State Freshman Girls Athlete of the Year Asterisk Talley of Chowchilla (left) is shown during her round of 67 in winning the CIF Central Section championship. At right, State Sophomore Girls Athlete of the Year McKenna Woliczko shows off MVP award in the top division of the 2023 Nike TOC. Photos: Riley Galloway / chowchillahigh.org & Courtesy Family.
To go with overall honoree Sadie Engelhardt, since she was a junior during 2023-24, we have others selected as the best among girls athletes for seniors, sophomores, freshmen and those from divisions (D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5) for the school year. We thought three were clearly at the top and picked these in a way so that all three could be an athlete of the year.
For the full story on our 2023-24 Girls State Athlete of the Year,
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(Erik Boal of DyeStat.com provided the writeups on Teagan O’Dell and Anaya Falcon. We’re honored he helps us with these athlete of year selections each year.)
Congratulations to the following additional girls for being selected as a 2023-24 Cal-Hi Sports State Athlete of the Year:
SENIOR OF THE YEAR (Class of 2024)
Charlie Fuerbringer (Mira Costa, Manhattan Beach)
The 2022-23 State Junior of the Year for the girls steps up to collect the same honor among seniors for 2023-24. Along with junior swimming sensation Teagan O’Dell, Charlie was a close runner-up to cross country/track star Sadie Engelhardt (a junior) for State Girls Athlete of the Year.
Charlie Fuerbringer has kept alive a great recent tradition of Mira Costa having a state athlete of the year by division and/or year in school. Photo: Sports Stars of Tomorrow / YouTube.com.
It was a late start for Feurbringer on the Mira Costa indoor courts last fall after she returned in August from helping the USA win the U-19 FIVB World Championships in Croatia. The Mustangs posted a win over Mater Dei of Santa Ana to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the state and nation. The high rankings continued into the CIF Southern Section D1 playoffs where the team eventually lost to Mater Dei in the title game. The season ended with a loss to Cathedral Catholic of San Diego in the CIF SoCal Open Division semifinals.
Fuerbringer, a 5-foot-11 setter for the national teams, did it all for her high school team. She racked up 130 kills and collected 416 assists as Costa had a 39-4 record. Charlie was the U.S. Player of the Year as chosen by the National High School Coaches Association, earned the Gatorade State Player of the Year selection and was the South Bay Daily Breeze Player of the Year for the third straight time.
Beach volleyball was added as a CIF sport two years ago and as a junior Feurbringer and her partner, Erin Inskeep, were the CIFSS pairs champions. The Mustangs didn’t need Feurbringer to win a second straight team title and extend their team win streak to 116 games. Charlie continues to project as a top beach player into the future, but is now concentrating on the upcoming college season at the University of Wisconsin (a final four team from last season).
Fuerbringer’s senior state athlete of the year honor also means that a Costa girl has gotten one of these statewide honors for the fourth time in the last five years. The list isn’t just about volleyball players, which is what the Manhattan Beach school is most known for. The overall State Girls Athlete of the Year for 2021-22 was runner Dalia Frias and the winner for D2 in 2019-20 was soccer player Grace Watkins.
The family connection we like the most about Charlie is that we once saw her father, Matt, play in the CIF basketball state championships way back in 1991 for Estancia of Costa Mesa. His team won the D3 state title with a win over Washington of Fremont. He’s now an assistant coach for the U.S. National Team competing in the Paris Olympics. Charlie’s younger brother, Mateo, also is on track to become as successful or more than herself. Mateo, 15 and already 6-foot-4, was recently named the AAU Beach Volleyball National Player of the Year. Mateo will be a sophomore this fall at Mira Costa. Mom Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer runs the Mizuno Long Beach club team and has been a head coach of the women’s team at Long Beach State and has been an assistant coach at UCLA.
Additional seniors to get a mention are shown below in the various CIF divisions.
More Junior Athletes of Honor (Class of 2025)
Taelyn Holley (Murrieta Mesa, Murrieta) Softball
Mia Licon (Moreno Valley) Volleyball, Softball
Aliyahna Morris (Etiwanda) Basketball
Jailynn Robinson (Lutheran, Orange) Water Polo
Illicia Ross (Central, Fresno) Basketball, Track
Nicole Steiner (Los Gatos) Basketball, Track
Hanne Thompson (Montgomery, Santa Rosa) Cross Country, Track
Loren Webster (Wilson, Long Beach) Track
SOPHOMORE OF THE YEAR (CLASS of 2026)
McKenna Woliczko (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose)
This is the second straight Girls State Athlete of the Year honor for Woliczko following the one she gained for her freshman year (2022-23). She didn’t play as much softball as a sophomore than as a freshman due to her basketball commitments, but it was more than enough.
