2023 Press & Sun-Bulletin Athlete of the Year: Kaety L’Amoreaux, Maine-Endwell/Fairfield U

She was Maine-Endwell’s gal for all seasons – and then some. All-state here, record-setter there and, in her ultimate high school curtain call, gleeful holder of a plaque symbolizing that cherished state championship to conclude five years of notable varsity competition.

As one coach sized up her senior year, “She basically dominated in four activities, and was the best player on the field or court in all four.”

Come summer, she transitioned 215 or so southeasterly miles – proximity of beaches greatly to her liking – to the single-sport existence of NCAA Division I athletics and has made a substantial impact out of the chute.

Kaetlyn O’Neil L’Amoreaux – yet another uncommon distinction, middle name and surname with matching apostrophes – pieced together a sports resume rivaled by few hereabouts and is recognized as the Press & Sun-Bulletin’s 2023 Athlete of the Year.

While basketball is and has been her No. 1, twice first-team all-state and the sport that prompted Fairfield University to successfully court her services, she was a portrait of the well-rounded high school athlete in an age of too-prevalent and oft-misguided specialists. To Kaety, as she prefers, participation in one only enhanced preparation and readiness and zeal for the next and the next.

In her case, it was not merely widespread participation but across-the-board excellence.

“Everyone would always assume my favorite was basketball, that’s obviously what I had my most success in. But sometimes in high school I really would look forward to other sports, even if not my main focus,” she said. “My life revolves around basketball, it’s a huge part of me, then … Sometimes it’s good to have a completely different sport than what you spend the majority of your time on.

“I would say my favorite sport is basketball, but I really did love all sports I played in high school.”

Which were soccer, basketball, softball and flag football – quick-study quarterback/free safety in her senior-year introduction to the latter.

More: Getting To Know: Kaety L'Amoreaux, Maine-Endwell basketball, soccer player

Presently, L’Amoreaux is contributing significantly to a Fairfield University basketball squad off to the program’s finest start in decades, 9-1 record with seven consecutive wins into its final 2023 game. Perhaps as telling as any statistic are her 26.5 minutes per game, Fairfield’s second highest and suggesting coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis has ample trust in her feisty, full-throttle, 5-foot-7 newbie to progress and blossom on the fly.

L’Amoreaux’s 10.9 points per game rank third on the team, her 21 3-point goals are co-best, 4½-rebound average second, ditto for her 18 steals. Ah, but there are those team-leading 31 turnovers, the category highest on her to-improve list. So many wasted possessions just plain don’t cut it.

Highly impressive overall from a freshman, but no particular surprise to some.

“For the past couple years this has been my goal, my family, friends and coaches all knew that, so they helped me get to this point,” L’Amoreaux said. “I definitely prepared, this is what I wanted, I wanted to come in and make an impact for a team like Fairfield. I’m happy with the progression I’ve made but I think I’ve worked hard enough for it that I’m not surprised, but very glad I’m in the position I’m in.”

“She is probably one of the most dedicated, self-motivated, hardest-working athletes I’ve come across at everything she does,” said Brianna Thompson, M-E’s varsity basketball coach. “It’s more than just basketball. It’s her training and level of competition that she just wants to be good at everything she does, any sport she tries and is a part of.

L’Amoreaux opted for Fairfield only after a coaching change at her original choice, Fordham, which she hit up for 16 points in a Dec. 10 victory. Her second-highest scoring total through 10 games has been 18 with four 3-pointers against Vanderbilt, Southeastern Conference member and winner of 11 of its first 12. Vandy dealt Fairfield a 73-70 loss Nov. 12 in Nashville in something of an eye-opener for this freshman from Broome County.

“You could see the drastic difference in opponents from people I played before. Now playing an SEC team compared to what I’d been used to in the past, that was a different moment,” she said.

Back on the home front

Following an autumn 2022 season in which she was an Elite 15 selection in soccer, she eased into basketball for a season that brought 27.1-point and 6.2-rebound averages, a second consecutive first-team all-state selection and which concluded with her atop Maine-Endwell’s all-time list of female scorers and assist-makers.

Then came an overflowing plate of spring endeavors that featured not only softball but that foray into flag football.

The Spartans’ 24-2 softball season concluded with a 4-0 win against Troy in the state final with ace pitcher and state Co-Player of the Year Olivia Lewis limiting the opponent to one hit and shortstop L’Amoreaux 1-for-3 with a run. That wrapped up a season in which L’Amoreaux batted .417 with six doubles, two triples, five home runs and 23 RBI as a second-team all-stater.

That day on Long Island, culmination of a couple-year journey, goes down as her most gratifying athletic achievement.

“That was one of the best moments of my life. It was just amazing to be a part of that team. … All that work we put in was worth it,” she said. “It was really cool coming from a school that was so big on football and we won states twice (successively) for football, and then it was like, ‘Oh my God, we just did that!’ It’s such a big deal in our community and we just did that, too.

“We built that culture from my junior year to senior year, that was the goal. That was the most connected team, we knew we worked hard for that. To end my senior year like that was very meaningful to me.”

And throughout the spring there was flag football, a sport to which she was drawn by coach Bill Ocker – “From watching him coach the guys basketball team I just loved the way he coached, the intensity and the time he put into coaching. I wanted to be coached by him and when I found out he was doing flag football, it was like I’m definitely going to play.”

Ocker evaluates talent with the best of them, and so soon after the fledgling program’s onset of practice installed L’Amoreaux as quarterback. Maine-Endwell was undefeated through the regular season until dropping a playoff game against eventual sectional champion Chenango Forks.

“Kind of that understanding of gamesmanship and competitiveness, athleticism and winning gave her a little bit of a little notch ahead in terms of what was trying to be accomplished,” Ocker said. “Even though the verbiage of football terms may have not made much sense to her, skill-wise when she got the mechanics of throwing the ball down there really wasn’t anything she didn’t do well.

“She was handed a football for the first time and some eye-widening, jaw-dropping things occurred on the football field with her.”

Spring of 2023 accolades included L’Amoreaux receiving the John W. Fox Scholarship awarded by the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame to the female senior high school student-athlete of the year. For that occasion, she did a hasty bathroom flip from softball togs to appropriate attire and high-tailed from game venue to banquet.

“That was a really nice honor because there are so many athletes around and it’s such a prestigious award. It was really meaningful to me and it’s something I’m very proud of,” she said.

Keys to success

So just what, Kaety L’Am, makes you tick? What has been the root of your abundance of athletics success?

“Effort, honestly,” began her response. “From a young age I’ve loved participating in athletics and having that competitive edge. I always wanted to be playing in some game whether it was soccer or basketball or even kickball outside with my family and friends. I’ve always been like that and I hate losing, so I had to work hard in order not to lose.”

Victories, indeed, have outnumbered losses by a fair bit for teams she’s represented through high school and now, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball program.

On the list during leisure time at home on holiday break before Dec. 26 return to campus, this highly competitive, driven, family-first fun-lover intended to acquiesce at least a bit regarding one matter: That signature flowing mane so prominently flailing in her wake while on the dash.

“My coach has asked me to get some of it cut off,” she said. “She’s like, ‘I can’t look at it whipping around up and down the court.’ I told her I’d get a haircut when I’m home.”

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: 2023 Press & Sun-Bulletin Athlete of the Year: Kaety L’Amoreaux