High School Reunion: 2008-09 Athletes of the Year

Editor's note 

Online sports producer Drew McCullough is spending his summer digging through Star archives and compiling a list of every high school athlete of the year since 1999. Today: 2008-09. 

Football player of the year 

Name: Adam Hall 

School: Palo Verde 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Football 

From the archives: Just try to stop him. Hall scored 38 touchdowns six ways. That's why Palo Verde football also was known as the Adam Hall Show. — Star staff, 2008

Girls volleyball player of the year 

Name: Sam Reynolds 

School: Amphitheater 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Girls volleyball 

From the archives: With Amphi leading 16-15, Panthers setter Sam Reynolds attempted a set at the net, but the Sentinels defense redirected the ball downward for a point and tied the game.

"We kind of slowed down after the first game," said Reynolds, who recorded 42 assists. "We came out with so much energy, but I think we lost it in the second and third games and it really made a difference."

Trailing 12-10 in the third, the Panthers let a free ball from Seton fall untouched for a point, further shifting the momentum in the Sentinels' favor.

In the decisive fourth set, Lawless took over.

The star outside hitter recorded five straight points, and Seton was poised to close out the match with a 20-15 lead.

But Amphi refused to roll over without one final rally.

Following a scoring run that was spurred by a Reynolds ace, the Panthers eventually tied the score at 23. The Sentinels immediately regrouped to regain the lead, and Amphi could not handle the serve on match point to end the contest.

"It's a bummer we ended the season on a loss," said Reynolds, who was a steady force for the Panthers all year. "I love these girls so much, and it was honor to get to play with them." — Brett Booen, 2008

Boys cross country runner of the year 

Name: Fabian Romero 

School: Sunnyside 

Year in school: Junior  

Sport: Boys cross country 

From the archives: As Sunnyside's Fabian Romero sprinted down the stretch of Wednesday's Valerie McGregor Rattler Invitational, no one would have guessed he was finishing a three-mile race.

After crossing the finish line at Tortolita Field, he calmly strolled to the water stand and sipped from a cup as he walked away. After all, he had some time before others would finish.

He was done in 17 minutes 27.4 seconds, more than 38 seconds in front of the second-place finisher, Sierra Vista Buena's C.J. Metcalf.

Romero's performance helped Sunnyside win the boys portion of the meet with 37 points.

"Instead of just going out and trying to beat everyone, I tried to save my energy," Romero said. "I liked it. I held back a lot, and then I just took off and sprinted in. I had a lot of energy left." — Michael J. Craven, 2008

Girls cross country runner of the year 

Name: Aeoleone Bristow 

School: Rio Rico 

Year in school: Sophomore  

Sport: Girls cross country 

From the archives: Rio Rico sophomore Aeoleone Bristow won her first individual championship in the 4A-II race in 19:07.05.

"I was confident going in, but not overconfident," said Bristow, who placed second at state last year. "You can't be overconfident. I just raced my race and did what I could do." — Michael J. Craven, 2008

Boys golfer of the year 

Name: Ben Esparza 

School: Ironwood Ridge 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys golf 

From the archives: Ironwood Ridge's Ben Esparza (139) finished second in the 5A-II tournament at Maryvale Golf Course in Phoenix. In the process, the Nighthawks won their first state golf title.

Esparza shot a 66 Thursday, the lowest round of the tournament, to help the Nighthawks (589) establish a big gap over runner-up Scottsdale Horizon (607).

"We played so-so yesterday, and today we played really well as a team and ended up running away with it," said coach Ryan Bais.

Esparza set 9- and 18-hole school records this season, and the team shattered both school records, too, Bais said. — Les Willsey, 2008

Girls golfer of the year 

Name: Sun Park 

School: Cienega 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Girls golf 

From the archives: In any normal circumstance, a team that broke a school record would probably come out victorious. That was not the case for the Catalina Foothills girls golf team Thursday.

Cave Creek Cactus Shadows (572) claimed the 4A-I state championship, defeating the Falcons by 27 strokes at Dell Urich. Catalina Foothills' total of 599 was a school record for 36 holes.

"Our goal was to shoot under 600 and we did it," said sophomore Brittany McKee. "We lost to a tough team for the second straight year."

McKee (149) finished sixth individually for the tournament. She was the third-lowest individual from Southern Arizona, finishing behind sophomore teammate Erin McClure (147), who was fifth, and Cienega junior Sun Park (140), who was second.

Lauren Weaver (134) of Cactus Shadows was the state champion and had the lowest round of both days, including a second-round 66. Lindsey Weaver (143) finished in third place as the sisters led Cactus Shadows to the state title.

