Past Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards Players of the Year shined in 2024

Posted by Admin January 4, 2025 Sports

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Few women’s basketball players make an impact in college as quickly as Izzy Callaway has at Walsh University.

After being named the 2023-24 Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards Girls Athlete of the Year in June, Callaway arrived on campus ready to go.

She started slowly as a true freshman, scoring 4 and 5 points, respectively in her first two games. But she’s reached double figures in scoring nine times since then, including eclipsing 20 points three times, and is averaging 14.3 points a game for the 7-6 Cavaliers.

Callaway has also contributed 26 rebounds and 19 assists and has made 84.4 percent of her 45 free throw attempts.

The 2024-25 Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards are back this spring with a live show on June 17 at the John S. Knight Center. The show is produced with the support of Meijer. Tickets will go on sale soon.

Overall, it was a stellar year for former winners from the Greater Akron-Canton HSSA program. Here are a few examples …

Tess Bucher, 2024 Girls Athlete of the Year

After a senior girls tennis season in which she went 43-0, Bucher joined the Kentucky Wildcats this past fall as a freshman and went 10-3 in singles play. She also went 8-3 in doubles competition, including 3-0 with Asuncion Jadue.

Lamar Sperling, 2023 Boys Athlete of the Year

Sperling was named Ohio Mr. Football as a senior at Archbishop Hoban. After redshirting his first year at the University of Buffalo, Sperling got action in 11 games this fall rushing for 131 yards on 35 attempts with one touchdown. His best game was against Massachusetts, when he carried 16 times for 86 yards and the TD.

Emma Stransky, 2023 Girls Athlete of the Year

Stransky was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman team in 2023 at Bowling Green, and made the conferences Academic Team this fall. This season, she started all 18 of her team’s games and had 10 points on four goals and two assists.

Julia Gossett, 2023 Softball Player of the Year

This past spring as a freshman at Purdue, Gossett appeared in 36 games, including 22 starts, and led the Big Ten with four saves. She pitched in 31 games, including 19 starts and led the Boilermakers with nine wins.

Hannah Pachan, 2024 Girls Soccer Player of the Year

After being named the Division I state player of the year as a junior, Pachan led her Walsh Jesuit team back to the state championship game as a senior, where it finished as the state runner up. She was named All-Ohio and a United Soccer Coaches Association All-American after scoring 33 goals with four assists. She is committed to Virginia Tech.