The Dallas Morning News handed out 327 awards across 10 sports to players and coaches during the 2018-19 school year. Those awards included Players of the Year, all-area first team members and a whole lot more recognition.
Our normal process is to compile these extensive lists of the Dallas-area's best and put all of the athletes in one spot to celebrate a season before moving on to the next. Those awards stopped with the end of baseball season and the end of the 2018-19 school year.
That got us thinking: which school had the most total members out of those 327 awards that were handed out? We did the math and actually found that out. To up the ante, we also created a points system for all the awards to see which Dallas-area schools had the highest aggregate score of all the awards combined. Think of it as an all-area audit of the school year.
It looks like this...
Player of the Year: 20 points
Individual awards*: 10 pointsAll-area first team: 5 pointsAll-area second team: 3 pointsAll-area third team: 1 point*Includes items like Coach , Newcomer, Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year. etc.Here's what we found.
The year of Flower Mound
After doing the math for the points system above, no school finished with more than Flower Mound's 94. In fact, the next closest school to Flower Mound was Duncanville with a distant 76 points.
All in all, the school had one Player of the Year, four individual awards, six first team members, one second team member and one third team member. They were one of just two schools to place at least one award winner in every single category (with the other being Duncanville).
Flower Mound won state championships in both volleyball and boys soccer this season -- and both were the first they'd ever won in their school's history. Kaylee Cox was named The News' volleyball Player of the Year and two members of the Flower Mound boys soccer team won individual awards -- goalkeeper Landon Leach was the Defensive Player of the Year and David Doyle was the Coach of the Year.
The school had a total of 13 members win awards across five different sports.
Here's what the top 10 looked like.
The most awards per school
The aforementioned Flower Mound and Duncanville each had 13 members win awards in the 2018-19 school year. The only school to top them was Southlake Carroll and its 15 winners spread across six sports. The six sports also happened to be the top mark for any Dallas-area school (Denton Guyer also had six).
Southlake Carroll had three individual award winners, which included ...
Volleyball: Blocker of the Year, Annabelle Smith
Smith, considered one of the best middle blockers in the nation, had 157 blocks for a 40-10 Southlake Carroll team that reached the Class 6A Region I final before losing in four sets to eventual state champion Flower Mound. Smith was an all-state pick and led Carroll with 544 kills, averaging 3.9 per set. She twice had 27 kills in a match, and three times she recorded seven blocks.Girls soccer: Offensive Player of the Year, Taylor Tufts
Tufts did it all for the 6A state champions this season, scoring 31 goals and adding 24 assists. If an offensive possession for the Dragons ended up with a goal, you could bet that Tufts had her footprints all over it. That was exemplified in Southlake Carroll's 6-0 regional final win over Richardson Pearce, where Tufts had four assists and a goal of her own. She'll bring her all-around offensive skill set to Oklahoma next season.Baseball: Coach of the Year, Larry Vucan
Southlake Carroll opened the season 1-6, but ended the season with 18-straight wins, including a 17-0, run-rule win over Fort Bend Ridge Point in the state championship game. The Dragons have now won 30 of their last 31 playoff games. The only loss was a 3-2 defeat to Deer Park in the state semifinals back in 2017.Here's what the top 15 looked like.
Our Players of the Year
The News'had 11 Players of the Year across 10 sports (there was an Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in football). Of those 11 awards, nine different schools were represented. Highland Park and Bishop Dunne led the way with two a piece.
You can read -- and watch YouTube videos -- about all 11 below. We'll list them in the order of when their seasons finished during the 2018-19 year.
Volleyball: Flower Mound's Kaylee Cox
Football (defense): Bishop Dunne's Brian WilliamsFootball (offense): Highland Park's Chandler MorrisGirls basketball: Bishop Lynch's Endyia RogersBoys basketball: Duncanville's Jahmius RamseyGirls soccer: Highland Park's Presley EcholsBoys soccer: Arlington Sam Houston's Jose OrtizGirls track and field: Mansfield Lake Ridge's Jasmine MooreBoys track and field: Bishop Dunne's Cam MillerSoftball: The Colony's Jayda ColemanBaseball: Colleyville Heritage's Bobby Witt Jr.Individual awards
Twenty-four different schools had at least one athlete or coach win an individual award. They ranged anywhere from 6A to private schools. You can see a full breakdown of those 24 winners below.