"It feels awesome as a family to lead our team to victory," Lauren Weaver said. "Our goal is to place first and second at every event and we came really close to doing that."

Park was the reason the Weavers didn't take the top two spots. She finished six strokes behind Lauren for the title. She had a better putting day that put her at 69, one stroke off her second-round goal of 68. Overall, she was happy with Cienega's fourth-place performance (640).

"I am very proud of this team as we had three freshmen but we still improved on last year's finish," Park said. "We have improved the last three years so hopefully next year we can finish in the top three at state." — Alex Sanderson, 2008

Boys swimmer of the year 

Name: Herbie Behm 

School: Catalina Foothills 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys swimming and diving 

From the archives: Every time Catalina Foothills star Herbie Behm touched the pool this weekend, the event turned into a golden record.

After shattering the state record in the 50-yard freestyle in Friday’s preliminaries of the 4A-I state meet in 19.84 seconds — the nation’s fastest time ever for a 17-year-old — Behm followed it up with two individual state titles Saturday in the 50 (20.09) and 100 freestyles (44.68) at ASU’s Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.

Behm sprinted past the previous state record of 20.22 — set by Tempe Corona del Sol’s Adam Small last year — on Friday in the 50, and he set Arizona’s 4A state mark in the 100 on Saturday, surpassing former Sahuaro swimmer Ben Aaberg’s 2006 time of 44.81.

“It was something I was preparing for for a long, long time and it happened,” said Behm, who now holds the high school record in the 50 free in Arizona and New Mexico, where he lived until 2007. “It’s pretty cool. All season I had a feeling that this was going to be something I could do.”

Behm also swam the anchor leg of Foothills’ 4A state-record-breaking 200 medley relay, teaming with Cole Puchi, Barrett Miesfeld and T.J. Lundstrom for a time of 1 minute 33.71 seconds. The quartet missed the all-level record by one one-hundredth of a second.

The Foothills boys claimed their ninth straight team state crown, scoring 435› points to rout second-place Scottsdale Chaparral (299). Sabino (180) was third.

Behm was named 4A-I Boys Swimmer of the Meet for the second straight year. — Casey Crowe, 2008

Girls swimmer of the year 

Name: Sarah Denninghoff 

School: Sabino 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Girls swimming and diving 

From the archives: Sabino sprinter Sarah Denninghoff matched Leverenz’s championship total, winning the 50 free for the third straight year before taking down reigning champion Stefanie Wells of Sahuaro in the 100 backstroke — which was widely considered the girls race of the day.

Both Denninghoff (54.54) and Wells (55.14) broke the previous 4A state record of 55.61.

Denninghoff’s effort spurred Sabino to a third-place finish in the 4A-I team standings, while Leverenz and Wells led Sahuaro to the sixth spot. — Casey Crowe, 2008

Boys basketball player of the year 

Name: Terrell Stoglin 

School: Santa Rita 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys basketball 

From the archives: Close only meant agony for star point guard Terrell Stoglin and Santa Rita.

At Jobing.com Arena, Stoglin's last-second fadeaway three-pointer from the right corner missed left and short, sending Santa Rita to a third straight state championship game loss.

Phoenix Greenway completed an unbeaten season with a 60-58 victory and the 4A-II title.

"It's devastating, but I still have a lot of heart," said Stoglin, who finished with 28 points. "This loss isn't going to stop me from trying to get back here again. I have one more year to do it. Next year, we're going to win it, guaranteed."

Four times in the last five years, Santa Rita (21-9) made the trek to the Phoenix area to play for a state championship. And each time, the Eagles have come home in second place.

"Most teams are thrilled just to be competing in the state championship," said Santa Rita coach Jim Ferguson. "But for us, it's almost become a burden. Anything less than a state championship is disappointing."

Trailing 50-35 with under four minutes remaining, Ferguson called a timeout and implored his team to finish aggressively.

"Coach talked us up," said Stoglin, who was 9 of 22 from the field. "He reminded us it was the last three minutes and that everything we had we needed to leave there. That way if we lose, we can't be mad at ourselves.

"At the least, we could say we played our hardest."

The Eagles cut the lead to 52-50 with just over a minute left, using a 15-2 run with five points and three assists from Stoglin.

But Greenway stretched the lead back to six points at 59-53 with 23 seconds to play, only to see Santa Rita forward Andre Hatchett drill a three-pointer with 17 seconds to go.

Hatchett then scored on an offensive board, after snaring a steal, with three seconds to play.

Greenway (30-0) threw away the inbounds pass with 1.7 seconds left, setting up a shot for the Eagles to complete the dramatic comeback.