Last season on the court Woliczko was improved in all facets of her game. She was MVP of the Vincent Cannizzaro Division (the top division) at the Nike Tournament of Champions in December when Mitty won the title and ascended to No. 1 in the nation after a win in the title game over Long Island Lutheran. McKenna had 22 points and nine rebounds in that outing.
With senior teammate Morgan Cheli (now at UConn) healthier than in the previous season, the Monarchs maintained their top national ranking and didn’t lose all the way until the CIF Open Division state championship where they fell for the second straight season to Etiwanda. Cheli suffered a hamstring injury late in the season and missed more games, including the CIF Central Coast Section playoffs. Woliczko had 30 points and nine rebounds in the Open Division title game win over St. Ignatius of San Francisco.
Woliczko continued to build her resume after the season as she was named all-state first team and was State Sophomore Player of the Year. She didn’t take much time off to head out to the softball diamond, but missed games trying out for and participating for the USA U-17 national team. The US squad won its sixth straight FIBA World Cup gold medal as McKenna had 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists with an 87-57 rout of Canada.
A different California girl from the Class of 2026, Chatsworth Sierra Canyon’s Jerzy Robinson, was the MVP and leading scorer of the USA U-17 national team. Jerzy also is considered by some as the top Class of 2026 college prospect in the nation. At Sierra Canyon last season, though, she was the team’s second-highest honors candidate behind graduating four-year standout senior teammate McKenly Randolph. Robinson also doesn’t have a second sport she competes in like Woliczko.
Mitty’s softball team went to the CCS Open finals after winning in the semifinals, 6-0, over Hollister (the defending champion). Woliczko went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI in that game. She also went 1-for-2 in a loss to Whitney of Rocklin in the CIF NorCal D1 playoffs, but missed the CCS Open final game vs St. Francis due to a basketball commitment. For the season, McKenna had a .380 batting average in 15 games plus 14 RBI. She batted .419 in 22 games with 31 hits and 23 RBI during her freshman softball season. She’d no doubt be one of the top Class of 2026 softball recruits around as a shortstop who can hit with power, but the basketball part of her athlete development is looking like a priority.
More Sophomore Athletes of Honor
Chaira Daley (La Jolla) Cross Country, Track
Ava De Anda (Poly, Riverside) Swimming
Kiele Ho-Ching (Long Beach Poly) Flag Football, Softball
Zoe Jiamanukoonkit (Torrey Pines, San Diego) Golf
Olivia Kirk (Royal, Simi Valley) Flag Football, Track
Leilani Lemus (Clovis) Wrestling
Jerzy Robinson (Sierra Canyon, Chatsworth) Basketball
Haley Smith (Liberty Ranch, Galt) Volleyball, Basketball
Ayla Tuua (Capital Christian, Sacramento) Softball
Jaidyn Williams (Diamond Ranch, Pomona) Soccer, Track
Jaelyn Williams (Eastlake, Chula Vista) Cross Country, Track
McKenna Woliczko is on the right with recently graduated Mitty softball standouts Corri Hicks (Oklahoma) and Lindsey Miller (Kentucky). Photo: Harold Abend.
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR (CLASS of 2027)
Asterisk Talley (Chowchilla)
Phenom golfers or tennis players like Talley often can’t be written up as a high school athlete since they tend to turn pro very quickly in their careers. But Talley competed for Chowchilla High during the 2023-24 school year and we are humbled that the young lady could be considered as the State Girls Freshman Athlete of the Year and that she can now go into our state records.
The huge splash that Asterisk made on the golf world came recently at the U.S. Women’s Open championship held at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pa. Talley, age 15, stunned many in golf by being above the cut line after her first two rounds. Among those that didn’t make the cut was world No. 1 ranked golfer Nelly Korda. Asterisk shot a three-over par 73 in the final round and ended her week in a tie for 44th place.
It wasn’t the first big experience on a major stage for Talley. The freshman took time off from school in April to play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship at the famed Augusta National course in Georgia and finished in a tie for 8th place. Keep in mind that there are college golfers in the same tournament.
Asterisk began the 2023-24 school year by competing as a freshman for the CIF Central Section championship. She shot a 67 and took the individual title by one shot over Lemoore’s Lauren Alaniz. Talley then went to the CIF state championship where she finished in fifth-place in the individual competition.