Four
Flower Mound
Boys soccer Defensive Player of the Year: Landon LeachBoys soccer Coach of the Year: David DoyleVolleyball Coach of the Year: Jamie SiegelGirls track and field Newcomer of the Year: Natalie CookThree
Mansfield Legacy
Girls soccer Coach of the Year: Zachary HallakBaseball Offensive Player of the Year: Nate RombachBaseball Newcomer of the Year: Kayden VoelkelSouthlake Carroll
Girls soccer Offensive Player of the Year: Taylor TuftsVolleyball Blocker of the Year: Annabelle SmithBaseball Coach of the Year: Larry VucanTwo
Argyle
Girls basketball Coach of the Year: Chance WestmorelandBaseball Pitcher of the Year: Chad RickerDeSoto
Girls basketball Newcomer of the Year: Sa'Myah SmithGirls track and field Coach of the Year: June VillersDuncanville
Football Coach of the Year: Reginald SamplesFootball Newcomer of the Year: Trysten SmithOne
Anna
Softball Coach of the Year: Lindsey GageArlington Lamar
Boys soccer Offensive Player of the Year: Jasub FloresCarrollton Ranchview
Girls soccer Newcomer of the Year: Alexis NealCoppell
Girls soccer Defensive Player of the Year: Lauren KellettDenton Ryan
Utility Football Player of the Year: Drew SandersForney
Softball Offensive Player of the Year: Trinity CannonGrand Prairie
Boys soccer Newcomer of the Year: Eduardo RodriguezKeller
Softball Pitcher of the Year: Dylann KaderkaLife Oak Cliff
Boys track and field Coach of the Year: Marquis StimpsonLovejoy
Volleyball Newcomer of the Year: Averi CarlsonMansfield
Volleyball Utility Player of the Year: Molly PhillipsMansfield Summit
Boys track and field Newcomer of the Year: Sean SmithMansfield Timberview
Boys basketball Coach of the Year: Duane GregoryOak Cliff Faith Family
Boys basketball Newcomer of the Year: Trae ClaytonPlano West
Volleyball Defensive Player of the Year: Haley HoangProsper
Volleyball Setter of the Year: Madi WhitmireThe Colony
Softball Newcomer of the Year: Olivia WickWaxahachie
Volleyball Hitter of the Year: Audrey NallsFirst team members
Track and field is where DeSoto made its mark in the first team category. All seven of their first team members were either from the girls track and field team (which had six members) or the boys track and field team.
Those represented from DeSoto included (girls team unless otherwise noted) ...
-- The 4x100, 4x200 and 4x300 units
4x100: Ja'Era Griffin, Jayla Hollis, Taylor Armstrong, Rosaline Effiong 4x200: Ja'Era Griffin, Trinity Kirk, Taylor Armstrong, Mia Abraham 4x400: Cierra Wash, Rosaline Effiong, Zariah Jones, Bryannia Murphy-- First-team sprinters in Rosaline Effiong and Ja'Era Griffin
-- Hurdlers Taylor Armstrong, Jayla Hollis and Jalaysi'ya Smith-- The 4x400 boys relay teamMembers: Kevin Modesto, Kennedy Harrison, Isaac Hastings, Chris FordIn fact, there were 16 award winners (athletes and teams) in girls track. DeSoto comprised of six of those. Just look at what they accomplished (via The News' Greg Riddle):
In the 4x100 relay, DeSoto twice beat the high school national record of 44.50 by Long Beach (Calif.) Poly that had stood since 2004. DeSoto won regionals in 44.44, then topped that by winning the Class 6A state championship with a national-record time of 44.24. At state, DeSoto beat teams that are No. 3 (Humble Summer Creek), No. 5 (Duncanville) and No. 6 (Houston Eisenhower) in the nation in the 4x100. ... DeSoto's 4x200 relay team that included three sophomores (Griffin, Kirk and Abraham) won the state title in 1:36.18. That was the second-best time in the nation this season, behind DeSoto's time of 1:36.09 from regionals. ... DeSoto's 4x400 relay won state in 3:39.79, the best time in the nation.
They also dominated the state track meet en route to their fourth straight Class 6A team championship, which Riddle covered in great detail here.
Here's how the top 10 looked in terms of schools and total first team members.
Want to see every single award?
A total of 98 Dallas-area schools were represented in our all-area awards for the 2018-19 school year. You can view a full breakdown of our points system, team members and more by clicking this link. There are tabs at the bottom that show our data sorted by different options.
To view individual stories, check out the links below. We'll list the awards in order of by how the seasons finished.
Volleyball
Player of the Year: Kaylee CoxAll-area teams and players: See full lists hereAll-district lists: See full teams here!Football
Defensive PoY: Bishop Dunne S Brian WilliamsOffensive PoY: Highland Park QB Chandler MorrisMore awards: Coach, Utility Player and Newcomer of the YearAll-area football teams: See full first- and second-teamsAll-district football teams: See MVPs and more hereGirls basketball
Player of the Year: Bishop Lynch's Endyia Rogers More awards: Coach and Newcomer of the YearAll-area teams: See first, second and third teamsAll-district teams: MVPs, other award winnersBoys basketball
Player of the Year: Duncanville guard Jahmius RamseyMore awards: Coach and Newcomer of the YearAll-area teams: See first, second and third teamsAll-district teams: MVPs, other award winnersGirls soccer
Player of the Year: Highland Park's Presley Echols More awards: Offensive, Defensive, Newcomer and Coach of the Year All-area teams: See first, second units All-district: See full winners hereBoys soccer
Player of the Year: Arlington Sam Houston's Jose Ortiz More awards: Offensive, Defensive, Newcomer and Coach of the Year All-area teams: See first, second units All-district: See full winners hereGirls track and field
Athlete of the Year: Lake Ridge's Jasmine Moore More awards: Newcomer and Coach of the Year All-area teams: Dallas-area relay units, sprinters and more top athletesBoys track and field
Athlete of the Year: Bishop Dunne's Cam Miller More awards: Newcomer and Coach of the Year All-area: Dallas-area relay units, field events and more top athletesSoftball
Player of the Year: The Colony's Jayda ColemanMore awards: Offensive, Pitcher, Newcomer and Coach of the YearAll-area teams: See first, second and third unitsAll-district: Check out the full listsBaseball
Player of the Year: Colleyville Heritage's Bobby Witt Jr.More awards: Offensive, Pitcher, Newcomer and Coach of the YearAll-area teams: See first, second and third unitsAll-district: Check out the full lists