The Tennessean’s Middle Tennessee High School Sports Awards, Presented by Ponce Law, wrapped up on June 9 at Music City Center in Nashville, highlighting the best athletes in the area.
Athletes from the Nashville area were honored with player of the year awards. The awards show also handed out premier awards for girls and boys athlete of the year, coaches of the year and teams of the year, including a Scholar Athlete Award, the Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kaia Jergenson Courage Award.
Here are the list of winners from the awards show.
Boys Athlete of the Year, Presented by Ponce Law
Cam Blivens, Lipscomb Academy
The Clemson football signee has been named Middle Tennessee Sports Awards Male Athlete of the Year for the second straight year. Blivens was a star football, basketball and track athlete for the Mustangs during the 2025-26 season. He had 63 receptions for 1,086 yards and nine touchdowns and made three interceptions. As a basketball standout, he averaged 23.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, three assists and 2.4 steals.On the track, he finished fifth in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.
Girls Athlete of the Year, Presented by Ponce Law
Kaylor West, Liberty Creek
The Western Kentucky softball signee has already established herself as one of the top players in the state in that sport. But she also developed into a standout basketball player at Liberty Creek West and led it to the Class 3A state tournament. She had 20 points and eight rebounds in the state quarterfinal. This season in the pitcher’s circle for softball, she threw 100 innings, striking out 156 batters with a 1.25 ERA.
Boys Coach of the Year
Jeremy Cooke, Station Camp
Cooke didn’t just guide his team to a second straight Class AA boys soccer state crown, he did so less than a full month after donating a kidney to friend, MBA assistant basketball coach and former Vanderbilt star Ronnie McMahan. Cooke directed Station Camp to a 3-0 record in the state tournament.
Girls Coach of the Year
Warne Riker, Summit
Riker helped engineer Summit’s first state tournament run to perfection, with the Spartans capturing the Class AAA championship for the program’s first title and finishing the 2025 season with a 30-8 record. Summit avenged a regional tournament loss to Brentwood in the state final, winning a five-set classic.
Boys Team of the Year
Oakland football
Oakland won the team’s second straight Class 6A football championship and fifth in the past six years as the Patriots dominated Ravenwood, 62-21. It capped a perfect 15-0 record.
Girls Team of the Year
Stewarts Creek softball
Stewarts Creek won its first TSSAA softball state championship two years after being Class 4A state runner-up. The school hammered Maryville, 10-0, in a run-rule win.
Baseball Player of the Year
Jack Dugan, Lipscomb Academy
Dugan, a Tennessee signee, batted .538 with a .601 on-base percentage. He totaled 70 hits, 11 home runs, 39 RBIs, 56 runs and 27 stolen bases.
Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Presented by Upshot Nashville
Ty Cobb, Upperman
Cobb is a two-time Mr. Basketball winner in Class 3A. He was named the Gatorade Tennessee Boys Basketball Player of the Year after guiding Upperman to the 3A state semifinals. He averaged 29 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Presented by Upshot Nashville
Cecilie Brandimore, Franklin
Brandimore, a Missouri signee and Class 4A Miss Basketball finalist, averaged 23 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. Her most impressive game came against Oakland when she set a school single-game record with 57 points.
Boys Bowler of the Year
Westyn Griffin, Siegel
Griffin led Siegel to its first team championship. In the individual tournament, he had a six-game average of 234, earning the No. 1 seed in the stepladder finals then bowled a 175 to bring home the Division I crown.
Girls Bowler of the Year
Jessica McClintock, Lipscomb Academy
McClintock had a stellar sophomore season, capturing the Division II state championship, bowling a 176 in the championship match. She also helped Lipscomb Academy capture the Division II team state title.
Boys Cross-Country Runner of the Year
Asher Oates, Independence
For the second straight year, Asher has been named our All-Midstate boys cross-country runner of the year. Oates finished as Class AAA state runner-up in a time of 15 minutes and 14.31 seconds this year.
Girls Cross-Country Runner of the Year
Lauren Banovac, Brentwood
In her fourth, and final, TSSAA Class AAA state meet, Banovac captured the state championship, running in a time of 17 minutes, 17.15 seconds. She was nearly 10 seconds faster than the state runner-up.
Offensive Football Player of the Year
Jared Curtis, Nashville Christian
The Vanderbilt signee threw for 2,073 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 614 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was named both Division II-A Mr. Football and Gatorade Tennessee Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Defensive Football Player of the Year
Zach Groves, East Robertson
Groves, a four-star Tennessee signee and the Class 2A Mr. Football recipient, recorded 77 tackles, 14 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception.
Boys Golfer of the Year
Walker Webb, FRA
Webb won the Division II-A golf individual title with a 10-under 134, the lowest score of any division at the championship. The Iowa State commitment’s final-round 65 tied a school record and ranked as the fourth-lowest round in TSSAA state tournament history.
