Sometimes singling out one individual as the best in the area for a particular sport is easy, with one far and away above the rest. Sometimes it is hard, but doable, like picking between a pair of all-state players.
Sometimes, for one reason or another, it is impossible to sideline one in favor of another.
And that is why the Winona Daily News has selected Co-Players of the Year for the 2023-24 boys basketball season as Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau senior wing Cody Schmitz and Winona senior forward Jackson Harvey share the award.
Both players took different paths to the top.
Schmitz was a dynamite scorer from the very start, making the WDN All-Area first team all four years of his career. His sophomore through senior seasons were all prolific, averaging around 30 points and 10 rebounds per game each season as he was named the Coulee Conference Player of the Year three times. Last winter, Schmitz was the sole WDN Player of the Year.
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As he put up similar numbers this year to the last two seasons, it was easy to forget just how impressive those stats were, even for those closest to Schmitz.
“Cody didn’t have a spectacular game in his sense, but I think he still ended with 21 points and 14 rebounds. That kind of says a lot about his career. A not-great game for Cody is a spectacular game for pretty much anyone,” G-E-T head coach Jared McCutchen said.
Harvey started out on the Winhawks’ B and JV squads his first two years, building his skillset as he grew into his body from a young kid to the 6-foot-6 upperclassmen that would dominate the post.
“I thought I was the reincarnation of Steph Curry, I would try shooting at the three point line. One of my coaches, Mr. Ellings would tell me ‘Jackson, get down in the paint.’ As I got older, I grew into that role,” Harvey said.
By the time his junior year arrived, Harvey was a force to be reckoned with as he combined the 3-point range he developed as a kid with aggressiveness down low he had developed as a teen.
“Oftentimes I kind of think of Jackson as a guard living in a 6-6 post body,” Winona head coach Kyle Martin said.
Harvey averaged a double-double each of the past two years, earning WDN All-Area first team honors each season and all-Big 9 Conference each season as well.
The duo had different experiences their senior seasons as well.
Schmitz had the most well-rounded supporting cast of his career, with more scoring options that helped lead to his deepest playoff run as the Red Hawks came up one game shy of qualifying for state.
The additional scoring threats allowed Schmitz to improve his playmaking abilities and hit a career high with 74 assists this season, an average of 2.6 per game, despite sophomore Mason Brone, himself a WDN All-Area second team honoree, being the team’s primary ballhandler.
“We had great weapons, I had a lot of dudes I could trust on the team. When I was facing those box-and-1s and double teams, I was able to make the right play,” Schmitz said.
Schmitz continued to dominate on offense as well, scoring 30.1 points per game with a single-game high of 46 points, and a career-best 11.0 rebounds per game.
By the end of his career, Schmitz had scored 2,654 points to earn the top spot in G-E-T program history and rank fourth in high school history for the state of Wisconsin, surpassing Badgers legend Sam Dekker during this winter’s playoff run.
For Harvey, his junior season was the one with a stellar supporting cast. The Winhawks had a plethora of all-conference players and future college athletes in a handful of sports, and finished 15-14 just one game shy of state.
This winter, Harvey was one of just two returners from that loaded squad and went from being one of many options to a top dog, alongside WDN All-Area second team honoree senior point guard Isaiah Bell.
The inexperienced Winhawks squad had its share of struggles early on, going 3-15 over the first 18 games.
Seeking a spark to ignite a late-season rally, Harvey provided one.
On Feb. 2, Harvey took over an 87-60 home win over Albert Lea as the senior big man scored 47 points to break the Winona Senior High School record for boys single-game scoring, surpassing a 44-point performance by Alec Brown in 2010.
“It didn’t have to do just with me, everybody was there supporting and I couldn’t have done it without anybody else on that court. On top of that, plus practices and fine-tuning our pieces, we were able to have a stronger finish at the end of the year. You know what they say, nobody cares how you start, they care how you finish,” Harvey said.
Including that win over the Tigers, Winona finished the season by going 4-6 over the final 10 games, including a 68-49 playoff upset over Northfield in which Harvey scored a game-high 28 points.
In total this season, Harvey averaged 22.5 points per game and grabbed 10.6 rebounds per game as well.
Both players accomplished all of that with the college recruitment process hanging over their heads.
Just before the end of his senior season, Harvey committed to Division III Saint Mary’s, sticking in town to play college ball for a Cardinals team that returns plenty of experienced guards but has lost some key forwards over the past few seasons.
Schmitz has not yet made a decision, but will be doing so soon, with a decision coming in a signing event at G-E-T High on Tuesday afternoon.
Though they had many differences in their path to a shared Player of the Year award, one thing that binds both together is a strong love for the communities they played their high school ball in.
After moving around a lot as a kid with parents in the military, Harvey’s time at WSHS made the decision to stay in Winona to play college ball an easy one.
“I think Winona, especially Senior High, supporters are probably the best high school fans you could ask for…Being able to continue to come here and play around those kinds of people is something I can only dream of,” Harvey said.
For Schmitz, he had plenty of chances to leave G-E-T and create a superteam elsewhere, whether it was a basketball academy out of state, a powerhouse program in the Madison or Milwaukee suburbs or a school close to home with other all-star players.
Instead, he stuck with his lifelong friends and he would do it over again too.
“I knew we could do something special if we all locked in and put in the work. I saw the potential in my guys, I could see a few of them wanted it really bad. I stayed here, we won some big games this year and I have no regrets,” Schmitz said.