Even before entering high school, Talley was a two-time Northern California JTNC Player of the Year as a seventh grader and eighth grader.
California golf has a great history on both the men’s and women’s side, most recently shown by Xander Schauffele (Scripps Ranch of San Diego High grad) winning both the U.S. Open and British Open. We look forward to what Asterisk will be able to do in the coming years whether she is eligible for any of these high school athletics-based honors or not.
More Frosh Athletes of Honor
Jadyn Bechtel (Apple Valley) Soccer
Emma Clark (Calaveras, San Andreas) Volleyball, Basketball Softball
Lily Dizon (Pitman, Turlock) Wrestling
Abby Ford (JSerra, SJ Capistrano) Softball
Sydney Rubio (Huntington Beach) Cross Country
Kaleena Smith (Ontario Christian) Basketball
Alyssa Ton (Fountain Valley) Swimming
Saniah Vernado (Wilson, Long Beach) Track
DIVISION I
Teagan O’Dell (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) Jr.
Although the Eagles didn’t need to rely on O’Dell to win a fifth consecutive CIF girls swimming and diving state title in May, her presence in the lineup throughout the season was a major factor in Santa Margarita being recognized as the top-ranked dual-meet team in the country for the fourth year in a row, according to the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.
Teagan O’Dell of Santa Margarita is on pace to end her prep career by being Orange County Swimmer of the Year for four consecutive years. Orange County has historically been one of the best places for girls swimming in the world. Photo: smhs.org.
O’Dell, 17, became the only swimmer in Orange County history to earn All-America honors in all eight individual events in the same year, ranking in the top 10 nationally in six of them.
The versatility demonstrated in the pool by O’Dell, a Cal-Berkeley commit, is even more impressive considering Placentia El Dorado legend Janet Evans was a two-time State Girls Athlete of the Year in 1987-88 and 1988-89, with Newport Beach Newport Harbor graduate Aaron Peirsol earning State Boys Athlete of the Year in 2001-02.
Evans and Peirsol combined to win nine Olympic gold medals for the United States during their storied careers.
O’Dell was seriously considered to be State Girls Athlete of the Year for 2023-24. She essentially was tied for second with volleyball-beach volleyball star Charlie Feurbringer of Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, who is a graduated senior, but behind fellow junior Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura (cross country & track). In order to feature both O’Dell and Feurbringer, Teagan was placed for D1 and Feurbringer D2 and then the senior Feurbringer could be the Senior of the Year. O’Dell also is the sixth Santa Margarita girl since 2011 to be a State Athlete of the Year, including five in the last 10 years.
Katie McLaughlin, a 2015 Santa Margarita graduate and a 2021 Olympic silver medalist for the U.S. in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay in Tokyo, was recognized as the Division II girls state honoree during her senior year and still holds Orange County records in the 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle events.
In her final meet with the Eagles ahead of racing at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, O’Dell contributed to Santa Margarita’s 10th consecutive Division I team title in May at the CIF Southern Section finals at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
O’Dell achieved the second-fastest performance in U.S. prep history in the 200-yard individual medley at Mt. SAC, clocking 1:53.63, which trails only her national high school record of 1:53.38 from last year’s state final in Clovis.
She was also victorious in the 100-yard butterfly at the section final, in addition to leading off winning Santa Margarita efforts in the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. O’Dell produced a 48.37-second split on the opening leg of the 400 freestyle relay to achieve a new Orange County record.
In addition to being the national high school leader for the second year in a row in the 200 individual medley, O’Dell ranked second in the country in the 200 freestyle at 1:43.26, fourth in the 100 backstroke at 51.38, fifth in both the 100 butterfly (51.99) and 100 freestyle, along with 10th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.75.
O’Dell, who was selected Girls Swimmer of the Year by the Orange County Register for the third consecutive season, focused on competing only in the backstroke events at the Olympic Trials, held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. She reached the 200-meter backstroke final and earned eighth overall after achieving a lifetime-best 2:07.97 performance in the semifinals, improving on her gold-medal effort of 2:08.09 from last year’s World Aquatics Junior Championships in Israel.
O’Dell, who also captured a World Junior gold medal for the U.S. in the mixed 4×100 medley relay in September, finished 10th overall in the 100-meter backstroke at the Olympic Trials by clocking 59.72 in the semifinals. She is from an athletic family with brothers who have played football at Bishop Amat of La Puente.
