This year was ridiculously loaded. Vote for Indiana high school girls athlete of the year
Voting for the Indiana girls athlete of the year, presented by YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, will be open until noon EST Sunday.
Bell capped her career with a Class 3A state championship, hitting a career-best .313 with 333 kills last season. She also logged a career-high 63 aces, 26 blocks, 252 digs and 50 assists against the state's 24th-toughest schedule, per the IPV rankings. The Kansas incoming freshman finished her career with 1,280 kills, 1,131 digs, 168 aces, 108 total blocks and 79 assists, plus 115 wins and three regional championships in four varsity seasons.
Creager claimed the all-around state championship at this year's state meet. She won the uneven bars title with a score of 9.675, placed third on beam (9.675), fourth on floor (9.275) and fifth on vault (9.775) to accumulate 37.975 points. The junior was the third Homestead all-around winner overall and first since Shellen Goltz in 2000.
Crooke set a state high jump record with a nation-leading clearance of 6-2 in May, then claimed state championships in both the high jump (6-0.25, 2nd nationally; meet record) and long jump (20-4.75, 10th nationally). The Arizona track commit also notched 24 goals and six assists in 17 games for the semistate runner-up Heritage Christian soccer team (96 goals, 32 assists for her career).
Dowty, a junior, finished sixth at state (17:48.79), then took fifth at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, fifth at the Foot Locker regional championships and seventh at the NXN Midwest regional championships. Dowty took sixth in the 3200 at state with a time of 10:35.95.
Erb, a Kentucky-bound junior, led the Panthers to a semistate runner-up finish, batting .659 with 56 hits, 53 RBIs and 59 runs scored. Her collection of hits included 21 homers, eight triples and 15 doubles, and she also stole 18 bases and posted a .937 fielding percentage on 79 chances with two double plays. Erb is a career .652 hitter with 57 home runs and 193 RBIs.
Kirkland finished runner-up at this year's state meet to become the fourth golfer in state history to finish second or better three times in their career. The Xavier incoming freshman and Mental Attitude Award recipient was a three-time all-state honoree and led her team to a fourth-place finish at the 2022 state meet.
The 2025 IndyStar Indiana Miss Basketball recipient, Makalusky averaged 22.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 assists, while shooting 40% from 3 and 80% at the line for the semistate runner-up Royals. The IU freshman finished her career with 1,933 points.
Mishler won two state titles and set a meet record at this year's state meet. The Louisville commit clocked a 21.87 to capture the 50 freestyle championship, then broke the record she set in the 100 freestyle prelims with a time of 47.86 in the finals. Mishler is Wawasee's second state champion in swimming (first since 2012) and set a national record in the 50 free (21.56) in December.
Ocampo became the first girls wrestler to medal during the boys state finals, placing sixth at 106. Ocampo won her opening night match by fall in 5:46 over Plymouth's Alonzo Chantea to advance into medal contention. She wrestled back to reach the fifth-place match and lost by decision 3-0. A four-time state qualifier and three-time IHSGW state champ, Ocampo holds the most wins in school history (169) and ranks third in pins (78).
The MaxPreps Female Athlete of the Year, Shackell became the second Indiana girl ever to medal at the Olympics while still in high school over the summer, then led the Greyhounds to their 39th straight state title in girls swimming in the winter. The IU swimming recruit won four state titles, leaving her with 15 for her career.
The freshman claimed individual state medalist honors with a two-day score of 144 (72-72). She is only the third freshman in the 52-year history of the IHSAA finals to claim individual honors, joining Columbus North's Ava Bunker (2022) and Warsaw's Emily Johnson (2003). Snively is also the first medalist to play for the team champion (Zionsville) since 1999.
Tippner led the Millers soccer team to a 19-0-2 record and a third consecutive Class 3A state championship, scoring 24 goals and 16 assists. On the hardwood, the Miami hoops commit set career-highs across the board with 26 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 4.0 steals and 0.9 blocks per game.
Vinson overcame a life-threatening illness last summer and returned to lead the Tigers to a 4A state runner-up finish, logging 361 kills (.324 hit%), 16 aces, 40 total blocks and 84 digs over 83 sets. Now an IU freshman, she set a school-record with her 1,940 career kills, and rounded out her high school stat line with 968 digs, 199 aces and 134 blocks.
The junior claimed the state cross-country title with a time of 17:12.19, helping her team to a second-place finish behind Carmel. She took first in both the 1600 (4:49.06) and 3200 (10:28.26) at the state track championships.
The 2025 Indiana Miss Softball recipient, Zachary totaled a .482 batting average, 196 hits, 169 runs, 174 RBIs, 41 doubles and 20 home runs, 79 stolen bases and a .926 fielding percentage in her four high school seasons. Now a freshman at Notre Dame, she batted a career-best .543 for the state semifinalists with 10 doubles, four triples and eight homers, career-highs in both RBIs (62) and runs (46), and 50 hits, which marked her third consecutive season with at least that many.
