Indiana Sports Awards winners
The IndyStar Indiana Sports Awards recognize the top high school athletes in 28 boys and girls sports plus 10 at-large awards. Nominees and winners in specific sports were selected by the IndyStar high school sports staff in consultation with coaches associations. At-large nominees and winners were selected by editors, except for the fans’ choice awards.
Male Athlete of the Year
Chad Red, New Palestine wrestling
Ranked No. 1 in the nation in his weight class (132 pounds), Red finished his career a perfect 183-0 and captured his fourth straight state title. The University of Nebraska recruit joined Roncalli’s Lance Ellis (1985-89) and Griffith’s Alex Tsirtsis (2000-04) as the only high school wrestlers in state history to finish their careers unbeaten.
Runners-up:
Kyle Guy, Lawrence Central basketball
Brandon Peters, Avon football
Female Athlete of the Year
Jackie Young, Princeton basketball
The state’s all-time leading scorer, boy or girl, Young surpassed Damon Bailey’s mark and finished with 3,268 career points. A McDonald’s All American and Notre Dame signee, Young was named the Naismith National Player of the Year. She averaged 34.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.8 steals as a senior. “All she wants to do is win,” Young’s coach, Charles Mair, was saying a few minutes later.
Runners-up:
Claire Adams, Carmel swimming
Alia Martin, Brebeuf Jesuit
Kyle Guy of Lawrence Central wins Mr. Basketball
IndyStar Mr. Basketball
presented by the Indiana Pacers
Kyle Guy, Lawrence Central
The state’s only male McDonald’s All American this season, Guy set the school’s all-time scoring record this year. A University of Virginia recruit, he averaged 23.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.8 steals a game and led the Bears to a 19-7 mark and sectional final appearance.
Joey Brunk, Southport
C.J. Walker, Tech
Record-setting Jackie Young named Miss Basketball
IndyStar Miss Basketball
presented by the Indiana Fever
Jackie Young, Princeton
Young is the first Miss Basketball from Princeton. She was named on 318 of the 433 Miss Basketball ballots submitted by coaches and media. Her coach, Charles Mair, has compared her passing ability to Magic Johnson’s. “I’ll remember her as the ultimate team player,” he said.
Runners-up:
Lindsey Corsaro, Roncalli
Tyasha Harris, Heritage Christian
Kristen Spolyar, Lebanon
Coach of the Year
Eric Moore, Center Grove football
The Trojans’ rode Moore’s wing-T offense all the way to a perfect 14-0 season and Class 6A state title, despite playing the state’s seventh-toughest schedule. His theory on the wing-T: “It’s an all-ages, all-weather offense for any kind of athlete.”
Runners-up:
Angela Berry-White, Brebeuf Jesuit girls soccer
Chris Plumb, Carmel swimming
Rick Risinger, Heritage Christian girls basketball
Fans’ Choice Male Athlete of the Year (fan voting)
Desmond Bane, Seton Catholic basketball
A prolific scorer for the Class A Cardinals, Bane won the Marsh Indiana Athlete of the Month awards for February and December. Bane finished the season averaging 30.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 3.2 blocks a game.
Runners-up:
K.C. Earls, Mooresville basketball
Jake Sisk, Pike Central wrestling
Fans’ Choice Female Athlete of the Year (fan voting)
Alex Buck, Pendleton Heights cross-country
Buck is a runner-up in girls cross-country. A four-time Hoosier Heritage Conference champion, she won the prestigious FlashRock Invitational in September and followed that with her third straight sectional win and fourth straight regional win. She won semistate and placed second in the Mid-East Meet of Champions in November. She is committed to 2015 cross-country national champion New Mexico.
Runners-up:
Jessica Halsmer, Broad Ripple swimming
Macee Williams, Fountain Central basketball
Courage Award
Lauren Turner, Brebeuf Jesuit soccer
The starting goalkeeper for Brebeuf’s Class 2A state championship-winning girls soccer team, Turner played the title game with her gravely ill mother, Stephanie, watching from a Carroll Stadium suite. Stephanie died from cancer 40 hours after the Braves’ state title win.
Runners-up:
Lance Dollison, Fishers basketball
Riley Walker, Speedway wrestling
Comeback Player of the Year
Lindsey Corsaro, Roncalli basketball
One of state’s top girls basketball players, Corsaro tore her anterior cruciate ligament in late January 2015, cutting short her junior season. She returned this season to help lead Roncalli to the Class 4A semistate, averaging 25.3 points and 9.7 rebounds. She is a member of the IndyStar’s 2016 Super Team and a McDonald’s All American.
