Let’s start with the often overlooked “small schools” first.

St. David, Valley Union, Green Fields, Tohono O’Odham and St. Augustine each played well enough to qualify for the post season. Of these teams, St. David gets the least recognition yet they earned a 4 seed and made it to the D-V semifinals.

St. David is located few miles south of Benson and finished their season 17-2. As is the case with many small schools, there is always a star that standouts out in every sport – Tarryn Lee is that player.

Green Fields coach Angela Vande Mheen earned coach of the year honors. She led her team to only one loss (St. David) in the regular season.

Thatcher was the team from Southern Arizona in D-IV action and Willcox showed promise as a 2 seed.

Thatcher took their top seed all the way to the state title match where they lost in five sets. Willcox, unfortunately, was upset in the first round.

If Thatcher’s Katelynn Rowan played in Tucson she would probably be in the mix for player of the year regardless of school size.

D-III is all about Catalina and the work put in by coach Heather Moore-Martin. Her team finished undefeated in her section and earned a runner up finish at state. Moore-Martin lists senior libero Courtney Pitts as her top player and who am I to argue with that?

Pitts will play for Pima next year.

D-II was the most difficult. Cienega, Mountain View, Salpointe, Sabino and Ironwood Ridge all made it to post season and all of them lost in the first round.

The 20 players I have listed could easily be thrown into a hat and moved from one team to another and it would still be fair. And, there were many, many more athletes to choose from. It was, for my money the hardest group to pick from.

Lindsay Kaiser-Baeder coached Mountain View to the highest seed and got the most out of a team that is usually not in the mix when people talk about volleyball. There are many big-name coaches in this division and they selected her as their coach of the year also.

The coaches also picked Sabino senior hitter Hannah Rebb as their player of the year. I like the pick but I also like the numbers put up by Ironwood Ridge setter Chloe Heinenmann and the complete player in Haley Howell of Salpointe.

Heinenmann broke a few of former Nighthawk setter Christina Solverson’s records and Salpointe standout Howell is the hands on favorite to take top honors next year alone due to the setting, passing, hitting and digging duties she displayed this year.

As Catalina was to D-III, Rincon/University High was to D-I.

Rincon was the only D-I & D-II team to make it past the first round at state. Leading the way was senior setter Molly Ragan. Almost every person who emailed me included Ragan on their ballot and with good reason and coming in very close was her teammate Taylor Reiter. Reiter is only a sophomore and next year belongs to her and Howell.

Ragan and Pitts are my choices for Co-Players of the Year and Catalina coach Moore-Martin takes home the Coach of the Year award for Southern Arizona.

It’s not clear which all-star teams the AIA will recognize this year since they came out with their own poll but the Arizona Republic released their own All-Arizona selections also.

No player from Southern Arizona made the All-Arizona team but several made the divisional teams. I have listed the All-Arizona selections first, followed by the All-Southern Arizona and then the rest of the Southern Arizona Fall All-Stars.

Football comes out this week.

ARIZONA REPUBLIC ALL-STATE

D-I
Honorable Mention
Molly Ragan, Rincon/UHS
Taylor Reiter, Rincon/UHS

D-II
Second Team
Hannah Rebb, Sabino
Haley Howell, Salpointe

Honorable Mention
Nicole Castillo, Mountain View
Emily Christiansen, Salpointe
Kayla Darris, Mountain View
Ashley Ellis, Canyon del Oro
Rachel Garcia, Cholla
Mykaela Hammer, Ironwood Ridge
Chloe Heinemann, Ironwood Ridge
Kerry Lane, Canyon del Oro
Alexis MacKlin, Sabino
Stephanie Mendivil, Cienega
Lauren Parrott, Cienega

D-II
First Team
Courtney Pitts, Catalina

Second Team
Jazmin Rogers, Palo Verde
Madison Irwin, Catalina

Honorable Mention
Jordan Abalos, Safford
Nykole Adun, Catalina
Analyse Angle, Safford
Jamie Holliday, Sahuaro
Demetry Streit, Sahuarita
Misaely Valenzuela, Rio Rico

D-IV
First Team
Katelynn Rowan, Thatcher

Second Team
Mandi Stewart, Thatcher

Honorable Mention
Camille Christensen, Thatcher
Karlea Fleming, Willcox
Taylor Paulsen, Tanque Verde
Kelsey Smith, Thatcher

D-V
First Team
Tarryn Lee, St. David

Second Team
Ariana Zamora, Valley Union

Honorable Mention
Kortney Haines, Valley Union
Amorette Jacquez, St. David
Lauren McMillen, Desert Christian
Megan McMillen, Desert Christian
Danielle Smith, Academy of Tucson
Chelsea Stover, St. David
Alyssa Yoshino, Green Fields

ALL-SOUTHERN ARIZONA

Co-Players of the Year
Molly Ragan, Rincon/UHS
Courtney Pitts, Catalina

Coach of the Year
Heather Moore-Martin, Catalina

First Team
Taylor Reiter, Rincon/UHS
Molly Ragan, Rincon/UHS
Chloe Heinenmann, Ironwood Ridge
Mykaela Hammer, Ironwood Ridge
Stephanie Mendivil, Cienega
Hannah Rebb, Sabino
Haley Howell, Salpointe
Ashley Ellis, Canyon Del Oro
Madison Irwin, Catalina
Kassidy Crawford, Sahuaro

