High School Sports Awards: Check out 2023 Player of the Year winners in Palm Beach County
The best of Palm Beach County high school sports enjoyed a night under the bright lights of the Kravis Center on Friday in West Palm Beach.
Hundreds of the county's best student-athletes as well as their most supportive coaches and parents attended the Palm Beach County High School Sports Awards Show, sponsored by Baptist Orthopedic Health Care and the Honda Classic.
Former Olympic swimmer Dara Torres served as the guest of honor on a night when Player of the Year honors as well as superlative awards and scholarships were revealed.
Here's a look at the 2023 award winners from Friday night at the Kravis Center:
Boys Cross Country: Colton Lawson, King's Academy
Lawson ended his King's Academy high school cross-country career as a champion, taking home first-place finishes at the Palm Beach County Championship and District 7-2A meets. He finished runner-up at region championships and bettered his junior-year finish at state, placing fifth overall in Class 2A. Lawson won four races overall this season with a personal record of 15:26.10.
Girls Cross Country: Emma O'Day, Boca Raton
O'Day capped a dominant high school cross-country career with a historic state championship, taking first place (18:23.90) at the Class 4A state meet in Tallahassee. O'Day is the first girls cross-country state champion from a Palm Beach County public high school since Wellington's Ashley Brasovan won three straight 4A state titles from 2006-08. O'Day exits Boca Raton as back-to-back champion of the Palm Beach County, district and region championship meets. Her personal record was 18:06.60 at the FSU Invitational.
Boys Soccer: Michael Capille, Spanish River
Adding Capille to the roster helped the Sharks improve to 16-5-1 and a region semifinal finish. 17 goals on the season saw the forward end the year as Spanish River's scoring leader. He was also No. 25 in the state and No. 9 in Class 7A with 18 assists.
Girls Soccer: Lily White, Benjamin
White kept the buzz on the Bucs with a stellar junior year stat line. She led the team with 21 goals and 12 assists before a draw to NSU University in the Class 3A Final Four added the first blemish to what was a perfect 15-0-1 record. Benjamin's district championship over Cardinal Newman can be majorly attributed to the UPenn commit, who had both goals in the 2-0 victory.
Boys Wrestling: August Batson, Atlantic
Batson closed his prep career by surging to a state runner-up finish in the Class 2A 170-pound division. He won region and district championships and took first place at the Palm Beach County Wrestling Hall of Fame tournament. Batson finished with a 38-5 overall record. Batson was an honorable mention on last year’s All-County wrestling team.
Girls Weightlifting: Anna Fiore, Suncoast
Fiore finished as state runner-up in the Class 2A 110-pound Olympic division with a combined score of 280. She also placed sixth in the Traditional division with a 270 score. At regionals, Fiore won the 110-pound Olympic division and placed third in Traditional. She was a two-time district champion in the 110-pound division.
Boys Lacrosse: Jack Schulte, Saint Andrew's
A model of production as usual, Schulte was just one net away from back-to-back 60-goal seasons. Winning his third straight state championship with the Scots also included 42 assists and 64 ground balls. Waiting patiently since Schulte’s commitment in October 2021, Air Force will finally receive the highly touted attack this fall.
Girls Lacrosse: Alex Dorr, American Heritage-Delray
In the circle or on foot at midfield, the speedy Denver signee was near impossible to beat. 138 draw controls from Dorr locked the Stallions in for a 22-win season, taking only one loss to defending North Carolina state champion Cardinal Gibbons. She also had 29 goals, three assists, 16 ground balls and six caused turnovers on Heritage-Delray’s route to the 2023 state championship for her second title win.
Baseball: Ethan Mattison, Park Vista
Mattison, a junior, was "the man" on the mound for coach Larry Greenstein and the Park Vista Cobras. The uncommitted Power Five prospect is weighing offers from Alabama to East Carolina after a stellar sophomore season, registering nine wins and a 1.39 ERA. In 65.1 innings and 267 batters faced, hitters swung .201 against Mattison. He allowed just 13 earned runs and struck out 71, walking 27 with just one hit by a pitch.
Softball: Jordan White, Wellington
The lights shined brightly on White in her final season as one of the cover girls for Wellington softball. A threat on offense and defense, hopeful victors couldn't escape the consistent senior. She led the batting lineup hitting .467/.507/.700 for six runs on 28 hits and manned the top of the stat sheet with 27 RBIs, powered by four home runs. In 19 showings in the circle, White went 6-2 with a 1.73 ERA. 76.2 innings saw her give up just 19 runs and strike out 85.
