Rush-Henrietta's Lanae-Tava Thomas and Victor's Chayse Ierlan were recognized as the top Democrat and Chronicle's sports athletes of the year.
Give the greater Rochester area's top high school athletes credit.
They made the Democrat and Chronicle's selection for the All-Greater Rochester Athletes of the Year a difficult one.
Rush-Henrietta's Lanae-Tava Thomas and Victor's Chayse Ierlan were recognized Monday as the winners during the Rochester Press-Radio Club's 69th annual Day of Champions at the Joseph A. Floreano Riverside Convention Center.
Ierlan and Thomas, both seniors, emerged from a group of 10 finalists, which included a national champion, multi-sport standouts and history-makers in Section V sports invited to the celebration.
Thomas was recognized as one of the top 15 high school girls track and field athletes in the country by MileSplit USA. She left the outdoor state championship in her senior season with seven first-place medals, including four as an individual sprinter, resetting the Section V girls 100-meter dash record along the way.
The high-honor-roll student completed her high school days as a 15-time individual state champion, and again made Rush-Henrietta a magnet for high-level NCAA Division I college track and field teams. Thomas has a full athletic scholarship to University of Southern California, better known as USC.
Ierlan may have the quirky title of one of the best last lines of defense in Section V history. The Victor senior is a two-time US Lacrosse All-American goalie and an all-state hockey goalie who was the 2018 All-Greater Rochester Hockey Player of the Year.
Ierlan was named not only the Most Valuable Player of a Section V Hockey Tournament for a third time this past winter, but also the top player in the state among the schools in Division II. The Victor Blue Devils won all 19 of the games in which Ierlan was the starting goalie, including five shutouts, while he allowed an average of 1.10 goals per game with a .953 save percentage.
In lacrosse, Ierlan was Victor's goalie each of the last four seasons that the Blue Devils advanced to a state tournament final. Brine MS National Lacrosse also has twice named Ierlan an All-American. The National Honor Society member plans to play lacrosse at Cornell University.
Mercy tennis player Julia Andreach, the first girl at a school in Section V to win a state singles title.
Penfield wrestler Frankie Gissendanner, a national cadet, four-time state champion and the 2017 AGR Male Athlete of the Year.
Spencerport soccer and lacrosse player Erin Coykendall, the 2018 MaxPreps National Girls Athlete of the Year.
Fairport indoor track sprinter and baseball outfielder Mike Sabatine, an AGR team member in both sports.