For all the time student-athletes put into honing their crafts on the playing field, there’s no competing for their high schools without taking care of business in the classroom first. The Texas High School Coaches Association has recognized several athletes who thrived at exactly that.
The THSCA recently released its second academic all-state selections of the 2022-23 school year, which included cross country, football, volleyball and water polo.
Student-athletes are nominated by their respective head coaches — nominations that are then sent to the THSCA for review. In order to be nominated for academic all-state, a student must be either an athlete, trainer or manager in good standing with his or her team, of good moral character, a high school senior and have an overall GPA of 92 or above.
Nominees are graded out on the award’s criteria and, if they score high enough, are placed on either the elite team, first or second teams, or honorable mention team.
Coppell stuffed the list of selections for cross country, football and volleyball, with 49 student-athletes earning their way on the all-state team.
Twenty-one of those honorees belonged to the Cowboys’ football team, which went 9-2 and was a bi-district finalist under the direction of first-year Coppell head coach Antonio Wiley. Benjamin Park, Christopher Chen and Spencer Kutchins landed on the first team. Jake Logsdon, Jack Fishpaw, Matthew Williams and Lingeshwar Vendanarayanan were chosen to the second team. Carter Kincaid, Bennett Stephen, Evan Kraus, Sean Simpson, Malkam Wallace, Riggs Montgomery, Ryan Shipman, Aaron Roberts, Mason Montague, Ryan Dunn, Blake Robbins, Owen Albright, Zachary Kichan and Aryan Kumar garnered honorable-mention selections.
It was a historic season for the Coppell boys cross country team, which finished third in Class 6A – highest finish at the state meet in program history. Both the Cowboys and Cowgirls also got the job done in the classroom. Tavishka Arora, Elizabeth Grace Walker, Vedant Bhattacharyya, Megan Peltier, Waverly Hassman, Blaine Warner, Karthikeyan Parthipan, Samuel Martinson and Tahir Ali were named to the THSCA all-state academic first team. Louisa Ehinger, Varun Potluri, Kavin Chengavarayan and Rohan Shanbhag were named to the second team. Ashan Habeeb, Asheer Jiwani, Andrew Mullen and Rodrigo Rios earned honorable-mention honors.
The Cowgirls’ volleyball team, which made a return to the playoffs after missing out in 2021 for the first time in more than a decade, also excelled in the classroom. The THSCA recognized Sanjanaa Ravishankar, Brenna McKinzie and Skye LaMendola on the first team. Morgan Chambless and Madison Travis were named to the second team. Summer Hill, Taylor Young, Allie Stricker, Addison Hesse and Ava Lin garnered honorable mention.
Lewisville’s football team had a historic season on the field. The Farmers won their first outright district title since 2001 and made it four rounds deep in the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Lewisville also had the winning formula in the classroom. Elisha Lopez, Carter Leitner and Isabella Simpson (trainer) earned THSCA all-state academic elite-team honors. Carl Malvo, Mason Johnson and Trevor Moreno were named to the second team. Gerrod Gibbs, Collin Cutter, Garcia Johnson, Lucas Sanders, Kentrel Sorells, Freddy Joya and Sierra Shreve (trainer) were named honorable mention.
From the Farmers’ cross country team, Christian Nagel was named to the all-state first team, while Trinity Trotter landed on the second team.
Elsewhere in District 6-6A, Hebron had 16 players from its football team earn all-state academic honors. Daniel Callahan, Colby Petty, Braxton Baker, Tyson Whatcott, Carson Kimbrell, Case Holleron, Hayden Hill, Katelyn Seedig (manager) and Cal Phillips landed on the second team. Brad Cavenaugh, JD Weber, Carson Dean, Gage Hanley, Matthew Bass, Drazik Balko and Daniel Hubble earned all-state honorable mention honors.
The Flower Mound girls water polo team was a regional finalist in the first year that the sport was sanctioned by the UIL. The Lady Jaguars were just as dedicated in the classroom, as were the Jaguar boys. Ella Harrington and Jaspreet Braich received THSCA all-state academic first-team honors. Ava Pawlik was named to the second team. Jared Stank and Gwyneth Le earned honorable-mention honors.
Flower Mound’s football team was in on plenty of recognition as 38 players and trainers earned all-state recognition by the THSCA.