But Stoglin was forced to spin and shoot off-balance in one motion, and the shot fell straight to the court.

"(Stoglin) is a great player, and we really couldn't stop him," said Greenway guard Logan Ehrick. "We're just lucky he missed the last shot."

Early on, Stoglin attempted to single-handedly carry the Eagles. The 6-foot junior, a serious Division I recruit, was nearly perfect in the first quarter.

After drilling a three-pointer on the first possession, Stoglin followed with a baseline jumper from around 5 feet for a 5-2 lead. And the next time down the court for Santa Rita, Stoglin made another three-pointer for an 8-3 advantage.

Greenway answered in typical fashion, methodically finding a way inside the paint for scores from close range. Using a severe height advantage across the board - the Demons started three players over 6-4, including a 6-7 center - Greenway reeled off the next seven points to take its first lead at 10-8.

"In the end, we just came up short," said Stoglin, who averaged 30 points per game in the state playoffs. — Casey Crowe, 2009

Girls basketball player of the year 

Name: Nadi Carey 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Girls basketball 

From the archives: Canyon del Oro guard Nadi Carey took a different team to the 4A-I state title game this year at Jobing.com Arena.

She earned six assists, five steals and six points Tuesday. Teammate Sydney Lewis scored 18 points and 14 rebounds as the top-seeded Dorados edged No. 2 Tempe McClintock 49-45.

Carey, a 5-foot-8-inch senior, also claimed the 4A-I state crown last winter - as a key member of Flowing Wells' dominating run to the title in 2008. After transferring to CDO during the off-season, Carey said it wasn't immediately apparent that her new team was on a similar path.

"I already had a ring, so I wanted this one for my teammates," said Carey, an Eastern Washington signee.

"I said that at the beginning and now I can say it at the end. This team didn't play together at all until this year, so I wasn't sure we could do this at first. But we came together."

Besides pacing the Dorados' offensive attack along with point guard Charde Mayne, a senior transfer from Wisconsin, Carey also drew the defensive assignment of guarding McClintock guard Amy Patton who averaged 28 points a game.

Patton was held four points under her average and was visibly exhausted during McClintock's comeback effort - a credit to Carey's constant hounding.

"(Patton) was the real deal just like last time," said Carey, who faced Patton in the playoffs last year. "But I knew what I was getting into. My teammates helped and it worked out for the best."

It was the first state title for CDO (31-1) in 22 years.

"We always knew we had a group with great skill sets," said coach Kerri Brown, in her sixth year at CDO. "But did I know everything would fall in place like this? I knew that if there was any year for this program to win the state title, this one was looking pretty good. We had a lot of seniors and a lot of IQ on the floor."

Lewis, a 5-10 junior who missed the first two months of the season due to injury, scored 10 points in the first eight minutes, all in or near the paint as CDO held a 14-13 lead after one quarter.

Despite being held to single digits in the second quarter, McClintock was still within striking range at the break, trailing 26-22.

In the second half, with the Dorados periodically applying full-court pressure, Canyon del Oro began to pull away. With just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter, Carey made a move toward the basket before dishing a no-look pass to Chelsea Canham.

Canham finished the play with a short jumper while being hacked. She swished the free throw for a three-point play and a 34-24 Dorados lead.

That also proved CDO's largest advantage of the night, and McClintock was never able to slice back within four. — Casey Crowe, 2009

Boys soccer player of the year 

Name: Nick Marshall 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys soccer 

From the archives: Led Southern Arizona in goals scored with 39 and helped CDO to a title. — Star staff, 2009 

Girls soccer player of the year 

Name: Skye Schultz 

School: Flowing Wells 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Girls soccer 

From the archives: Southern Arizona's Player of the Year, who is headed to UTEP next season, produced a squad-best 20 goals and 10 assists in leading Cabs to 4A-I state crown. — Star staff, 2009

Wrestler of the year 

Name: Anthony Pike 

School: Sunnyside 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Wrestling 

From the archives: Sunnyside won its 10th state wrestling championship of the decade as Pike won the state crown at 189 pounds. — Greg Hansen, 2009

Baseball player of the year 

Name: Ryan Retz 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Baseball 

From the archives: The Star's baseball player of the year hit .379 for the state champion CDO Dorados and also had a 6-2 record and 2.47 ERA in 71 innings. — Greg Hansen, 2009

Softball player of the year 

Name: Kenzie Fowler 

School: Canyon del Oro 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Softball 

From the archives: The first-ever repeat Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year was 25-2 with an 0.05 ERA to propel CDO to a third consecutive state championship. — Greg Hansen, 2009

Boys tennis players of the year 

Name: Timothy Holten 

School: Ironwood Ridge 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys tennis 

From the archives: Defending doubles state champions Timothy Holten and Dillon Kennedy of Ironwood Ridge found themselves under immense pressure Saturday in the 4A and 5A individual state championships at Paseo Racquet Center.

