At SoMo Sports, we understand the importance of student-athletes competing in prep sports in terms of development, both mentally and physically, for young adults who are preparing for life after high school.
Not only does competing in prep sports help build character, but it also provides student-athletes with tools such as communication, leadership and self-drive that will benefit them as they continue on life’s journey.
With that in mind, SoMo Sports wanted to honor the top athletes in the area who put in countless hours of hard work during practice, workouts, games/meets as well as on their own time by naming them as a SoMo Sports Athlete of the Year.
The Athlete of the Year selections go out to the top area athlete in each sport during the fall, winter and spring prep seasons.
The standout athletes are chosen by SoMo Sports reporters Jason Peake and Lucas Davis, who tirelessly cover prep sports for Joplin and its surrounding communities during the school year. Along with nominations by area coaches, SoMo Sports used individual accomplishments during the regular season and postseason as well as team success as factors for choosing each Athlete of the Year.
The SoMo Sports Athletes of the Year awards will be divided up in three stories—fall, winter and spring. Each sport will have an Athlete of the Year, and if warranted, there may be one or two honorable mentions per sport as well.
The SoMo Sports Athletes of the Year three-part story is sponsored by Cell Phone Medics.
SOMO SPORTS WINTER ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
Boys Basketball
Nickhai Howard, senior, Webb City
Nickhai Howard was a true stat-sheet stuffer for the Webb City Cardinals. A 5-foot-11 do-it-all point guard, Howard averaged 14.3 points, eight rebounds, five assists and just under three steals per game as a senior. Howard earned first team all-COC honors after the season, which ended in a district championship game. Howard is heading to Labette Community College in Parsons, Kansas, where he’ll be competing in one of the top JUCO basketball conferences in the nation.
Honorable Mention: Always Wright, Joplin; Miller Long, College Heights
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lacy Stokes, senior, Mount Vernon
Stokes, a 5-foot-4 senior left-handed point guard who is committed to Missouri Southern, capped off a remarkable prep career with an incredible senior season. She finished the season averaging 25.8 points per game, 6.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 6.1 steals per game on the defensive end. Along with fellow senior Ellie Johnston, Stokes helped lead Mount Vernon to a runner-up finish in the Class 4 state tournament while winning the Big 8 Conference as well as the Class 4 District 12 championship along the way. The Mountaineers finished the season with a 28-4 record and had a 15-game winning streak leading into the title game.
Stokes was named to the Missouri Class 4 All-State team, while earning Class 4 District 12, Big 8 East and 4 State Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year honors. Stokes’ top scoring performances in a senior season that she surpassed 2,000 career points includes 42 points against McDonald County, 41 points against Springfield Catholic and 39 points against Vashon in the Class 4 state semifinals
Honorable Mention: Destiny Buerge, Carl Junction; Kayleigh Teeter, McAuley Catholic
GIRLS SWIMMING
Emma Lacey, senior, Carl Junction
In a stellar end to her solid prep swimming career, Emma Lacey recorded an all-state finish in three events and played a key role as the Carl Junction Bulldogs finished sixth at the Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The sixth-place showing was the best in program history for Carl Junction. A senior, Lacey finished fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 7 seconds. The Bulldogs’ 200-yard medley relay team of Lacey, Skyler Sundy, Sophia Hensley and Chloe Miller finished second with a time of 1:50.
Carl Junction’s 200 freestyle relay team of Lacey, Alanza Montez, Sundy and Miller placed third in 1:39. The Bulldogs just missed another all-state finish in the 400 freestyle relay, as Lacey, Miller, Montez and Sundy were ninth with a time of 3:46.
Lacey, a four-time state qualifier, played a crucial role as the Bulldogs won the Central Ozark Conference championship for the second straight season. At the COC meet, Lacey won the 50 freestyle and swam a leg of two winning relays (200 freestyle, 400 freestyle). She was the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke.
Honorable Mention: Chloe Miller, Carl Junction; Madison Riley, Carthage
BOYS WRESTLING
Cayden Auch, senior, Neosho
Auch, an Arkansas Little-Rock commit, made the most of his final season in what was a storied career with the Wildcats. Auch, wrestling at 160 pounds in his senior season, finished the year with a 49-0 record on the way to winning his fourth straight Class 3 state title. Auch’s 3-0 record in the state tournament came by major decision, fall and by decision in the title match over Liberty’s Wyatt Haynes. Auch, the first Neosho wrestler to go undefeated on the way to a state title since Curtis Longstreet and Blake Stauffer, was also named the Missouri Class 3 Wrestler of the Year.
GIRLS WRESTLING
Annie Moore, sophomore, Cassville
Moore, wrestling at 112 pounds, finished her second prep season with a 34-1 record on the way to winning the Class 1 state title. The exclamation point at the end of the season in the form of a state title was the first in Cassville history. On her way to her first state title and second state tournament appearance, Moore finished with three falls in the Class 3 sectional tournament and went 3-0 with three falls to close out her season as champion.