Beck Anderson was named to the elite team. Cade Harwell, Will Tasker, Wyatt Yost, Grant Satterfield, Noah Rodriguez, Yale Erdman, Ben Thomas (trainer), Nick Smith, Vaibhav Kumar and Victoria Olsen (trainer) earned a first-team selection. Will Penuel, Abraham Candelaria, Omar Jaber, Peyton Porter, Tae Ha, Tristan Moyer, Vivian Nguyen (trainer), Caden Jensen, Mia Testa (trainer), Caleb Vogel, Evan Blad, Brooke Cote (trainer) and Mae Mills (trainer) landed on the second team. Reid Butler, Quinn Howard, Jack Peterson, Ben Rogers, Hayden Pool, Kaushal Palem, Will Marshall, Kevin Koonce, Nathan Climer, Madison Soderstrom (trainer), Dylan Carter, Cooper Davis and Laila Arenas-Tamaura (trainer) garnered honorable-mention selections.
Across town, Marcus’ football team made another playoff appearance under the direction of head coach Kevin Atkinson. The Marauders also shined in the classroom with 27 players and trainers earning recognition on the THSCA all-state academic team. Brandon Benoist and Rachel Stroup (trainer) were named to the elite team. Chance Banner, Mason Mazoch and Ethan Lee received first-team honors. Kole McKnight, Eddie Velazquez, Yiannki Jeager, Bryant Livingston, Aidan Bain, Colton Bedgood, Hannah Murphy (manager), Phillip Ponds, Abby Geddes (manager), Abby Lobello (trainer) and Logan Hessing landed on the second team. Aden Wicker, Rhett Thomas, Gosiah McLeod, Charlie Kissinger, Gavin Ward, Gunner Scheer, Andrew Kincaid, Mason Chavis, Chance Sautter, Sam Kappler and Jake Ballard garnered honorable mention.
Marcus’ volleyball team finished as a bi-district finalist in Lindsey Petzold’s first season as head coach. The Lady Marauders were just as focused in the classroom. Brooke Brown, Lexi Godbey and Maggie Cox earned second-team all-state honors, while Peyton Fredrick was an honorable-mention selection.
Little Elm’s volleyball team had three players earn academic all-state honors. Lillian Koehn was named to the second team. Janis Jones and Corey Hazlewood garnered honorable-mention nods.
The Colony football team was also successful in the classroom The Cougars had a total of nine players earn THSCA postseason honors. Bryan Carrillo, Joshua Cochran, Edwin Lopez, Jackson McClain, Aaron Trotter and Andrew Kasmerski landed on the second team. Justin Doram, Dovanta Dunn and William Wallis garnered honorable-mention selections.
Cougar cross country runners Wendy Lemus (first team) and Devon Judelson (second team) were on the receiving end of academic all-state honors.
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD schools also were on the receiving end of recognition.
Creekview football player Daniel Jung was named to the THSCA academic all-state first team. Aiden Munoz and Ben Pfeil earned spots on the second team. Caleb Hernandez garnered an honorable-mention selection.
From the Mustangs’ volleyball team, Mia Barbosa was named to the first team, while Lauryn Little landed on the second team.
Five student-athletes from Newman Smith made the all-state team. Volleyball player Eriona Zeqiri was named to the second team, while both Dakota Ann Dominguez and Ledisi Kpea garnered honorable-mention selections. Trojan cross country runners Kirkland Matlock and Jesse Perez received honorable-mention nods.
R.L. Turner had four cross country runners earn all-state honors. Catherine Stepaniak and Adam Inga Acosta were named to the second team, while Aaron Villareal and Justin Pacheco received honorable-mention selections. Stepaniak was also an honoree in volleyball. She was joined by Sierra Mitchell (second team), Heidi Espinoza (honorable mention) and Allyson Chambers (honorable mention).
Lake Dallas’ football team was a playoff participant for the first time since 2017. The Falcons also excelled in the classroom as 15 players, managers and trainers were named to the THSCA academic all-state team. Zachary Tipps landed on the first team. Maya McKnight-Covington (trainer), Briana Saenz (trainer), Kamden Beauchamp and Hannah Hicks (trainer) were named to the second team. Jeremiah Bruner, Elliott Koch, Luan Le, Xinjin Gomez, Boluwatife Olorunwo, Jose Sorto, Julian Bentancourt, Joshua McKinley (manager), Elliott Nutt (trainer) and Owen Morris (trainer) garnered honorable-mention selections.
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