The Marion County Athletic Association will name its city and county women athletes of the year next week, an award that dates back to 1950 and included girls’ achievements in 1979.
These awards are geared towards athletic achievement, but almost every winner has shown impressive credentials in and outside of their athletic, academic and personal fields over the years. In general, multi-athletes are considered over individual athletes, although in some cases an individual athlete was so outstanding that he or she was declared the winner.
Here are the finalists for the City Female Athlete of the Year award:
Lily Bridge, Bishop Chatard
Cridge is one of the most successful distance runners in state history. He won cross-country state championships as a junior and senior and received Indiana’s 2021 and 2022 Gatorade Player of the Year awards for cross-country.
The Oregon recruit set a state record (10 minutes, 3.16 seconds) in the 3,200-meter dash, winning the state run as a sophomore in 2021. Cridge won three city cross-country titles and set city, section, regional and semi-state course records. She also broke Indiana’s 5,000-meter cross-country record by 30 seconds with a time of 16:22.81 and placed second at a national competition in December 2021.
Cridge helped her team win four cross-country city titles and one section championship, and was part of four city team titles in track and field. She was named Indiana Cross-Country Runner of the Year at the Indiana High School Sports Awards in April
In addition to her outstanding running, Cridge has been a member of the National Honor Society for two years and has a 3.81 grade point average. She is a Top Student award winner in Theology, Physical Education and Geography. Cridge has plans to continue running and potentially teaching and coaching in the future.
Cierra Lathrop, Scecina
Lathrop, a four-year letterwinner in volleyball and softball, is an All-City and All-Indiana Crossroads Conference player in both sports.
During her senior season, Lathrop helped her volleyball team win a regional championship for the first time in program history. She was named an academic all-conference and all-state.
Lathrop, the student council chair, plans to study nursing and play volleyball at Muskingum University, a Division III program in Ohio.
Dani Newport, Covenant Christian
Newport is a standout alternate sportsman with volleyball and tennis. She was named an all-city player as a junior and senior in volleyball and as a senior in tennis.
Newport, a member of the National Honor Society, led her team to a junior section title and junior and senior tennis section titles. She set program records for kills in a set (10), kills per set (3.33), career kills per match (10.44), and had 1,117 career kills, 736 digs, 76 blocks including 407 kills, 273 Digs and 24 blocks as a senior.
Newport’s volleyball honors have included all-district honors in 2021 and 2022, 2021 all-state sophomore honors, and team MVP as a junior and senior. She was named an All-Conference as a senior and an NCSAA First Team All-American as a senior.
Newport plans to study entrepreneurship at Indiana University.
Call Star Reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
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