LA GRANGE — The best student section in the area is located in The Swamp.

North Lenoir received the inaugural Neuse News Student Section of the Year award Friday during the school’s pep rally. The award, presented by Chris Humphrey Allstate, was created to give additional incentive to schools to show more school spirit and creativity in the stands during basketball season.

Hawks guard De’Shaun Kee said the Hawk Krazees were big throughout the year.

“The student section definitely helped us out during games,” Kee said. “Sometimes we would get down, but they kept us motivated the whole time.”

Humphrey was in attendance during the pep rally, presenting the award and giving a speech. Humphrey, who graduated from South Lenoir, said he has fond memories of North Lenoir as his daughter graduated from the school.

“The Hawk Krazees have been around for a while and have made high school basketball a wonderful experience,” Humphrey said. “It gives me pleasure being able to do my part and recognize the great competition in Lenoir County and surrounding areas.”

Parker Mitchell, leader of the Hawk Krazees, said it meant a lot to win the award.

“When I took over the Twitter page, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I had a lot of friends supporting me,” Mitchell said. “We were able to step things up and it was an exciting season — everyone was involved and now we have even more motivation to protect this trophy next year.”

North Lenoir athletic director Jackson Massey said the student section has the potential to be even better in the future.

“The students really came out for a lot of the games, especially the ones against South Lenoir and Greene Central,” Massey said. “They stepped their games up and hopefully they keep it going — we have the ability to do things bigger and better for next year and the crowd’s involvement plays a big role in the way the team plays.”

North Lenoir principal Gil Respess said he appreciated the competition throughout.

“This contest inspired the kids from all schools to be creative,” Respess said. “This is a great thing Neuse News and Chris Humphrey have done and hopefully it can continue.”