Flag Football: Cayley Chieffalo, Seminole Ridge
Chieffalo carried on the pride of five-time state champion Seminole Ridge with dominant performances on both sides of the ball as the Hawks made another push for Class 2A state semifinals. She came back this season to put her team back in the final four, with a stat line of 53 catches for 726 yards to lead the receiver room with 11 touchdowns. Defensively, she registered 59 tackles and had six picks for 74 yards. The team finished 14-4 against an undefeated Alonzo squad out to keep the streak alive.
Boys Tennis: Markus Ekstrand, American Heritage-Delray
Ekstrand and his twin brother, Alexander, were leaders for the Class 2A state champions and Universal Tennis Rating's national champions. Markus Ekstrand achieved the postseason "triple crown" by winning the singles, doubles and team state titles. Ekstrand is a five-star prospect and ranked No. 66 nationally for the Class of 2023 on Tennis Recruiting Network. He is committed to the University of Miami.
Girls Tennis: Abby Gordon, Grandview Prep
It will be hard for Gordon to surpass her achievements as an eighth-grader. Gordon was the Class 1A overall and individual singles state champion. She finished 15-1 this season, her lone loss via retirement due to a sprained ankle, and is the first individual state champion in Grandview Prep history. Gordon holds the highest rating level — "blue chip" — and is the No. 20 national prospect in the Class of 2027, according to Tennis Recruiting Network.
Boys Basketball: Calvin Sirmans, Lake Worth
After commanding a stellar road to the final four of Class 7A as a junior, Sirmans’ final season as the quarterback of Lake Worth’s offense ended just short of region finals. To deal Dwyer its lone loss of the season, Sirmans put up 20 points. For the district championship, he netted 27. The point guard averaged a team-high 14.2 points and 6.4 assists per game, along with an average of 2.5 steals across 24 appearances.
Girls Basketball: E'Zaria Adams, Palm Beach Central
Touting Division I offers from Eastern Florida State and Long Island University, Adams finished her high school career as the top scorer in Palm Beach County — No. 23 in the state — with an average of 22.2 points per game. Central's region quarterfinal berth marked the first time the Broncos made state playoffs since 2015, Adams' averages of 3.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.8 steals forging the way. In four years on varsity, she totaled 1,064 points.
Boys Track and Field: Jackson Hamilton, Benjamin
Hamilton capped a dominant season in throws with state championships in Class 1A discus and shot put, posting personal records in both events. He was particularly dominant in the discus, taking first place in all but two meets this season, including county, district and region titles. Hamilton is the second straight Benjamin student-athlete to win the Class 1A discus state title after Calvin Bowens won in 2022. The Bucs also repeated as Class 1A team state champions.
Girls Track and Field: Lakesha Smith, Atlantic
Smith enjoyed a massive senior campaign, winning county and district championships in the long jump, 100-meter and 200-meter sprints. She was region runner-up in the 200m and third in the 100m and long jump. Smith capped her varsity career with a state runner-up finish in the 100m and 200m sprints and a seventh-place finish in the long jump. Her personal records in each event all rank Top 20 in Florida this season.
Football Defense: Justin Bostic, Palm Beach Central
From the Broncos' season opener to the bitter end against Apopka, Bostic brought the house down for Palm Beach Central as the most dangerous in the secondary. The FAMU football commit tallied a whopping 74 total tackles, seven interceptions — highlighted by five pick-sixes — and scored another touchdown returning the kickoff.
Football Offense: Luke Warnock, Cardinal Newman
A Class 1M region finals and Cardinal Newman's first undefeated regular season in over 40 years isn't too shabby for a junior first-year starter. The Crusaders were unsure of what their presence in the pocket would look like after many transfers, but Warnock's 2,296 passing yards and 34 touchdowns signaled there was no trouble in paradise to be had. Warnock's junior year saw him rank the third best passer in the division.
Boys Volleyball: Logan Taylor, King's Academy
Taylor was the king of the jungle this season leading the Lions to back-to-back district titles and an upset for the program's first region championship and final four appearance. He topped the stat sheet with 363 kills, ranking No. 8 in the state, and an outstanding .403 hitting percentage, setting a 6-2 with 447 assists. The senior wrapped up his career No. 2 in the state and No. 8 in the nation with 96 aces, totaling a team-high 224 service points. He also had 197 digs, 148 receptions, and 42 blocks.
