Athletes from six area schools honored at annual event

By Phil Blackwell

sports editor

At the culmination of another memorable high school sports season, the best performers in the classroom and on the field in 2017-18 were honored last Monday night at the Section III Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner.

Held at SRC Arena, the dinner was for the top male and female scholar-athletes that each of Section III’s 105 schools nominated.  Together, they were presented with more than $20,000 in scholarships. Since the program started in 1988, more than 3,300 students have been honored.

To be eligible, student-athletes need to maintain a grade average of 90 or better, and have participated in varsity competition, though other factors such as community service, exemplary citizenship or other extracurricular activities are taken into consideration.

Thirty-one of the 172 Scholar Athletes are ranked no. 1 in their class and 133 of the 172 Scholar Athletes were ranked 10th or higher in the respective class.

Jamesville-DeWitt had Katie Lutz as one of the honorees, just after leading the J-D girls lacrosse team to the state Class C final four for the first time in program history.

Lutz, who also participated in track and field, is headed to Columbia University, while fellow honoree Luke Smith is going to Haverford College in Pennsylvania after successful stints in football, basketball and baseball at J-D.

Fayetteville-Manlius picked Cady Barns, who won sectional titles in track and field and also stood out in soccer as she is going to Middlebury College in Vermont. Also, F-M picked Kyle Gilroy, a sectional champion in boys golf and lacrosse, who is going to the University of Richmond in Virginia.

East Syracuse Minoa selected Cara Miller, who had stints in field hockey, soccer, basketball and lacrosse and will go to Le Moyne College, and Tyler Hodge, a soccer and track standout on his way to the University of Rochester.

For Christian Brothers Academy, Meghan McKeen and Francis Cannizzo were chosen. McKeen, who was on CBA’s soccer and golf teams, is going to Le Moyne as Cannizzo is on his way to Siena College in Albany, having taken part in football, indoor track and lacrosse on a pair of championship teams.

Bishop Grimes honored Kendall Mancuso, a standout in volleyball and softball headed for Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Joe Knapp, who took part in soccer, bowling and golf at Grimes, was also chosen, and will attend Nazareth College in Rochester.

Manlius-Pebble Hill chose Maggie Sexton-Dwyer, who took part in soccer and track and field, and William Kovarik, who played basketball to go with soccer and track. Both are on their way to Northeastern University in Boston.