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Indianapolis Star
8 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
State champs and record breakers: Vote for Indiana high school boys athlete of the year
We are recognizing the top high school boys athletes for the 2024-25 sports season. You can vote for Indiana boys' athlete of the year, presented by the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, through noon Sunday. The senior Notre Dame commit was named the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Player of the Year after leading Andrean to a Class 3A state championship. Barth, a shortstop and pitcher, batted .528 for the season with three home runs and 27 RBIs, along with 50 runs scored, six doubles and four triples. As a pitcher, he went 5-0 with a 1.50 earned run average and 42 strikeouts with 18 walks in 28 innings. He closed out a 4-3 win over Jasper for the 3A title with a save. The junior finished second at the cross-country state meet in the fall with the seventh-fastest 5K time in the history of the state meet (14:51.5). At the track and field state meet, the Notre Dame commit set a state meet record in winning the 1,600 meters (4:02.60) and nearly set a record by winning the 3,200 (8:51.22). Expectations will be high for Bontrager going into his senior year. Cates, a senior diver, finished third at the state meet in 2023 and '24. But there was no stopping the SMU commit in 2025 as his score of 655.95 at the state meet shattered the state record set in 2001 by Hamilton Southeastern's Phillip Jones (623.90). Cates scored over a 600 in all of his tournament meets, punctuated by his performance at state. Dial, a senior, was named the Mental Attitude Award winner after helping Roncalli to the first IHSAA boys volleyball state championship this spring. Dial, who will attend Butler to double major in accounting and finance, had 53 assists in the semifinal win over Fishers and 38 in the championship against Cathedral, set school records for assists in a season (1,052), match (63) and a set (19). Dial was the 2024 IBVCA Tournament MVP. The senior quarterback was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in football after passing for 2,415 yards and 29 touchdowns in a 12-1 season for the Bulldogs, a Class 6A regional champion. The Miami of Ohio commit finished his high school career with 94 passing TDs. Ehrlich helped Crown Point to a 6A state finals appearance as a junior. The Indiana commit was named the Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. The 6-3, 185-pound right-handed pitcher had six victories with a 0.76 earned run average and 61 strikeouts. He was drafted by the Phillies in the seventh round of July's MLB draft. Fisher was also a standout quarterback, completing 69% of his passes for 2,779 yards and 34 touchdowns as a senior. The junior hurdler ended his season with a splash, setting state meet records in the 110 hurdles (13.28 seconds) and 300 hurdles (35.82 seconds). Those times ranked third and second in the nation, respectively, for a high school hurdler. Hainje has only competed in the hurdles for a little more than a year. The senior Stanford football commit was a starter on Fishers' basketball teams as a junior and senior that went 59-2 over two seasons, winning a Class 4A state title in 2023-24 and finishing as runner-up this year. Hall averaged 11.5 points and 4.1 rebounds as a junior and 10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists as a senior. On the football field, he helped Fishers to its first sectional title in eight years. He caught 91 passes for 1,423 yards and 12 TDs as a senior. Hall was also 10th at the state meet in the long jump after finishing runner-up as a junior. After three consecutive team runner-up finishes, Harvey fired a 9-under-par 135 over two days to match the lowest 36-hole individual score in the history of the state meet. The Purdue recruit led the Shamrocks to a state meet record 8-under-par 568 over two days and set the record for largest margin of victory (30 shots). Harvey was also named the Fred A. Keesling Mental Attitude Award winner. Kurwaza was named the Player of the Year by the Indiana High School Coaches Association and the Gatorade Player of the Year for Indiana. The Wisconsin commit and senior forward led the Irish to a 14-4-2 record as he scored 28 goals and accounted for 12 assists. Kurwaza helped the Irish to a Class 3A runner-up finish as a junior. He finished with 76 career goals and 46 assists. Lin finished off an undefeated 27-0 season by winning the state's individual state championship, becoming the first Columbus North tennis player to accomplish the feat. He was the runner-up at the state meet as a junior. Overall, Lin was 74-2 as an individual during his high school career. Mullins, a UConn commit, was voted IndyStar Mr. Basketball as a senior after averaging 32.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.7 steals as a senior, leading Greenfield-Central to a 23-4 record. He shot 47.6% (88-for-185) from the 3-point line. Mullins broke the school records for career points (2,158), single-season points (887) and single-game points (52). He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald's All American. Quagliaroli set a record on the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the state meet in Terre Haute, winning the 5K state meet race with a time of 14 minutes, 46.81 seconds. He took second to Westview's Noah Bontrager in the 3,200 at the state meet this spring, finishing in 8:54.99. He will compete in college at Indiana. Weaver compiled a record of 103-1 as a junior and senior. He went 50-0 as a junior, winning the 190-pound title. Weaver moved up to the 215-pound weight class as a senior and won the state title again and was named the Mental Attitude Award winner. Weaver will wrestle in college at Purdue. Zackery, a Notre Dame football recruit, was voted Mr. Football after his senior season at Ben Davis. He caught 58 passes for 1,036 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior and finished his career with 119 catches for 1,924 yards and 21 TD receptions. Zackery also intercepted 14 passes (eight as a senior), made 140 tackles, recovered four fumbles and scored four defensive TDs and helped the Giants to a Class 6A state title as a junior. Zackery also helped the Giants to a Class 4A state title in basketball as a sophomore. He averaged 11.0 points and 4.3 assists as a junior as the Giants reached the 4A state finals. Zackery was named an Indiana All-Star. IF POLL DOES NOT APPEAR, click here to vote.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