After taking fifth in the NC Men's Volleyball National Championship last season, North Greenville University will receive the outside hitter, now off to South Carolina on scholarship. Taylor's collection of offers also included Harvard and Princeton among other Division I and Division II institutions.
Girls Volleyball: Tekoa Barnes, Boca Raton Christian
2022 marked another lights-out season for Barnes as she made 628 kills to rank No. 1 in the state as a sophomore. Ensuring a historic 25-5 season for Boca Raton Christian, the do-it-all athlete also topped the Blazers' stat sheet with an excellent .371 hitting percentage, 24 blocks, 54 serving aces and 359 digs. A career-best 43 kills from Barnes punched Boca Raton Christian's ticket to the Final Four, already having reached her 1,000-kill milestone a couple of weeks before.
Boys Water Polo: Gregory Nordheim, Boca Raton
Nordheim scored 113 goals with a team-high 47 assists and 119 steals as the veteran leader for an accomplished Bobcats team, which came within two wins of an FHSAA state championship. A state champion on the Boca Raton swimming team, Nordheim is making his second straight appearance on All-County water polo.
Girls Water Polo: Julia Allen, Boca Raton
Allen scored 79 goals with 23 assists and 37 steals in her junior campaign to help the Bobcats compile a 13-8 overall record. Boca Raton made the deepest FHSAA state tournament run of any local girls water polo program in reaching the second round. The Bobcats also won a district championship. Allen is The Post's reigning girls water polo Player of the Year.
Boys Weightlifting: Bobby Smith, Boynton Beach
Fifth-place in 2A Traditional 199-pound division with lift of 610; Region champion and third place in Traditional and Olympic lifts; District champion and runner-up in Traditional and Olympic lifts.
Boys Bowling: Nicholas Buckvar, Park Vista
Buckvar, a senior, shined brightest on the state's biggest stage, surging to a state runner-up finish with four consecutive wins as the tournament's No. 4 seed. He also led Park Vista to the District 14 championship with a team-best score of 589.
Girls Bowling: Charley Korb, Somerset-Canyons
Korb, a senior, was historic in 2022, setting the Palm Beach County single-season record average (224.61). She powered Somerset-Canyons to a team win at the Palm Beach County Championships and the District 14 tournament, where she posted a team-best score of 667. Korb was the county's top qualifier in the state knockout rounds as the No. 9 overall seed. Somerset-Canyons won three team matches at state.
Boys Golf: Jack Quinn, FAU
Since moving to FAU High, Quinn's instant impact can't go unnoticed. A 2-under 70 at Class 1A states meant the junior clinched the individual championship and the Owls' first team state championship for any sport in school history. Be it 3A or 1A, the Dwyer transfer made postseason success look easy with impressive rounds in districts and regionals, finishing third and tying for first, respectively.
Girls Golf: Amelie Phung, FAU
The sophomore's score of 68 was the lowest round out of all Palm Beach County golfers to compete in an FHSAA state series tournament, seeing Phung place second in Class 1A, narrowly missing the individual championship by four strokes. FAU High's team district championship at Winston Trails Golf Club was sealed by another impressive 68 and a first-place finish for Phung.
Boys Swimming: Diego Balbi, Saint Andrew's
Balbi was a dominant presence for St. Andrew's this season, earning state runner-up in 100-meter fly and fourth in 100 back while anchoring the Scots' third-place 400-meter free relay. The junior also was a region champion in the 100 back, 100 fly and 400 free relay while finishing runner-up in the 200-meter free relay. Balbi set the county championship record in the 100 fly (47.36).
Girls Swimming: Aly Bozzuto, King's Academy
Bozzuto was a two-time state champion in the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter medley relay while taking state runner-up in the 200 free relay and 100 breaststroke. At regionals, the junior dominated with individual wins in the 100 breaststroke and 50 free while leading the Lions to victories in the 200 free and 200 medley relays. Bozzuto was the only individual to win two events at the Palm Beach County Championships (50 free, 100 breaststroke).
Superlative Award Winners
Team of the Year: Spanish River softball
Coach of the Year: Fred Ross, Dwyer boys basketball
Boys Athlete of the Year: Markus Ekstrand, American Heritage-Delray boys tennis
Girls Athlete of the Year: Emma O'Day, Boca Raton girls cross country, track and field
Courage Award recipient: Damarion Alberic, Atlantic
School Spirit: Somerset Academy-Canyons
Check back for updates, including photos, videos and more from the awards show!
Eric J. Wallace is deputy sports editor for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at ejwallace@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County High School Sports Awards: Check out 2023 award winners