Runners-up:
Matt Runyon, Brownsburg football
Dalton Smith, Monrovia football
Team of the Year
Carmel girls swimming
The new standard in high school athletic excellence, the Greyhounds set a national record with their 30th straight state championship. Carmel won nine of the 11 events at the state meet and scored 438 points, 2441/2 points more than runner-up Hamilton Southeastern.
Runners-up:
Cathedral girls volleyball
Center Grove football
Evansville North girls golf
Fan experience
Connor Sanburn, Kokomo
The Kokomo entry, selected by fan voting at IndyStar.com as the top fan experience, is a rousing video that captured the fun, pageantry and school spirit of homecoming week. The video was shot and edited by Sanburn.
Runners-up:
Morgan Bettner, Brownsburg
Leah Bode, Avon
Scholar Athlete
Kristin East, Evansville Mater Dei soccer
East helped lead the Wildcats to a second successive trip to the Class A girls soccer title game this fall. A National Honor Society member, four-time Academic All-City and 2015 Academic All-State honoree, East also received this year’s IHSAA Mental Attitude Award.
Runners-up:
Jacob Covaciu, Merrillville wrestling
Matthew Roop, Harrison soccer
IndyStar Mr. Football
Presented by Marian University
Brandon Peters, Avon
Peters led the Orioles to their first regional title in a decade. He finished his senior year with 3,103 passing yards and 37 touchdowns (with five interceptions), completing 60.1 percent of his passes. For his career, Peters finished with 6,384 passing yards, 71 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He also rushed for 13 TDs. Peters, who also won the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year, graduated early and is enrolled at Michigan, where he’ll play for former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jim Harbaugh.
Runners-up:
Alex Neligh, New Palestine
Jovan Swann, Center Grove
SPRING SPORTS
These are the finalists. Decisions on players of the year will be made in June, after the spring sports season.
Girls tennis
Makenzie Myers, Evansville Memorial
Lauryn Padgett and Emma Love, Carmel (doubles)
Claire Reifeis, North Central
Baseball
Coy Cronk, Lafayette Central Catholic
Cal Krueger, Jasper
Skylar Szynski, Penn
Softball
Savanna Copeland, Hamilton Southeastern
Celene Funke, Carmel
Issy Hoyt, New Palestine
Boys golf
Cole Bradley, Harrison
Callahan Elzey, Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger
Spencer Klimek, Columbia City
Boys track and field
D’Wayne Eskridge, Bluffton
Christian Powell, Ben Davis
Hari Sathyamurthy, Brownsburg
Girls track and field
Victoria Farley, Portage
Lynna Irby, Pike
Katie Isenbarger, Zionsville
Boys rugby
Eric Bradley, Pike High School Rugby Club
Satchel Carnine, Penn Rugby
Russell Lemaster, Royal Irish
Girls rugby
Hannah Garcia, Warsaw Area High School
Kathleen Gearhart, Penn Rugby High School
Victoria Jones, Noblesville Chaos High School
Boys lacrosse
Seth Mendell, Carmel Lacrosse
Daniel Sparks, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran
Devin Sparks, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran
Girls lacrosse
Sydney Blake, Zionsville
Kelly Donnelly, Cathedral Lady Irish Lacrosse
Emma Wildhart, HSE Fishers Girls Lacrosse
Boys volleyball
Jacob Allard, Roncalli
Walter England, Southport
Joel Kellum, Carmel
Spencer Smith, Cathedral
Boys bowling
Jakob Sisk, McCutcheon
Sisk finished fourth in the boys singles at the state meet with a score of 584 and helped McCutcheon to regional, semistate and state titles. His 225 average was fifth-best in the state this year.
Runners-up:
Shawn Gibson, Princeton
Jeffery Mann, Harrison
Girls bowling
Mackenzie Faurote, Huntington North
A back-to-back sectional champ, Faurote placed sixth in the girls singles at the state finals with a score of 569. Faurote helped the Vikings capture the program’s third state title and first in 14 years.
Runners-up:
Jaimee Jaskie, Bluffton
Victoria Smith, Elkhart Memorial
Hockey
Adam Stoody, Carroll Chargers
Stoody led the Chargers with 22 goals in 20 games during the regular season. He shared the team lead with 35 points, fifth-most in the state this season. He is a member of the Indiana U-18 team.