Trying to repeat as state champions in the 5A-II division was only part of the equation. The top-seeded team had to go through teammates, sophomores Josh Taylor and Colin Spiegel, to do so.

The path added to the intrigue.

"It's hard since you know them," Kennedy said. "We see these guys every day."

A dramatic battle ensued, with nearly no discussion between the teammates - unless to argue the game score.

Holten and Kennedy persevered through a tight first set, then took control in the second to repeat as state champions. — Stephanie Jerzy, 2009

Name: Dillion Kennedy 

School: Ironwood Ridge 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys tennis 

Girls tennis player of the year 

Name: Maggie McGeorge 

School: Salpointe Catholic 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Girls tennis 

From the archives: McGeorge, the No. 2 overall seed in the singles bracket, fell to Corona del Sol's Kelsey Lawson 6-1, 6-1. Lawson's win was her second over McGeorge in five days; the two also played in the 5A-I team championship match. — Stephanie Jerzy, 2009

Boys track athlete of the year 

Name: Steve Magnuson 

School: Ironwood Ridge 

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Boys track and field 

From the archives: Ironwood Ridge's star distance runner won the 5A-II state cross country championship and three state championships in track and field. He was also the Star's boys track and field athlete of the year. — Greg Hansen, 2009

Girls track athlete of the year 

Name: Tamara Pridgett 

School: Rincon/University  

Year in school: Junior 

Sport: Girls track and field 

From the archives: Rincon's girls team had the top local individual. Junior Tamara Pridgett took home three titles - two individual and one relay.

She won her first 5A championship in the 100 meters when she blazed past Abbey Barbera of Ironwood Ridge with a time of 12.12.

"It's so weird because I didn't feel any pressure this year," said Pridgett, who won two titles her freshman year but none her second. "I think last year I listened to the pressure."

Pridgett also won the 200 and earned a third win when Rincon's 400-meter relay team steadily built a lead and won easily (49.20). It was the first title for seniors Ariel Mosher and Sarah Hutchison and sophomore Ajai Young.

"This was the dream team," Mosher said. "We've worked so hard in practice for four years for this." — Jason Stone, 2009

Boys volleyball player of the year 

Name: Pat Tunnell 

School: Salpointe Catholic 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Boys volleyball 

From the archives: Tunnell led Salpointe to the state semifinals and became the first Lancers boys volleyball player to be chosen the school's athlete of the year. — Greg Hansen, 2010

Click the photo below to check out more athletes of the year in our "High School Reunion" series. 

2008 girls volleyball player of the year 

Name: Sam Reynolds 

School: Amphitheater 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Girls volleyball 

From the archives: With Amphi leading 16-15, Panthers setter Sam Reynolds attempted a set at the net, but the Sentinels defense redirected the ball downward for a point and tied the game.

"We kind of slowed down after the first game," said Reynolds, who recorded 42 assists. "We came out with so much energy, but I think we lost it in the second and third games and it really made a difference."

Trailing 12-10 in the third, the Panthers let a free ball from Seton fall untouched for a point, further shifting the momentum in the Sentinels' favor.

In the decisive fourth set, Lawless took over.

The star outside hitter recorded five straight points, and Seton was poised to close out the match with a 20-15 lead.

But Amphi refused to roll over without one final rally.

Following a scoring run that was spurred by a Reynolds ace, the Panthers eventually tied the score at 23. The Sentinels immediately regrouped to regain the lead, and Amphi could not handle the serve on match point to end the contest.

"It's a bummer we ended the season on a loss," said Reynolds, who was a steady force for the Panthers all year. "I love these girls so much, and it was honor to get to play with them." — Brett Booen, 2008

2008 football player of the year 

Name: Adam Hall 

School: Palo Verde 

Year in school: Senior 

Sport: Football 

From the archives: Just try to stop him. Hall scored 38 touchdowns six ways. That's why Palo Verde football also was known as the Adam Hall Show. — Star staff, 2008

2008 girls cross country runner of the year 

Name: Aeoleone Bristow 

School: Rio Rico 

Year in school: Sophomore  

Sport: Girls cross country 

From the archives: Rio Rico sophomore Aeoleone Bristow won her first individual championship in the 4A-II race in 19:07.05.

"I was confident going in, but not overconfident," said Bristow, who placed second at state last year. "You can't be overconfident. I just raced my race and did what I could do." — Michael J. Craven, 2008