Mike Blackburn, athletic director at Northwestern High School and the permanent secretary of the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA), was honored last week at the annual national meeting of high school athletic directors.

Blackburn was one of 10 people honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) at its meeting in San Diego.

He was cited for his professional excellence while administering Northwestern’s program for the past 23 years, as well as his involvement in interscholastic athletics at the state and national level. Northwestern is one of the smallest IHSAA member schools to offer all 20 sports sponsored by the IHSAA. Nationally, he has been a frequent speaker at NIAAA conferences and has served on several national committees.

Those contributions to high school athletics saw him honored in 1998 as a Citation Award recipient from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Blackburn has been a member of the IHSAA Board of Directors since 1995 and is serving as vice chairman of the IHSAA Executive Committee for 2000-2001. He also is a former president of the IIAAA and was named its athletic director of the year in 1996. He twice has served as chairman of the IHSAA Participation Rule study committee and currently is chairing the IHSAA Public/Private School study committee.

Minutes of the December meeting of the IHSAA Executive Committee have been posted to the IHSAA website at:

A complete list of the state’s top scorers is available at:

A complete list of the state’s top scorers is available at:

Jackson Atoyebei, a senior at Culver Military, moved past the 1,000-point mark of his career Dec. 16 in the Culver Military Invitational.

Candace Dark, a junior at Fountain Central, scored her 1,000^th Dec. 16 in a 52-32 triumph over Southmont. She scored 16 points in the game.

Steve Ford, girls basketball coach at Cass, celebrated his 150^th career victory Dec. 6 as the Kings defeated Caston 81-31. Ford is in his 11^th season as a varsity coach, all at Cass.

Dan Gunn, boys basketball coach at NorthWood, celebrated his 350^th career victory Dec. 13 in a 76-48 triumph over Jimtown. Gunn is in his ninth season at NorthWood. He also has coached at Marion, Penn and Harrison (West Lafayette).

Kane Lynas, a senior at Cass, reached the 1,000-point level for his career Dec. 16 as the Kings remained undefeated with a 57-50 victory over Rochester.

Brandon Metzinger, a senior 119-pounder at Delphi, broke the school record for career pins when he scored his 59^th Dec. 12 in a dual meet with North White.