Logan Elm’s Claire King has capped her high school volleyball career by being named the winner of the Lori Koker Award as Pickaway County’s top player.
King is the third recipient of the Lori Koker Award that recognizes the county’s top senior.
“To have an outstanding athlete, but then also to have a good person, she definitely sets a good example for the rest of her teammates and the younger kids,” Logan Elm coach Aaron Ridenour said. “Younger kids, if you want to look up to somebody and be like them, she’s definitely that somebody you want to be like.”
King led her team with 338 kills this season and her .420 hitting percentage in the regular season had her in the top 20 in the state regardless of division for schools reporting stats on MaxPreps.
Earlier this season, she became only the second Logan Elm player to surpass 1,000 kills and her career wraps up with 1,230.
While she’s played basketball, swam and ran track, King knew from an early age that volleyball was going to be her sport.
“In fifth grade, I knew that I loved it, and I had so much more confidence in volleyball than any other sport, just like a natural confidence, so that really helped,” she said. “I play school season and then for school, we have summer ball. I lift throughout the year with my trainer, Chad Conley. I play winter club and spring club. Then, when I’m not playing volleyball, I just do other sports to stay in shape.”
King made an immediate impact with the Braves in leading the team in kills as a freshman with 308 and came back as a sophomore to record 424.
“From day one, four years ago, she’s made an impact right from the beginning,” Ridenour said. “That impact was big, as a freshman and all the way through, but then, just each year to get a little bit better was the key.”
King was on her way to another stellar season as a junior when a lisfranc injury sidelined her 10 matches into the season.
“I have a wonderful physical therapist. Her name’s Jada (Truex). She brought me back,” King said. “I just had to say pretty faithful through that because it was a season of unknown. I just didn’t know how I would come back from it.
“Coming back was kind of slower than I thought it would be, but my coach was really helpful and gave me a lot of confidence.”
“She missed the majority of the season, which was tough,” Ridenour said. “So then, as a team, the whole team had to adjust and if anything good came from it, everybody else had to get better.
“She worked her way back, made herself better, then the entire team was better, which led to a very successful season.”
While always a statistical leader on the team, King said she felt her team leadership really came about as a junior.
“I was more of the older group. So just like being the light on the team,” King said. “There are some days that you don’t really want to be there a whole lot, but just bringing the team together with, like, laughter and just keeping everyone up is usually how I do that.”
She also said she tries to set a good example in working with coach Ridenour.
“One, respecting my coach always, because I think if you don’t respect the coach, then that’s going to make a really bad environment,” King said. “This year we never, ever had any issues with that. That really set the example for, like, years going on.”
King has been recognized as First Team All-Mid-State League Buckeye Division this season, Player of the Year for Division IV in District 14 and First Team All-Ohio. Those awards are voted on by coaches in the league and the state.
“All the coaches that we played, our competition, they just take notice,” Ridenour said. “One, they have to plan against her and realize that, hey, she’s a tough one to stop. So just her positive attitude on the court and everything, the other coaches see that, and they just recognize that she’s a good kid.”
Now Ridenour and the Braves face the same challenges a team faces every season in saying goodbye to the seniors.
“We’re preparing for that, and she left a positive, positive impact, so other kids could say, “Hey, if I work hard, then I can do the same thing,’” Ridenour said. “And then it just carries over from year to year.”
Once King graduates from Logan Elm in the spring, she’ll head way down south to Hammond, Louisiana, where she’ll join the volleyball program at Southeastern Louisiana University.
The Lions play in the Southland Conference and were 20-9 last season.
“I’m just excited to see how I handle myself there — meeting new people, new coaches, just, I don’t know, just excited,” she said of the future. “I was talking to other coaches and then my foot injury happened, and (Southeastern Louisiana) just didn’t care. They didn’t care during that, that I was hurt.
“I didn’t think I was going to go there, but when I went down there, I just knew that was where I was supposed to be.”
Lori Koker Award Winners
2023 — Gabby McConnell (Circleville)
2024 — Hanna Rhoads (Logan Elm)
2025 — Claire King (Logan Elm)
The Koker File
Lori Koker began her coaching career at Westfall in 1997. During 14 seasons with the Mustangs, her teams posted a 273-86 record as they claimed two Scioto Valley Conference titles, 13 sectional titles, 11 district championships, were twice regional runner-up and made three straight trips to the Final Four.
Koker then spent six seasons at Zane Trace where she claimed an SVC title, five sectionals and another district.
Most recently, the Hall of Fame coach spent three seasons at the helm of Southeastern where, among other accomplishments, she earned her 400th win as a coach.
A leader in the gym, she also was a fighter off the court where she had beaten back cancer once before it ultimately claimed her life.