Wednesday, May 25, 2022 | 2 a.m.
This year’s Cougars were the best golf team in state history, and it wasn’t even close.
2022 Sun Standout Awards
- Female Athlete of the Year: Aaliyah Gayles, Spring Valley basketball
- Male Athlete of the Year: Justin Crawford, Bishop Gorman baseball
- Female Rising Star: Rebecca Diaconescu, Palo Verde swimming
- Male Rising Star: Yuval Cohen, Palo Verde soccer
- Sun Standout Award: Jenavi Alejandro, Centennial wrestling
- Team of the Year: Coronado girls golf
- Moment of the Year: Moapa Valley football returns home to a state-championship parade
- Game of the Year: Bishop Gorman beats Liberty in thrilling double-overtime basketball affair
- Female Scholar Athlete of the Year: Zoey Robinson, Boulder City volleyball
- Male Scholar Athlete of the Year: Jeffrey Morosini, Durango football and wrestling
- Citizen of the Year: Nykita Rustad, Spring Valley cross country and track
- Hank Greenspun Lifetime Achievement Award: John Kennedy, official
- Coach of the Year: Kevin Soares, Liberty basketball
- Unsung Hero Awards: Marshall Cohen, referee, Kathleen Eakins, transportation, Laquedra Parks, police officer and basketball coach
Coronado ran away with the team state championship by posting a state record, two-day total of 2-under par 566 at Primm Valley Golf Club last October. The previous record for fewest strokes at a state championship tournament was a 24-over-par 600, set by Coronado in 2017.
Coronado sophomore Yana Wilson finished first to win the individual state by virtue of a 6-under 65 in the second round. Two of her teammates, freshman Brynn Kort and sophomore Ali Mulhall, finished second and third, respectively.
Junior Lilly DeNunzio also put up a low score, placing just outside of the top 10 to further help pad Coronado’s margin of victory over second-place Bishop Gorman. It was the fifth girl’s state championship for former Sun Standout Coach of the Year Joe Sawaia, who has led the Coronado program since the school’s inception but never had a group this dominant.
Finalists
Bishop Gorman volleyball
Won a third-straight state championship and finished ranked No. 55 nationally with five players who reached the all-state team.
Silverado football
Went undefeated and prevailed by more than 20 points in all but one game while rewriting the school record book en route to a 4A state championship.
SLAM Academy wrestling
Placed 11th out of 106 teams at the prestigious Doc Buchanan Invitational in Clovis, Calif., the best finish for a Nevada program at the event in 21 years, while also producing six individual state-championship winners at various weight classes.
