SureWest Sports Show Names Coaches of the Year Award Winners

ROSEVILLE, Calif., May 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Following last week's Athletes of the Year award winners, SureWest Communications (NASDAQ: SURW) today announced the third annual SureWest Sports Show Coaches of the Year recipients. Winners selected for the 2010-11 season were:

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• Kris Richardson (Folsom): SureWest Sports Show Boy's Athletics Coach of the Year
• Michele Massari (Sacramento): SureWest Sports Show Girl's Athletics Coach of the Year

In his 6th year as head coach of the Folsom Bulldogs football team, Kris Richardson guided his squad to an extraordinary 14-1 record, 5-0 in league play, en route to winning the Division II state title. Richardson was the architect of an offensive scoring machine that averaged over 51 points per game and set state passing records, with quarterback Dano Graves receiving recognition as MaxPreps National Player of the Year. On the defensive end, Richardson led a staff that oversaw one of the area's finest units, allowing just 15 points per game. After losing their first and only game of the season to the highly touted Grant Pacers, Richardson and his Bulldogs gained redemption when they defeated Grant 41-20 in the section championship. Prior to that game, Folsom began its playoff run by outscoring Roseville, Vacaville and Buhach Colony by a combined score of 186-39. In the Division II state championship game, the Bulldogs toppled Serra High of Gardena 48-20 to secure the state crown.

Michele Massari commanded her Sacramento Lady Dragons basketball team to a Metro League title a season after losing three of her star players to Division I college basketball programs. With only three seniors on the roster, Massari's disciplined and systematic approach was just what her young squad needed. In what was her third season as head coach of the Lady Dragons, she guided the team through a 10-0 record in league play. Sacramento High then took home a vital 63-50 win over Vanden for the Division III section championship, and succeeded in making its way to the Northern California playoffs. They seized early round victories over Miramonte of Orinda and Campolindo of Moraga, but fell to powerhouse Bishop O'Dowd of Oakland in the NorCal championship game. The team finished with an outstanding overall record of 28-6 as the young players grew and thrived under Massari's leadership during the season.

The SureWest Sports Show is the only Sacramento area program to spotlight local youth and high school sports featuring the latest news and analysis. New 30-minute episodes can be viewed every Tuesday at surewestsports.com. Fans can view archived shows, sign up for Twitter alerts, join the Facebook page and find out where the show will be next at surewestsports.com.

Highlights and interviews with the Coaches of the Year award winners will premiere on the Tuesday, May 31 episode of the SureWest Sport Show.

About SureWest

SureWest Communications (www.surewest.com) is a leading integrated communications provider and the bandwidth leader in the markets it serves. Headquartered in Northern California for more than 95 years, SureWest offers bundled residential and commercial services in the greater Sacramento and Kansas City regions that include IP-based digital and high-definition television, high-speed Internet, Voice over IP, and local and long distance telephone. SureWest was the nation's first provider to launch residential HDTV over an IP network and offers one of the nation's fastest symmetrical Internet services with speeds of up to 50 Mbps in each direction on its fiber-to-the-home network.

Contact:
Ron Rogers
Corporate Communications
916-746-3123
[email protected]

SOURCE SureWest Communications