Athlete sees benefits beyond school

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For The Tribune

Evens Cribs said when he entered Seymour High School his freshman year he only planned on playing football and basketball.

However, those plans changed.

“Coach (Randy) Fife made a push for me to come out for track,” Cribs said. “I was a little bit reluctant at first, but I really enjoy it.”

For Cribs, sports transcend the competition.

“I feel sports is preparing me for life, having the ability to have good time management knowing that after practice that I have to get my homework done and just balance my social life and all that stuff,” Cribs said. “I take it on as a challenge.”

Cribs has changed events in track this spring, as he has been running both hurdles along with the 4×100 relay.

He said he feels like he has made a lot of improvement since the beginning of the season in both hurdles.

“My problem is I get too high,” Cribs said. “I like the 300 hurdles better because I feel what I can’t do like crossing the hurdles, I can make up with my speed since there is more distance between them. They are lower, so I feel like the form is easier to get down. My best time was 45 (seconds).

“I enjoy track in that it is a sport that we take it serious, but it’s a laid-back approach, and we get our work done. I just really enjoy how the guys I play the other sports with we can just come out and have fun.”

As his career comes to a close, Cribs has big goals.

“First, as a team I’d like to accomplish another sectional championship, back-to-back, and personally I want to qualify for the regional in the 4×100 relay and in the 300 hurdles,” Cribs said.

Cribs was a three-year defensive starter at cornerback in football.

“I really enjoyed it,” Cribs said. “My sophomore year we ran primarily cover-3 zone. My junior year we got a new defensive coordinator, coach (Ryan) McCartney.

He realized my ability and my potential, so we started playing more man. This year he realized I could really lock (receivers) down. The game plan each game he would put me on the No. 1 receiver, and I would just follow them the whole game.”

On the gridiron, Cribs likes the challenge of stopping opponents’ drives.

“When there was a big drive by the opposing team, for example Floyd Central, the defense just pulling through and ending the game — just stopping them, and seeing the enjoyment on the coaches’ faces, knowing the defense came through and the defense won the game for us.”

Cribs, who will play football at DePauw University beginning this fall, also was at the goal line on kickoff returns.

He said he enjoyed playing on Seymour’s new turf field.

“It was very fun,” Cribs said. “When I first heard about it I was kind of scared, because I know the heat from the turf gets kind of bad. I know from my sophomore year at Columbus East I was burning up, but I feel your body gets accumulated toward that. After about two-three games you get used to it.”

He said practice and weightlifting are important to having success in all sports.

“I feel, in football, the weight room is important to your success because coming in my freshman year I only weighed about 115 pounds,” Cribs said. “I took the initiative to work all off season to get stronger. It was difficult for me to put on weight, but by my senior year I got to weight 155, and I was pretty much pure muscle, so that benefited me a lot.”

Cribs said a highlight win for him was winning at Bedford North Lawrence in 2016.

“They had a streak against us where we hadn’t beaten them for 11 years,” Cribs said. “Just for us to grind it out was big.”

He said he took a lot of pride in playing defense during the winter months in basketball.

“My mindset was be a defensive stopper, because moving from Florida to Indiana I had never played any organized basketball before my freshman year, so being on the freshman team was my first time running plays and things like that,” Cribs said.

“It was a lot to learn so my athleticism was my best attribute when I came on the court, and I thought when I was on defense I could guard the best guys and just lock them down, and that translated all the way up to my senior year.”

On the schedule, Cribs looked forward to playing in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

“The (home games) were terrific, especially during sectional,” Cribs said. “I remember my first sectional game my junior year against Floyd Central. New Albany played after that, and I know the crowd would come for that game, but we played the first game, the crowd was packed and I was just amazed at Indiana basketball. Home games were always great.”

He said the highlight win for him was helping the Owls defeat Jeffersonville in the sectional.

“I feel like that is something to build off of for years to come,” Cribs said. “It hadn’t been done for so long and just to show the younger kids that it is possible, it gives hope, it gives momentum going in to the off season for people to work hard.”

Cribs said he has enjoyed attending Seymour High School.

“I just like the way administrators and the teachers really push to help you in the aspect of life whatever you’re going through, and they just really show love,” he said.

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Name: Evens Cribs

School: Seymour High School

Parent: Zidonne St. Louis

Siblings: Carolyn, Jessica, Nickson

Sports: Football, four years; basketball, four years; track, four years

Athletics awards: Football — Hoosier Hills all-conference honorable mention, Owl Toughness Award, All Jackson County; basketball — mental attitude award, Owl Toughness Award; track — 2016 sectional champions, regional qualifier in 4×400 and 4×100 relays.

Organizations: National Honor Society

Plans after high school: Attend DePauw University, play football

Favorite food: BBQ ribs

Favorite TV show: “Martin”

Favorite musician: J Cole

Favorite movie: “The Pursuit of Happyness”

Favorite team: Florida State Seminoles

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