the event, which was put on by the Ottumwa “A” Club.

The Hicks Memorial Award went to Ashley Salgado and Eric Thorgaard. The Dr. Sydney Brody Scholarship was handed out to Rachel Hinebaugh.

John Link Memorial Awards — which goes to seniors with a 4.0 and an earned letter — went to Sarah Beadle, Alexandria Collins, Brittany Fish, Emily Kubbe, Emily Songer, Mary Paluska, Mitchell Hardie, Jonathan Martin, Kramer, Patrick Peters and Adam Van Fleet.

The Gabbie Ware Memorial Scholarship was won by Van Fleet. Amber Bates, Hilario Chacon and Will Munley also won individual awards and scholarships.

The Gene Schultz Volunteer Award went to Gary Anderson and the Howard Eslinger Award winners were Jolynn Messer and Amy Hammack.

At the banquet, each Bulldog team was recognized for their respective accomplishments in 2012; some of those accomplishments — like the girls bowling team winning state — drew a big applause from the crowd packed into the cafeteria that evening.

Kevin Pink, sports information director at Indian Hills Community College, was the emcee at the banquet.