Mull, Gidney win top athletic honors from Heritage

Heritage Middle School recently announced that Corban Mull was selected as its male athlete of the year, while Marleigh Gidney is the female athlete of the year for 2025-26.

Both HMS eighth graders — who participated in four sports apiece — were honored at the school’s awards day at its Valdese campus on May 29.

Mull played football in the fall, basketball in the winter, then split his time between baseball and track this spring.

On the gridiron, his biggest highlight came in the form of a 50-yard fumble return for a touchdown during the Eagles’ 22-0 road win over rival East Burke to end the season. The victory assured Heritage of a fourth-place finish with a 3-3 record in the Foothills Athletic Conference.

In basketball, Mull’s season-high was 13 points in a December home win over East McDowell. His efforts helped Heritage secure a fourth-place FAC finish.

Then on the diamond — in his third year playing baseball at HMS — Mull provided a moment to remember with four hits including an inside-the-park home run in the Eagles’ 16-1 road win over Walter Johnson in April.

He saved another highlight for the rival Raiders as his four strikeouts in three innings from the mound helped Heritage end the season with a one-run home triumph.

“Corban is a great athlete as well as a great student,” said Doug Webb, Heritage’s athletic director who coached Mull as an assistant in football this past year. “He was always willing to do whatever it took to help his teams be successful.”

Gidney, meanwhile, played volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter, and also participated in both spring sports that are offered (softball, track).

She supplied five aces in a volleyball victory over Walter Johnson in October and scored a season-high nine points in basketball versus Liberty in January.

Gidney also helped the Lady Eagles to a fourth-place finish in her third season playing softball at HMS. Her season highlights included a trio of two-hit games, one versus Table Rock (in which she also added two RBIs) and two versus rival East Burke (which included a triple, two RBIs, and one run scored).

And Gidney won the girls shot put event twice in track, including at the FAC championship meet in April, when she recorded a distance of 31 feet, 7¼ inches to help lift HMS to a third-place team finish.

Marleigh was a leader for all the teams that she played on,” said Webb, who was Gidney’s head coach in softball. “She always gave 100 percent, whether in the classroom or with athletics.”