Yahoo Sports As The Star honors 2024 Scholar-Athletes, let’s catch up with our 2014 winners
As The Star honors its 2024 Scholar-Athlete award-winners this weekend, we also continue another long-standing tradition: catching up with our honorees from a decade ago.
In 2014, The Star’s Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year were St. James Academy’s Arianna Person and Blue Valley Northwest’s Sam Guinn.
Here’s what each is doing now and how they reflect on their time back then:
Arianna Person
ST. JAMES ACADEMY
Residence: Olathe, Kansas.
Currently: Pediatric nurse at Shawnee Mission Pediatric.
Family: Married Emmanuel Smith nearly four years ago. They have two children — son Ezekiel is 3 and daughter Felicity just turned 1 — as well as “a bonus kid” in nephew Owen.
High school: Helped lead St. James to a 46-0 season (the Thunder dropped just one set that year) and 2013 Kansas Class 5A state championship — the program’s fourth title in a row. Lost only six times in high school and was named the Kansas 5A player of the year, as well as first-team All-America by Volleyball Magazine and second-team All-America by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Four-year letter winner in track — she posted school records in the high jump and 4x100 and 4x400 relays — and one-year letter-winner in basketball who graduated with a 90.72 grade-point average on a 100-scale.
College: Met her future husband at Belmont University in Nashville — she played volleyball and he football for the Commodores. While he went on to play in the NFL, she went to the Czech Republic to play volleyball professionally.
Sports now: Person says “sports will always hold a special place in my heart, volleyball more than the rest.” She no longer plays competitively but says she enjoys taking part in local leagues and tournaments with friends. She also notes that she keeps up with her coach at St. James, Nancy Dorsey, and even coached the Thunder’s freshman team one season.
Sam Guinn
BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST
Residence: Spring Hill, Kansas.
Currently: Project manager at H&H Roofing and Restoration.
Family: Single.
High school: Won two Kansas Class 6A state track and field championships in the 1,600-meter run. Qualified for the state cross-country meet three years in a row, placing second in his junior and senior seasons. Finished high school with a 4.39 grade-point average.
College: Attended Colorado State for a year and a half on scholarship, then bid farewell to college competition. He transferred to Kansas and graduated in 2018 with a degree in environmental science.
Sports now: Now 27, Guinn jogs for fun and hasn’t competed for a while. But he notes that he particularly enjoys following high school track and field around Kansas via sites like MileSplit.
And he’s noticed something over the past 10 years or so: “It’s crazy how much faster kids have gotten.”
Guinn recalls a recent conversation he had with one of his club coaches, during which the coach speculated on exactly that: “They’re training smarter,” Guinn says. “He (the coach) thinks it started with COVID. You couldn’t have as many meets. Kids would really have to pick and choose which meets they would go to and try to run fast at.”
Running fewer meets, which for some has remained the norm, can mean quicker recovery times — and Guinn believes recent innovations in track shoes have also helped in that regard.
“Back when I was running,” Guinn says, “if you ran a 1,600 and 3,200 on Friday night, your legs would be trashed into Sunday. Now they can run hard on these new spikes and feel OK on Saturday. It’s fun to see.”
Past winners
PREVIOUS MALE WINNERS
1984: Danny Bellus, Washington
1985: Marlon Washington, Schlagle
1986: Brad Hinkle, Olathe South
1987: Jeff Witkop, Blue Valley North
1988: Jeff Drbohlav, Cass-Midway
1989: Tom Kreamer, SM East
1990: Shaon Fry, Oak Grove
1991: Aaron Hodges, Harmon
1992: Mike Wilson, Center
1993: Nate Minnis, Blue Springs
1994: Matt Mendlick, Olathe South
1995: Steve Fein, SM Northwest
1996: Josh Alpers, Blue Springs
1997: Brandon Wier, Olathe North
1998: Daniel Parris, Lee’s Summit North
1999: Corey Crandall, Fort Osage
2000: Tommy Hottovy, Park Hill South
2001: Jeff Durbin, Olathe South
2002: Justin Dyer, Olathe South
2003: Adam Perkins, Liberty
2004: Larry Hall, Center
2005: Louis Caputo, Blue Springs
2006: Aaron Trigg, Blue Valley West
2007: Scott O’Donnell, Oak Park
2008: Riley Reynolds, Blue Springs South
2009: Rick Settle, Olathe East
2010: Roy Wedge, Lawrence
2011: Aaron Thornburg, SM Northwest
2012: Zach Herriott, Rockhurst
2013: Nathan Butler, Leavenworth
2014: Sam Guinn, Blue Valley Northwest
2015: Dalton Schoen, Blue Valley Northwest
2016: Jacob Bohlken, Smithville
2017: Jacob Boyd, Smithville
2018: Jacob Sykes, Rockhurst
2019: Alex Totta, Blue Valley
2020: Hayden Gregg, Staley
2021: Yaseen El-Demerdash, Blue Valley Southwest
2022: Ryan Thompson, Rockhurst
2023: Carter McIntosh, Blue Springs South
PREVIOUS FEMALE WINNERS
1984: Suzanne Meyer, Center
1985: Angela Cox, Olathe North
1986: Gretchen Prather, Liberty
1987: Tricia Lillygren, Raytown South
1988: Lisa Arel, Lee’s Summit
1989: Melanie Ornes, Lee’s Summit
1990: Amy Fowler, Bishop Miege
1991: Amy Cook, Lansing
1992: Angie Popek, SM Northwest
1993: Lisa Petty, Lawson
1994: Lisa Davies, Oak Grove
1995: Lindsay Thornton, SM West
1996: Kelly Andra, SM Northwest
1997: Elizabeth Baker, Pembroke Hill
1998: Lauren Jackson, North Kansas City
1999: Andrea Tietjen, Excelsior Springs
2000: Katherine Hoffman, Notre Dame de Sion
2001: Shea Swoboda, Winnetonka
2002: Jill Tyner, St. Pius X
2003: Tegan Stuart, Raymore-Peculiar
2004: Toni Picerno, Lee’s Summit
2005: Katie Martincich, Bishop Miege
2006: Erin Birmingham, Park Hill South
2007: Ali Pistora, Tonganoxie
2008: Allison Mayfield, St. Thomas Aquinas
2009: Morgan Johnson, Platte County
2010: Megan Yohe, Liberty
2011: Alexandra Keane, Notre Dame de Sion
2012: Lexie Oak, St. Pius X
2013: Cassie Wait, Gardner Edgerton
2014: Arianna Person, St. James Academy
2015: Dorian Bailey, St. Teresa’s
2016: Jenna Gray, St. James Academy
2017: Carlie Queen, Summit Christian Academy
2018: Kate Walsworth, Barstow
2019: Alana Vawter, Staley
2020: Lexy Farrington, Blue Valley North
2021: Kendra Wait, Gardner Edgerton
2022: Beatrice Culliton, St. Thomas Aquinas
2023: Taylor Cruse, Basehor-Linwood
