Rockbridge County and Parry McCluer high schools each honored two seniors as their male and female athletes of the year.
For RC, all-state swimmer Keagan Black was named the male athlete of the year, while lacrosse and basketball player Lola Mulitalo was selected female athlete of the year. PM named football and basketball player Nathan Glass as its male athlete of the year, while volleyball player Kadence Zollman was chosen as the Blues’ female athlete of the year.
Black was the Shenandoah District champion in the 100-yard backstroke, helping the RC boys win the team title. He was also on two relay teams, the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard medley, that won district titles. At the Region 3C meet, where the RC boys placed fourth, Black placed second in both the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly. He then earned all-state honors by placing in the top six in both races at the Class 3 state meet, finishing fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and fifth in the 100-yard butterfly. The RC boys tied for 12th place at the state meet. Last November, Black signed a national letter of intent to continue his academic and swimming career locally for Division I school Virginia Military Institute.
Mulitalo is an all-region firstteam attacker for the RC girls lacrosse team, which won its sixth consecutive Region 4D title by defeating Salem 22-2 on Tuesday of last week. The Wildcats improved to 17-1 after taking down Loudoun Valley 20-5 in the Class 4 state quarterfinals on Friday, with Mulitalo scoring a career-high nine goals. The Wildcats were scheduled to face Western Albemarle in the state semifinals last night in Crozet. Through the regional tournament this season, Mulitalo had scored 54 goals and dished out 17 assists while collecting 12 ground balls and logging 10 caused turnovers. She holds the all-time points record for the Wildcats.
This past winter, Mulitalo played basketball for the Wildcats, helping the girls go 9-16 overall and 7-9 in the Shenandoah District. They advanced to the Region 3C tournament, making back-to-back regional tournament appearances for the first time in program history, before falling at East Rockingham in the first round. Mulitalo, a starting forward, was an all-district first-team and all-region selection. She led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.6 points per game and 14.5 rebounds. Last November, Mulitalo signed to continue her academic and lacrosse career at Division I school Kennesaw State University in Georgia.
Glass was the starting quarterback and a punter for the PM football team and was a starting forward for the basketball team. For the football team, Glass threw a 95-yard touchdown pass to Javion Dunn, breaking a 48-year-old school record for the longest pass, last September. He was an alldistrict first-team selection as both a quarterback and punter, and he was named to the all-region second team as an all-purpose player after passing for over 800 yards, rushing for more than 600 yards, and having a part in 20 total touchdowns as the PM quarterback. He was also named to the all-region secondteam punter with an average of 38.1 yards per kick during the season. Glass helped the Blues go 6-5 overall and 2-2 in the Pioneer District last fall, ending their season with a loss at Grayson County in the Region 1C quarterfinals. He’ll continue his academic and football career as a wide receiver for Division III school Bridgewater.
For the boys basketball team, Glass earned all-district and allregion first-team honors and was named to the all-state second team. He was also named to the first team of the Basketball Coaches Association of Virginia All-Class 1 squad, and he was named Scholar Athletes for maintaining a grade point average of 3.25 or higher. Glass averaged 14.7 points per game while shooting nearly 65 percent from the floor this past season. He finished the season as the team leader in blocks, with 28, while grabbing 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. Glass helped the Blues go 22-5 overall and 10-0 in the Pioneer District. PM won the district tournament and was the runner-up in the Region 1C tournament before ending its season with a loss to Patrick Henry-Glade Spring in the Class 1 state quarterfinals.
Zollman was a middle blocker for the Blues’ volleyball team. She was named to the all-district first team and led the Blues to a 13-13 record, including a 6-4 mark that landed them in third place in the Pioneer District. Zollman will continue her academic and volleyball career at Division III school Shenandoah University.
