The Better Sports Club organizes an annual awards banquet

For what has now become the norm, the Better Sports Club of Arlington’s annual awards banquet was a shorter one-hour ceremony without a seated dinner or guest speaker, held this year at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

The 68th annual event on June 11 instead focused on handing out individual honors. High school seniors and youth athletes from across Arlington County were honored for their overall excellence during competition, in the classroom and for their involvement in the community. Club members and two high school coaches also received awards.

Local broadcaster Byron Kerr returned as the event’s longtime master of ceremonies.

As each winning student-athlete was introduced, Kerr read off their many accomplishments and often added where they will be attending college in the fall.

Two of the biggest awards were for athletes of the year.

• Wakefield High School’s Samantha Stewart was named female athlete of the year.

• Yorktown High School’s Hudson Greene was the athlete of the year.

• The two high school coaches of the year were Washington-Liberty High School head soccer coach Josh Shapiro and Yorktown girls soccer coach Hannah Davis.

The club’s Arlington Athlete of the Year was Frank DeMarco of the Arlington Soccer Association. The Club President’s Award went to Chandler Fox. The Challenger Sportsman of the Year Award went to Jacob Bower.

There were 27 individual awards for high school sportsman and sportswoman of the year, as follows:

Washington-Liberty’s Jack Couture, baseball; Washington-Liberty’s Harriet Shapiro, girls basketball; Carlton Young of Wakefield, boys basketball; Daniela Salinas of Bishop O’Connell, joy; Wakefield’s Natalie Kaldahl, girls team; Nathan Murphy of Wakefield, boys team; Bishop O’Connell’s Molly Weithman, girls cross country; Matthew Pedicano of Yorktown, boys cross country; Ellie Grieco of Yorktown, dance; Yorktown’s Alexis Williams, field hockey; Jonathan Bhojwani of Washington-Liberty, football; Yorktown’s Riley Scheffel, girls golf; Bishop O’Connell’s Miles Woodcock, boys golf; Alana Johnson of Washington-Liberty, gymnastics; Bishop O’Connell’s Campbell Thompson, girls ice hockey; Sam Lukas of Washington-Liberty, boys ice hockey; Libby LaPierre of Yorktown, girls lacrosse; William Clarke of Washington-Liberty, boys lacrosse; Katie Driscoll of Wakefield, rifle; Abigail Litterst of Yorktown, girls soccer; Washington-Liberty’s Joseph Cordaro, boys soccer; Kelly Chmiel of Yorktown, softball; Yorktown’s Rachel Conley, girls swim and dive; Washington-Liberty’s Eli Martin boys swim and dive.

Also, Washington-Liberty’s Gianna Felder, girls tennis; Washington-Liberty’s Nathanael Scheer, boys tennis; Addison Young of Wakefield, girls track and field; Washington-Liberty’s Jackson Nowinski, boys track and field; HB Woodlawn’s Gabby Everett, Girls Ultimate Disc; HB Woodlawn’s Mitchell Blaha, Boys Ultimate Disc; Bishop O’Connell’s Erin Debiec, volleyball; Wakefield’s Nicole Barahona-Rios, girls wrestling; and Dominik Woodard of Washington-Liberty, boys wrestling.

Each honored athlete received a trophy that stated the name of the award.