Tom Southall Adaptive Sports Coach Award –This award is presented to an individual or group to recognize their dedication and commitment to serving athletes with physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or other special needs. The recipient of this award helps foster excellence in sport…whatever the challenge. Chris Faust has been teaching social studies and coaching track and cross country for 23 years, the last 15 at Cherokee Trail High School. He grew up in North Carolina, and ran track and cross country at the University of Virginia. Chris began coaching soon after moving to Colorado, first at Aurora Central, and then at Rangeview, before being named the head boys cross country and track coach at Cherokee Trail when it opened in 2003. He became the head girls track coach in 2014. While at Cherokee Trail, Chris has won 3 state championships, two in boys track in 2009 and 2013, and one in girls track in 2015. Over that time period, 52 CTHS track athletes have been named First or Second Team All State. He has won 14 league championships, 10 in track and 4 in cross country, and has been named Track and Field Coach of the Year three times. In 2010, Chris won the Sason Sharify Award from the CHSCA for his contributions and dedication to the sport of track and field. "As a track and cross country coach, I want to instill in my athletes the same love for the two sports that I developed as a young athlete. The greatest aspect of track and cross country is that every athlete, regardless of ability level, can achieve quantitative improvement if they just show every day to practice and work hard. They may not all turn out to be state champions, but they can all look at where they finished the season, compare it to the beginning, and be proud of what they accomplished." Chris has two daughters, Carter and Campbell. Carter is a junior at Smoky Hill, where she is a member of the National Honor Society and an executive with the school's award winning yearbook. Campbell is freshman class president at Cherokee Trail, and a member of the school's cross country, basketball, and track programs. Don DesCombes Distinguished Service Award This award is named after the founding father of the Colorado High School Coaches Association. It is given in recognition of exceptional leadership and dedicated service to the Colorado High School Coaches Association, and is the most prestigious award given by the Association. John Burke is the current Executive Director of the CHSCA, a position he has served in for 12 years, and has led our organization into stability and unprecedented growth. Through his career John has served the CHSCA as a league representative, Football President, and Executive Director. An Ohio native, John attended Wartburg College in Iowa where he lettered four years as the team's quarterback and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree. Following a five year coaching stint in Iowa, he arrived in Colorado in 1978 as the head football coach at Windsor High School, where he led them to the school's first football playoff appearance (1978) and first state football championship in 1981. The beginning of the 1983 school year he was named the head football coach at Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, leading the Huskies to the school's first football playoff appearance in 1986. Football playoff appearances followed in 1987 and 1989. He earned his Master's Degree in Educational Administration in 1991 and in 1994 he was named the Athletic Director at Douglas County High School. He served education for 32 years as a coach and administrator and in 2010 was inducted into the Colorado High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Some of the awards and recognitions that John has received include: CHSCA Hall of Fame (2010), Executive Director of the CHSCA, recipient of the Ed Lesar Award for football, recipient of the CHSCA Football Coach of the Year Award (1981), Coached in the CHSCA All-State Football Game twice (1982 and 1990), inducted into the Lorain, Ohio, Sports Hall of Fame (2010) Inducted into the National High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2017, and a State football championship at Windsor High School in 1981. John has modeled and lived out a favorite saying to him: 'Never underestimate what you can accomplish.' John has been married to his college sweetheart and best friend, Shelly for 45 years. Their daughter Stephanie (husband Morgan) owns a Master's and teaches in the Jefferson County Schools, their daughter Summer (husband Cody) owns a Ph.D. and teaches in the Maricopa County (AZ) junior college system. Away from CHSCA John enjoys landscaping, golf and exercise.