Grady Jordan-Nowe attends The Gregory School and is taking part in the AIA's Student SID program.

The Gregory school goes back-to-back, winning the 1A state championship for the second year in a row. With a lot of effort, The Gregory School Hawks pushed their way through the state tournament, eventually triumphing over Seligman with a score of 67-57. 

This year, The Gregory School faced a challenging season filled with many obstacles to overcome. Throughout the season, The Gregory School was losing foundational members of their team, affecting leadership and morale. The injuries started with Razin Smith, who was unable to participate for the majority of the season due to an injury before the season's start. As the team was adjusting to losing a very important starter, we got hit with an even harder loss when Justus Turner was hit with a season-ending injury. This loss was a devastating blow to the team, not only because he was an incredible player, but he was also a leader, being the only senior on the team. Many other players also experienced injury and illness throughout the season, causing the team to adjust and be inconsistent.

Largely due to the absence of such important players, The Gregory school only went 21-10, or a winning percentage of 67.7%. Though this is a winning season, it's a very noticeable difference from last year's championship team's standing, with a win-loss of 28-3 or a 90.3% winning percentage. This year's performance only earned the boys the sixth seed coming into the state tournament, but even though the odds were against them, the Hawks weren't ready to quit.

Even with the many challenges The Gregory Schools boys basketball team faced, they overcame these obstacles and battled their way through the state tournament with determination. Win after win, the Gregory school proved that they shouldn't be underestimated. They began with a clear victory over Salome, and then began to show all the teams that they wanted to win. The Hawks' momentum only grew throughout the state tournament until they eventually faced off against the one-seeded Seligman antelopes. Thanks to important players stepping up, The Gregory School beat the Antelopes and became the 1A state champions once again.