UT Health East Texas Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute Female and Male Athletes of the Year Elizabeth Mahfood of Bishop Gorman and Bryson Donnell of Tyler Legacy.

Once again the student/athletes in East Texas shined bright.

They excelled at a high level athletically, in the classroom and in the community, and the Tyler Morning Telegraph and TylerPaper.com are proud to shine a spotlight on those deserving student/athletes by presenting the fourth annual Best Preps Awards.

Coaches from participating schools were asked to submit nominations based on the student/athlete’s contributions on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Nominees were required to be varsity athletes, have a GPA of 3.0 or better and to have verifiable community service or volunteer credentials of 10 or more hours in the current year.

The winners from each sport — football, volleyball, baseball, softball, golf, basketball, cross country, swimming, powerlifting, soccer, tennis, track and cheerleading — along with 10 specialty awards, were selected from those nominations.

Specialty awards this year included the Heart & Desire and Going the Extra Mile Award, along with awards for Sportsmanship, Outstanding Achievement in Academics, Community Excellence, Top Male and Female athlete, Coach of the Year and Athletic Director of the Year.

Congratulations to our honored student/athletes and coaches. We are proud to recognize you, and thank you for providing a shining example to others in the community.

Also, a big thank you to our sponsors continuing to support these student/athletes.

The winners were:

UT Health East Texas Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute Male Athlete of the Year: Tyler Legacy’s Bryson Donnell

UT Health East Texas Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute Female Athlete of the Year: Bishop Gorman’s Elizabeth Mahfood

CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System Heart & Desire Award: Bullard’s Hadison Fults

M. Roberts Media Award for Going the Extra Mile: Tyler Legacy’s Gertrude Lamb

M. Roberts Digital Award for Outstanding Achievement in Academics: Troup’s Marigold Hunter

CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System Award for Sportsmanship: Tyler’s Eli Sanchez

The Brothers That Just Do Gutters Award for Inspiration: Bishop Gorman’s Eva Meads

East Texas Professional Credit Union Award for Community Excellence: Whitehouse’s Ainsley Anderson

Peters Autosports Coach of the Year: Bullard’s Tim Moore

Peters Autosports Athletic Director of the Year: Troup’s John Eastman

Altra Federal Credit Union Award for Football: Tyler’s Kameron Key

Altra Federal Credit Union Award for Volleyball: Whitehouse’s Paige Cooley

M. Roberts Media Award for Boys Cross Country: All Saints’ Caleb Dailey

M. Roberts Media Girls Cross Country: Bishop Gorman’s Maria Kariampuzha

M. Roberts Media for Boys Powerlifting: Whitehouse’s Caleb Bolay

M. Roberts Media Award for Girls Powerlifting: Tyler Legacy’s Samira Matlock

Texas Bank and Trust Award for Boys Basketball: Bullard’s Garrett Nuckolls

Texas Bank and Trust Award for Girls Basketball: Tyler Legacy’s Rose Rook

J&K Storage Award for Baseball: Brook Hill’s Finn Kaiyala

Carpet One Award for Softball: Chapel Hill’s Kylei Griffin

CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System Award for Boys Track and Field: Tyler’s Markell Johnson

CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System Award for Girls Track and Field: Lindale’s Preslie Walters

M. Roberts Digital Award for Boys Soccer: Brook Hill’s Joshua Collins

M. Roberts Digital Award for Girls Soccer: Tyler Legacy’s Colleen Gilliland

M. Roberts Media Award for Boys Golf: Bullard’s Kaiden Schneider

M. Roberts Digital Award for Girls Golf: Tyler Legacy’s Carly Ogletree

M. Roberts Digital Award for Boys Tennis: Tyler’s Quynton Johnson

M. Roberts Digital Award for Girls Tennis: Tyler Legacy’s Audrey Deatherage

HTeaO Award for Boys Swimming: Tyler Legacy’s Sam Eckert

M. Roberts Media Award for Girls Swimming: Grace Community’s Blakely Roseberry

M. Roberts Digital Award for Cheerleading: Bishop Gorman’s Alexa Strong

M. Roberts Media Award for Boys Lacrosse: Cumberland Academy’s Dustin Miller