"They didn't play any of the championship-caliber teams" - Gary Vitti claimed Michael Jordan's era lacked real competition
"They didn't play any of the championship-caliber teams" - Gary Vitti claimed Michael Jordan's era lacked real competition originally appeared on Basketball Network. There was a time when winning championships was the only real measurable metric that NBA personalities and analysts cared about when ranking one player over another. Fortunately for someone like Michael Jordan, he played during an era where stacking titles was possible if the stars aligned and the talent was there. His peak also fell perfectly in line with the decline of some of his greatest competition, allowing him to win while they got old and were forced to watch from the sidelines. Advertisement Of course, he had to lead his team there as the best players in the world. Still, according to former legendary Los Angeles Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti, Jordan played against weak competition, which made his path to six rings far easier. Vitti tells it how it is Vitti was regarded as one of the best trainers the league has ever seen, having personally worked closely with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Pau Gasol, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. He was a key cog in the Lakers' success from 1984 to 2016, which gave him a front-row seat to assessing individual greatness and witnessing the transformation of NBA competition over the decades. Advertisement So when Vitti speaks, it's in everyone's best interest to listen, and he held nothing back when asked about Jordan's six championships and the competition he had to overcome along the way. "When Michael got his first ring in '91 and the five that came after it, there wasn't anybody left," he said. "The Lakers were done because Kareem had retired, and then Magic came up positive for HIV in '91. So he wasn't challenged again by the great Laker team, the ones that, because Kareem had already retired before '91, so he wasn't part of that series against, I don't know what they would have done. They had Bill Cartwright, and they had Cliff Levingston; I mean, what were they going to do with Kareem?" People often claim that Jordan and the Chicago Bulls overcame the legendary Lakers team. However, they weren't the Showtime Lakers everyone knew and loved. At that stage, James Worthy was their best offensive player, Magic had health issues, and Kareem was already retired. In other words, they were running on championship fumes, not remotely close to their prime run. Advertisement Dispelling the myths about Jordan's titles brought out Vitti's competitive passion. He went one step further to highlight that Chicago and MJ also never defeated other contending powerhouses at the peak of their powers. "So he didn't play the Lakers, the Celtics got old very, very fast," he continued. "Bird, Parish, and McHale all got old at the same time, so the Celtics were done. There was no challenge there, and the Pistons were done, so basically when you really look at the six rings that the Bulls won, they didn't play anybody, they didn't play any of the championship-caliber teams of the 80s like the Lakers, the Sixers, the Celtics, and the Pistons." "All four of those teams had basically had their run, and it was over, and so it's not taking anything away from him because he did what he was supposed to do. He dominated, but the game wasn't the same game; it was different," Vitti added. To his credit, he also acknowledged that Jordan did what he was supposed to do and could only beat who was in front of him, but that still doesn't change the facts. Advertisement Jordan never beat Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. He also only got the better of the Detroit "Bad Boy" Pistons when they were on the backend of their prime, with already two titles in the trophy case. Everyone always remembers the Bulls eventually getting over the hump against Isiah Thomas and the Pistons, but they often fail to paint the full picture that Detroit was their kryptonite before they got older. Related: "He should be holding his head up higher than Michael Jordan" - Dennis Rodman sides with Scottie Pippen over his negative portrayal in 'The Last Dance' The variables of winning Now, no one is blaming Jordan for his fortuitous circumstances, even if there is undeniable truth in Vitti's comments. It would be unfair not to acknowledge that the Bulls also beat the best Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, and Portland Trail Blazers teams in their respective franchises' histories. Advertisement However, Vitti's comments bring attention to the reality that winning championships is fundamentally situational. There are a vast number of variables that go into winning in any single season, and any one of them not working can throw off your title hopes. Everything from overall competition (as Vitti mentions), health, roster timing, playoff matchups, teams playing their best at the right time of the year and the era a superstar played in will