A coach once said to me that it would be hard for a player to find much playing time if they only knew 60% of the playbook.
Only knowing three of five plays leaves the opportunity for failure on the other two. In life, that would be a chance for much less success 40% of the time.
In other words, a smart athlete is often a good athlete. And there are a lot of smart athletes in the FDN coverage area, as evidenced by the selections on this year’s Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All-State selections.
In all, nearly 150 athletes were honored in the fall accolades, which included cross country, volleyball and football. Duncanville and Midlothian led the way, each with 25 honors.
Duncanville was the only area school to receive honors in all three sports, with 10 each in cross country and volleyball and five in football.
To be nominated for Academic All-State, a student must be:
*An athlete, student trainer or manager in good standing with the team.
*Of good moral character.
*A senior.
*Have an overall grade point average of 92 or above (including courses from grades 9-11 and courses completed from grade 12). Weighted GPAs are accepted.
Here are this year’s honorees and the status they received from the THSCA. Elite team is the highest honor possible:
CROSS COUNTRY
Duncanville – First team: Hope Harper, Kaleb Berry.
Second team: Aileen Palacios, Ed Rosales, Emily Morales, JeKovan Daniels, second team.
Honorable mention: Alyssa Rodriguez, Christopher Garay, Isaiah Dailey, Jonathon Ortega.
Waxahachie – Mariel Camargo, elite team.
Emma Curry, first team.
VOLLEYBALL
Duncanville – Second team: Brooke White, Deja Parker.
Honorable mention: Kennedy White, Allanah Drayton-Campbell, Keaundra Sykes, Samaurya Mahones, Laila Dotson, Kenadie Tate, Angel Traylor, Essence-Rain Peterson.
Midlothian – Karsyn Curry, second team; Aryn Walton, honorable mention.
Midlothian Heritage – Elizabeth Schmidt, second team; Hayden Brunson, honorable mention.
Venus – Allison Norrell, first team.
Honorable mention: Valeria Huerta, Heather Hargrove, Vianellie Perez, Shyann Lewis.
FOOTBALL
DeSoto – Second team: Dammy Emego, Travis Jackson, Joshua Patterson, Gabrielle Washington. Honorable mention: Jaedon Wilson, Tyree Roberts, Tre Guy, Shemar Turner, Yakiri Walker, Byron Murphy, La’niyah Bell, Jerand Bradley, Emmanuel Cleo-Onyemma, Javin Vining.
Duncanville – Second team: Tyler Quinn, Jeda Harrison.
Honorable mention: Cameron Mitchell, Jermaeya Turner, Tia Wheeler.
Grand Prairie – Jesus Perez, Jr., second team.
Honorable mention: Joel Pennington, Ezekiel Oluwemimo, Juan Rojo.
Mansfield – First team: Bryce Stahl, Victor Gikunda, Jason Tran, Evan Hardin.
Second team: Avery Lestina, James Melton, James Windsor, Chance Stephenson.
Honorable mention: James Blevins, Tyler Burd, Cole Barrington, Akshar Patel, Joshua Glotfelty, Jackson Williford, David Godsey, Ryan Smith.
Mansfield Lake Ridge – Chelsea Dang, first team. Kheana Le, second team.
Honorable mention: Said Abouelazm, Bryan Powell, Zaria Martin, Caleb Smith, Enica Bhandari, Jordan Allen, Dakota Smith, Logan Chisholm, Tyrler Rumsey, Darrell James.
Mansfield Legacy – Joshua Martin, elite team.
Second team: Landry Parlin, Ore Adeyi. Eli Miller, honorable mention.
Midlothian – First team: Jordan McKenzie, Branton Huffman, Jace Martin.
Second team: Christopher Ascencio, Austen Crow, Tucker Lietz, Austin Weis, Jacob Lindley. Max Allen, elite team.
Honorable mention: Mason Conley, Laine Martin, Joshua Bowman, Kaleb Tompkins, Jaylon Palmer, Nicolas Arenare, Ethan Hill, Christian Navarro, David Ramos, Gabe Grow, Will Blevins, Darren Greeson, Marshall Hodges, Nate Dean.
Midlothian Heritage – Second team: Kylie Wimbish, Kenna Standridge, Haydon Wiginton, Carmen Hammon, Allison Bevers, Reese Wuensch, Brock Smalley, Tavin Clark, Noah Gray.
Red Oak – Second team: Joshua Ervin, Darius Jackson, Tariq Ramadan.
Honorable mention: Cameron Parker, Kemujika Okere, Sean Black, Nathan Jackson, Jaylyn Bennett, Charles Walker, Dylan Calahan, Devin Steen, Xzavier Augustus, Raymond Gay.
South Grand Prairie – Second team: Daniel Alvarez, Zuriel Lopez.
Honorable mention: Joe Phillips, Michael Booker, Jalon Williams.
Venus – Second team: Andrew Handlin, Tyler Henrich, Luke Schaefer.
Juan Gabriel Garcia, honorable mention.
Waxahachie – Harvey Melick, first team.
Honorable mention: Jaden Basham, Cade Stockman.
