The athletics program at Nansemond River High School had a great winter, and two primary contributors to that were juniors Logan Eubanks and Brandeé Johnson.

For their many achievements that spanned the conference, regional and state levels, Eubanks and Johnson were selected as the male and female recipients, respectively, of the Duke Automotive-Suffolk News-Herald Winter Athlete of the Year award.

“We’re all certainly proud of their accomplishments,” Duke Automotive vice president Eley Duke said following the award presentation ceremony that took place Friday at the dealership.

“Brandeé and Logan were the cream of a very talented crop of student-athletes during the winter sports season,” said Suffolk News-Herald publisher Steve Stewart, who ran the ceremony and served as presenter. “We are proud to partner with Duke Automotive in recognizing their accomplishments.”

Johnson set a high bar for herself during her underclassman years, but she keeps raising it.

“My junior year, I wanted to fight even more, so it was more heart on the track than it was my sophomore year because I had so much more to do, and I knew that I could do much more than I did my sophomore year,” she said.

Her junior outdoor track and field season has just begun, but during the indoor season, she played a major role in helping the Lady Warriors win the Ironclad Conference championship, 4A South Region championship and the Virginia High School League Group 4A state championship.

This was the first year the Lady Warriors had ever won the indoor regional and state titles.

At the state level, she accounted for 31 of her team’s 122 points that led to the team win. She won state titles in the 300-meter dash, the 55-meter hurdles and the 4×200-meter relay.

“I think if she keeps being humble and healthy, the sky’s the limit for her,” said her mother, Toy Redding, noting her daughter succeeded this season despite inclement weather interfering with training.

Logan Eubanks is repeating as the male Duke Automotive-Suffolk News-Herald Winter Athlete of the Year after repeating as the conference, regional and state champion in the 100-yard backstroke.

Regarding his state title, “I felt like I worked really hard for it this year because I knew there was going to be more competition,” Eubanks said. He later added that last year, “I didn’t think much about it because I didn’t think I was going to get that far, but then I did, and I won and just wanted to do it again.”

He improved on his 2014 time that won the state title — 53.61 seconds — by winning this year in 52.47 seconds, very near his personal record at the time.

Ron Eubanks said watching his son defend his title was so nerve-wracking it was like going to a job interview.

“It was just a nail-biter, and I was so proud of him when I saw the scoreboard that he actually won states again,” he said.