unavoidably factor into winning. Even general NBA rules matter more than the NBA community cares to accept. The Golden State Warriors were only able to sign Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016 because the stars aligned with the salary cap increasing just enough to fit him in. Jordan played at a time when his second-best player, Scottie Pippen, was locked into an underpaid eight-year contract that allowed financial flexibility around him. Pippen's example, in particular, simply isn't possible or even allowed under modern NBA rules, and all these little nuances play a role in ultimately shaping a player's legacy. Advertisement One could argue that Jordan benefited the most from the NBA experimenting with significant on-court rule changes — bringing in the 3-point line, expanding to different markets which diluted overall competition and trying to find its way on the business side of the game. Another school of thought, of course, is accepting that any particular superstar can only compete in the era they fall into and that we can only judge them based on the cards they were dealt. Each theory is worthy and has compelling arguments. Considering how we judge a Hall of Famer's career if we take everything into account is an interesting thought exercise. Another factor in all of this could, of course, be Vitti's association with the late great Kobe Bryant, with whom he grew personally close throughout his career. Perhaps he has an underlying resentment toward Jordan for having one more championship, but that's a conversation for another day. Related: "Michael strategically talks. Once you get GP started. Forget about it" - Jim Jackson on difference between Michael Jordan and Gary Payton as trash-talkers This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Dominique Wilkins shares why there's no way Michael Jordan wins six NBA titles without his teammates: "Mike doesn't get six championships without those other pieces"
Dominique Wilkins shares why there's no way Michael Jordan wins six NBA titles without his teammates: "Mike doesn't get six championships without those other pieces" originally appeared on Basketball Network. Everyone remembers Michael Jordan as one of the greatest winners not just in basketball, but in sports history overall. His perfect six titles in six NBA Finals with the Chicago Bulls will forever be written with golden letters in the NBA's history books. However, before those championships, Jordan unsuccessfully chased the Larry O'Brien trophy for six seasons. Advertisement During that period, he had a playoff series record of 3-6 — including two consecutive sweeps — and an overall losing record in playoff games, with 24 wins and 29 losses. Even though Scottie Pippen joined the team after the 1987 draft, it took some time for all the pieces to fall into place before a championship run could even begin. Dominique Wilkins, one of Jordan's fiercest rivals from that era and a player who, mainly because of MJ, never got a ring himself, knew well that one player alone can't bring a team a title — it takes a healthy, unified squad, which is precisely what MJ had in the '90s. "If you look at the championship with Chicago for example," Wilkins said on the Jaxxon Podcast. "Mike doesn't get six championships without those other pieces – Scottie, Horace Grant, Kukoc and eventually Dennis Rodman. Also Kerr and Paxson. Them all are special pieces to a championship team. You can't win without it, you can't," Nique concluded. Behind all those brilliant stars stood one name It's hard to argue with Wilkins when you look at some of the key moments those players delivered. Kukoc was Sixth Man of the Year, Rodman was a seven-time rebounding champion and two-time NBA champion before coming to the Bulls, and everything about Pippen is already well known. Advertisement Still, it's also important to mention the legendary shots by John Paxson and Steve Kerr. Paxson hit a crucial 3-pointer in Game 6 against the Phoenix Suns to win the title. Without that shot, there would've been a Game 7 — and history might've been different. On the other hand, Kerr hit a nearly identical shot in the 1997 Finals against the Utah Jazz in Game 6 to seal the Bulls' fifth championship. But behind all those brilliant stars stood one name — Jerry Krause. Sadly, the architect and mastermind of one of the greatest teams in basketball history never got the recognition he deserved, mainly because of his broken relationship with Jordan. Krause was also a very stubborn character, and he met his match in Jordan. The roots of their befriended relationship go back to one controversial statement made by Krause. "This kid [Jordan] has had his butt kissed by everybody in the world except his parents and me. If we listened to him, we'd have [former Tar Heel guard] Buzz Peterson on the team! My goal is not to be his friend. My goal is to win titles," Krause told Sports Illustrated in 1993. Jordan and Krause needed each other Two geniuses in their own fields, as it often happens, were also major egomaniacs. Everything fell apart after the sixth and final title, when Krause said mid-season that Phil Jackson was gone regardless of the final outcome. Jordan responded by saying that if Phil goes, he goes too. Advertisement History will forever remember the Bulls' six titles. Who knows — maybe it could've been even more. But even as it stands, it's an incredible achievement. Jordan can be mad at Krause all he wants, and vice versa, but the truth is they would've never been what they were without each other. Just ask Wilkins what he would've given to have someone as capable as Krause to build a winning team around him. Related: "He took it a little personal" - Dominique Wilkins recalled Michael Jordan's revenge after he dropped 57 points vs. Bulls This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