Second Team
Nykole Adun, Catalina
Rachael Ritter, Catalina
Kaley Morey, Rincon/UHS
Nadia Schutt, Rincon/UHS
Jessica Hoffmann, Ironwood Ridge
Abby Reuland, Salpointe
Katie Rudolphi, Santa Rita
Katelynn Rowan, Thatcher
Jazmin Rogers, Palo Verde
Kerry Lane, Canyon Del Oro

DIVISION I

Player of the Year
Molly Ragan, Rincon/UHS

Coach of the Year
Alysha Ramirez, Rincon/UHS

First Team
Taylor Reiter, Rincon/UHS
Kaley Morey, Rincon/UHS
Maddy Ruehl, Rincon/UHS
Nadia Schutt, Rincon/UHS
Molly Ragan, Rincon/UHS
Jordan Doser, Buena
Leah Chon-Lopez, Buena
Morgan Hanson, Buena

Second Team
Francis Giedraitis, Rincon/UHS
Emily Singleton, Rincon/UHS
Teresa Gomez, Rincon/UHS
Crystal Echerivel, Tucson
Summer Avery, Tucson
Carly Truman, Tucson
Myla Swango, Sunnyside
Viviana Arvizu, Sunnyside

DIVISION II

Co-Players of the Year
Haley Howell, Salpointe
Chloe Heinenmann, Ironwood Ridge
Hannah Rebb, Sabino

Coach of the Year
Lindsay Kaiser-Baeder, Mountain View

First Team
Stephanie Mendivil, Cienega
Hannah Rebb, Sabino
Abby Reuland, Salpointe
Chloe Heinenmann, Ironwood Ridge
Jessica Hoffmann, Ironwood Ridge
Mykaela Hammer, Ironwood Ridge
Haley Howell, Salpointe
Brianna Martinez, Cienega
Nicole Castillo, Mountain View
Ashley Ellis, Canyon Del Oro

Kassidy Crawford, Sahuaro

Second Team
Courtney Spalt, Sabino
Emily Christensen, Salpointe
Lauren Parrott, Cienega
Alexis MacKlin, Sabino
Kristen Hains, Mountain View
Erin Hohenstein, Ironwood Ridge
Kayla Darris, Mountain View
Kerry Lane, Canyon Del Oro
Elizabeth Mata, Flowing Wells
Lauren Franz, Catalina Foothills

Sarah Sterns, Sahuaro

DIVISION III

Player of the Year
Courtney Pitts, Catalina

Coach of the Year
Heather Moore-Martin, Catalina

First Team
Jazmin Rogers, Palo Verde
Katie Rudolphi, Santa Rita
Courtney Pitts, Catalina
Madison Irwin, Catalina
Nykole Adun, Catalina
Rachael Ritter, Catalina
Rowan Bond, Amphitheater

Second Team
Courtney Buller, Empire
Carissa Frisinger, Santa Rita
Jacque Carlson, Catalina
Carla Dollopac, Catalina
Jordan Abalos, Safford
Haley Benson, Pusch Ridge
Demetry Streit, Sahuarita
Kimberly Hunt, Palo Verde

DIVISION IV

Player of the Year
Katelynn Rowan, Thatcher

Coach of the Year
Krista Brown, Thatcher

First Team
Taylor Paulsen, Tanque Verde
Katelynn Rowan, Thatcher
Mandi Stewart, Thatcher
Nikki Dunlap, Willcox
Marjorie Estavillo, Willcox
Karlea Fleming, Willcox
Lauren Pernu, Tanque Verde

Second Team
Kendra Behr, Benson
Audra Lopez, Bisbee
Vanessa Ruiz, Tanque Verde
Clary Cunningham, Willcox
Megan Earnest, Bisbee
Shauna Judd, Benson

DIVISION V

Player of the Year
Tarryn Lee, St. David

Coach of the Year
Angela Vande Mheen, Green Fields

First Team
Ariana Zamora, Valley Union
Alyssa Yoshino, Green Fields
Tarryn Lee, St. David
Maya Holzman, Green Fields
Kylee Jones, Duncan
Danielle Smith, Academy of Tucson
Carmen De La Cruz, Valley Union

Second Team
Chelsey Stover, St. David
Kayla Bradford, St. David
Mariela Encinas, St. Augustine
Kortney Haines, Valley Union
Amorette Jacquez, St. David
Lauren McMillen, Desert Christian
Megan McMillen, Desert Christian

SOUTHERN ARIZONA FALL ALL-STARS:

SWIM
http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2011/11/19/2011-boys-swim-dive-all-stars/

http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2011/11/19/2011-girls-swim-dive-all-stars/

CROSS COUNTRY
http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2011/11/16/2011-girls-cross-country-all-stars/

http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2011/11/14/2011-boys-cross-country-all-stars/

GOLF
http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2011/11/13/2011-12-southern-arizona-golf-all-stars/

SOCCER
http://tucsoncitizen.com/highschoolsports/2011/12/01/2011-d-iv-soccer-all-stars/

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