Girls Golfer of the Year
Poppy Pewitt, Dickson County
Pewitt won the Class AA state tournament, finishing even-par 140. She also captured district and region tournament championships, while averaging 73.4 per 18 holes for the season.
Hockey Player of the Year, Presented by the Nashville Predators
Bingston Soundara, Nolensville
Soundara repeated as our hockey player of the year award. Soundara was a rock in net, being named an All-Star starter after allowing 34 goals on 467 shots with one shutout this season.
Boys Lacrosse Player of the Year
Cooper Rice, Ensworth
Rice was an elite offensive player during Ensworth’s run to the Division II-A state championship. The Mercer commitment and All-State selection scored 64 goals and added 24 assists for a total of 88 points.
Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year
Abigail Ellis, Father Ryan
The Ohio State signee finished the season with 47 goals, 32 assists, an impressive 138 draw controls, 47 ground balls and caused 41 turnovers.
Boys Soccer Player of the Year
Ryan Hendon, Station Camp
Hendon guided the Bison to a second straight TSSAA state championship as Station Camp knocked off South-Doyle for the title. Hendon finished the season with 49 goals and seven assists.
Girls Soccer Player of the Year
Summer Riley, Summit
Riley, a Florida commitment and District 10-AAA Player of the Year, scored 43 goals and recorded nine assists.
Softball Player of the Year
Avary Stockwell, Green Hil
The Tennessee signee wins her second straight softball player of the year award. She batted .548 with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 20 home runs and 78 RBIs.
Boys Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Year
Hutch Paxton, MBA
Paxton placed second in the 100 butterfly at the TISCA state championships with a time of 47.21 seconds and won the state title in the 100 free with a time of 44.34.
Girls Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Year
Bryce Winzenread, Homeschool
Winzenread will compete at the college level in the Big 10 conference at Indiana University. She placed second in the 200 individual medley at the state championships with a time of 2:01.94. She followed that with a state title in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:00.63.
Boys Tennis Player of the Year
Elliott Parker, Hume-Fogg
Parker rolled to a straight-sets victory in the Class A boys singles state championship, beating Lakeland Prep’s Bram Maslowski, 6-0, 6-0.
Girls Tennis Player of the Year
Brooke Franklin, FRA
The sophomore has a career 50-0 record combined. She cruised to the Division II-A state title, beating two-time defending state champ Ivana Petkova of Lausanne with a 6-2, 6-1 score.
Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year
Mac McFarland, CPA
McFarland captured the DII-AA boys decathlon with 7,151 points, 248 points better than the state runner-up. He placed first in the pole vault and discus, finished second in the 100, 110 hurdles and high jump and took third in the 400 and long jump in the decathlon events.
Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year
Chyna Harris-Rucker, Pearl-Cohn
Harris-Rucker took home three individual state championships for the Firebirds and helped her team claim the Class A team title with 88 points. She claimed first in the 100-meter dash, the 200 and 400.
Volleyball Player of the Year
Maggie Kalisz, Summit
Kalisz, a Tulane signee, finished with 388 kills, 47 blocks and 58 aces while helping Summit capture the program’s first Class AAA state title.
Boys Wrestler of the Year, Presented by the United States Marine Corps
Zach Little, Summit
Little was named The Daily Herald’s 2025-26 Boys Wrestler of the Year in Columbia after claiming the Class AA 157-pound state championship, his second consecutive state title. The Appalachian State signee went 49-5.
Girls Wrestler of the Year, Presented by the United States Marine Corps
Mariana Bowen, West Creek
Bowen won her fourth TSSAA girls state championship, this time in the 138-pound weight class. She is only the sixth female in state history to win four. She went 27-0 as a senior and didn’t lose a match as a junior or senior.
Kaia Jergenson Courage Award, Presented by Southeast Financial Credit Union
Jayden Bailey, Lebanon
Jayden Bailey, a 17-year-old student-athlete at Lebanon High School, was a hero to many. And not just because he played varsity basketball with one arm while battling cancer. But also because of the kind of person he was. Bailey was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in June 2022. Three years later his left arm was amputated. He died Feb. 19, 2026. Through it all, Bailey tried his best to reassure those around him he was going to be OK.
Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award
Rick Insell
Rick Insell began his high school coaching career at Shelbyville Central in 1978, guiding the program to 10 state championships, 15 state championship game appearances and USA TODAY national titles in 1989 and 1991. He won 774 games in his 28 years at Shelbyville, including a national-record 110 in a row
Scholar Athlete Award
Sofia Kime, Central Magnet
Kime graduated with a 4.0 GPA and had a 34 on her ACTs, two points shy of a perfect score. As a senior she took 10 advanced courses and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. She’s a member of Central Magnet varsity soccer team and served as the team captain, playing defender, for the past two years where she was named All District and All State.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville area high school sports players of year for 2025-26 school year
About the Author