Runners-up:
Joe Stebbins, Carmel Gold Icehounds
Drew Wynn, Leo Lions
Gymnastics
Claire Thompson, Columbus North
An All-Conference Indiana selection, Thompson won the bars, beam and all-around titles at March’s IHSAA state meet as a sophomore. Her performance helped Columbus North to the team title with a record 114.850 points.
Runners-up:
Adison Minor, Columbus East
Anna Watkin, Owen Valley
Boys swimming
Chandler Bray, Avon
A University of Florida recruit who represented Team USA in August’s World Junior Championships in Singapore, Bray set a national record in the 100 breaststroke at this year’s IHSAA state meet preliminaries with a time of 52.56 seconds. A night later, he captured the state title and aided two relay wins for the Orioles, who placed third in the team standings.
Runners-up
Jack Franzman, Zionsville
Ryan Huizing, Carroll
Girls swimming
Claire Adams, Carmel
The winningest swimmer in IHSAA state meet history, Adams was 16-for-16 in capturing state titles during her illustrious career for perennial power Carmel. Her four state title wins this year included a record-setting performance in the 100 backstroke. She became the first to win the event four straight years and set a state record in the preliminaries (51.65). She has qualified for the U.S. Olympics trials and will attend the University of Texas in the fall.
Runners-up:
Veronica Burchill, Carmel
Hannah Kukurugya, Crown Point
Wrestling
Chad Red, New Palestine
Red went 44-0 in his senior year, with just two takedowns all season. While he became the third Indiana wrestler to go undefeated for his entire high school career (183-0), he is also just the second undefeated wrestler to win each title at a different weight class (Griffith’s Alex Tsirtsis is the other). Workout tip: He does 60 pull-ups a day now; four sets of 15.
Runners-up:
Brock Hudkins, Danville
Blake Rypel, Cathedral
Volleyball
Kendall White, Cathedral
White played a significant role as a powerhouse for Cathedral in all four years of varsity. She finished her senior season holding the record of sets played at 392. She is also Cathedral’s all-time leader in digs with 1,546. White will play for seven-time national champion Penn State.
Runners-up:
Melanie McHenry, Speedway
Jacqueline Quade, Carroll
Audrey Shannon, Providence
Girls soccer
Alia Martin, Brebeuf Jesuit
A three-time first-team All-State selection and this year’s Gatorade Player of the Year, Martin scored 14 goals and passed for 29 assists for the Braves, who finished the year 22-2-1 and won the program’s first state title. The junior midfielder assisted on both goals in Brebeuf’s championship-winning game versus Penn. She also earned All-American recognition from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and is verbally committed to play at the University of Michigan.
Runners-up:
Ryanne Brown, Brebeuf Jesuit
Celene Funke, Carmel
Boys soccer
Andreas Roslender, Carmel
The Indiana Soccer Coaches Association’s State Player of the Year, Roslender was an All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. He scored seven goals and added 13 assists this season, leading the Greyhounds (17-3-1) to the Class 2A state semifinals. He did not play high school soccer as a sophomore or junior, opting instead to play with his club team.
Runners-up:
Matt Bertram, Castle
Logan Hatter, Avon
Girls golf
Alexis Miestowski, Lake Central
The individual medalist for 19 of 21 events, Miestowski finished her sophomore year shooting a 145 over the two-day IHSAA state championship (3 under par) to finish six strokes better than her closest competitor.
Runners-up:
Cailyn Henderson, Westfield
Emma Kieffer, Evansville North
Boys tennis
Sam Concannon, Culver Academies
Concannon, the state runner-up as a junior, finished his senior year 28-0 and won the singles individual tennis state champion, defeating North Central’s Steve Christie 7-6, 6-2 in the final. He is the first tennis player to win a state title for Culver Academies and finished his high school career 87-7. He has committed to Division III Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Runners-up:
Steve Christie, North Central
Ian Landwehr, Yorktown
Girls cross-country
Sarah Leinheiser, Carmel
This year’s Indiana Gatorade Athlete of the Year, Leinheiser won regional, semistate and state championship meets. Her state-winning time of 17:30.8 was third fastest in state finals history. She finished eighth at the Foot Locker national cross-country championships in December and holds the Carmel girls school record with a time of 17:20.02.
Runners-up:
Alex Buck, Pendleton Heights
Lauren Johnson, West Lafayette
Boys cross-country
Ben Veatch, Carmel
Veatch defended his individual state title by completing the 5,000-meter course with the first sub-15-minute time in four years and only the third in the past 30 years. In December, the Indiana University-bound runner finished third in the Foot Locker national cross-country championships in San Diego.
Runners-up:
Curt Eckstein, Oldenburg
Brayden Law, Homestead
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