Ashland hosted an “Eagle Nation Celebration” Tuesday, welcoming the community into Kates Gymnasium one last time to celebrate the success of the winter athletes, including the women’s basketball team that went 33-2 and was a finalist in the NCAA tournament.

All of the All-Americans from indoor track and field, swimming, wrestling and men’s basketball were represented as well. A crowd of about 500 people was on hand to show its support for one of the best seasons in the history of Ashland athletics.

The starters of the women’s basketball team – Jena Stutzman, Kari Daugherty, Alyssa Miller, Ashley Dorner and Lindsay Tenyak – all got standing ovations as they entered the gym to clips of some of their memorable plays, called by Ashland radio voice Matt Brubaker.

Once everyone was seated, national champion swimmer Julie Widmann, national champion thrower Ryan Loughney, wrestling All-Americans Jacob Southwick and Joe Brandt and All-American men’s basketball player Evan Yates came on stage to be honored.

Holly Finks and Ashland’s mayor gave brief speeches congratulating all of the athletes.

Jena Stutzman and Kari Daugherty, two stars from the women’s basketball team, also gave brief speeches giving thanks to all of those who made their historic season possible.

Women’s basketball coach Sue Ramsey then took the podium and opened her speech by saying that it was a tremendous evening of celebration and that it had been “a joy to watch all of the athletes perform” this winter.

She thanked everyone for the outpouring of support that her team received this season, and continued by asking people around the gym where they were during the national championship game.

“There are two people who I know had a really good seat, and those people are my mother and father,” she said. “They had a balcony seat in heaven.”

She said how blessed she was to have had such a great season and her best group of players in 33 years of coaching to share it with.

Athletes from all of the sports appreciated the event and the support that was shown by those in attendance.

“It feels really good seeing the support out here from the community of Ashland,” Yates said. “We’re thankful for that, that we have great fans.”

Southwick agreed, but said that he is surprised the support did not come sooner.

“I’m a little bit disappointed it’s taken them this long to do something involving the whole community,” he said. “I’m happy for the women’s basketball team for being the catalyst to…bring in the community.”

Widmann was glad the athletic department decided to recognize all of the sports, not just women’s basketball.

“It was something that I never expected the school to do, especially to include all of us in it,” she said.

The winter sports teams supported each other all season, so be honored together was a cool experience for them.

Loughney said. “We’re good about supporting each other and constantly just checking on each other to see how everybody else is doing.”

All of the teams were pulling for the women’s basketball team as it played for the national championship

Loughney and some of his teammates were in South Carolina for their first meet of the outdoor season. They went to a Buffalo Wild Wings and watched the game.

The men’s basketball team watched the game in Kates on a large projector screen.

“The gym actually got pretty crazy when Jena hit the shot,” Yates said, referring to the 3-pointer made by Stutzman to send the game to overtime. “Everyone started jumping up and down. It was a good moment.”

Southwick said the wrestlers were also “bouncing off the walls” when the shot went down. He also said he went to his first basketball game this year in support of the men’s and women’s teams.

Daugherty said it was nice to get back and that she felt the support of the community and the other athletes.

“That’s what’s so great about Ashland, is that it’s not like it’s a huge city or anything, but the whole community rallied around us and it was awesome to come here tonight,” she said.