More D1 Senior Athletes of Honor
Alyssa Ahn (Torrey Pines, San Diego) Tennis
Alyssa Alumbres (Vista Murrieta, Murrieta) Track & Field
Kaiulani Garcia (Gilroy) Wrestling
Laurel Gonzalez (Torrey Pines, San Diego) Flag Football, Soccer, Lacrosse
Bailey Hartman (Carondelet, Concord) Swimming
Tiare Ho-Ching (Long Beach Poly) Flag Football, Softball
Leslie Iorio (San Ramon Valley, Danville) Lacrosse
Charlotte Kohler (St. Francis, Mountain View) Soccer
Kate Munnerlyn (St. Francis, Mountain View) Softball
Taylor Schumacher (Esperanza, Anaheim) Flag Football, Softball
Kennedy Smith (Etiwanda) Basketball
DIVISION II
Sadie Engelhardt (Ventura) Jr.
Ventura was D2 once again for the CIF cross country state finals so we have placed Sadie for D2 once again as well. This is the second straight year she has been tops among D2 schools. She also is the overall winner despite being a junior and despite being D2. This did make it possible, however, to honor two other rather amazing girls as a state athlete of the year in the different categories of D1 and seniors.
More D2 Senior Athletes of Honor
Tylie Kitchen (Whitney, Rocklin) Basketball, Softball
Mikayla Pomele-Flores (Oceanside) Volleyball, Softball
Amia Witt (Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks) Basketball, Track
DIVISION III
Anaya Falcon (Walnut) Sr.
There is still more competition for the three-time CIF state wrestling champion before Falcon begins her collegiate career at Life University in Georgia, as she will represent the United States in the women’s freestyle 50-kilogram division at the U20 World Championships, scheduled for Sept. 2-8 in Pontevedra, Spain.
Anaya Falcon was voted the Champion of Champions at the CIF state girls wrestling championships last March in Bakersfield. Photo: walnutmustangsathletics.com.
It will mark the second event this summer in the host country for the 19-year-old Falcon, who also competed July 5-6 for the U.S. at a senior-level showcase at the Grand Prix of Spain in Madrid.
Although the international experiences this summer should continue to challenge Falcon, when it came to her prep career at Walnut, she was seldom tested on her way to becoming the top-ranked high school female wrestler in the country at 105 pounds.
In gaining a state athlete of the year nod, Anaya is the third girl in Walnut High history to gain a similar honor. The first was track athlete Gayle Kellon for the 1981-82 school year in the juniors category. The second was just four years ago in the pandemic year of 2019-20 when record-breaking swimmer Justina Kozan was the State Sophomore Athlete of the Year. Kozan later transferred to Santa Margarita.
Falcon concluded high school competition with a 118-0 career record, including 36 more victories this season, capped by an 8-0 majority-decision win against Anza Hamilton’s Olivia Lopez in the 105-pound state final in February at Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.
Falcon earned recognition as the Champion of Champions in her final state performance.
Walnut relied on Falcon’s dominance, in addition to a 110-pound state title by junior Deandra Meza, to capture the program’s first team championship with 96 points. The Mustangs had placed runner-up last year behind two-time girls state champion Huntington Beach Marina.
Falcon became the seventh female wrestler in California prep history to win at least three state championships, including titles in the 111-pound division in 2022 and the 106-pound bracket last year. The 2021 state tournament was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing Falcon from challenging for another championship as a freshman.
Falcon, who produced her first shutout in a state championship this year, had to outlast junior Jazmine Turner of Modesto Grace Davis in a 7-6 semifinal victory in order to keep her pursuit for a three-peat alive.
Falcon then earned her spot on the American roster to compete at the U20 World Championships by winning the 50-kilogram title at the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s National Championships in April in Spokane, Wash., sweeping a best-of-three series against Iowa sophomore Nyla Valencia, a Morgan Hill Sobrato High graduate and the 106-pound state champion in 2020.
More D3 Senior Athletes of Honor
Miye Kodama (Louisville, Woodland Hills) Basketball, Soccer
Jasmine Koo (Cerritos) Golf
Jameelah Pharms (Stagg, Stockton) Flag Football, Basketball, Track
Noelani Raigans (San Pedro) Flag Football, Soccer, Lacrosse
Olivia Williams (Acalanes, Lafayette) Water Polo, Cross Country
Taylor Yu (Temple City) Volleyball
DIVISION IV
Kaia Diederichs (Colfax) Jr.
The addition of flag football as a CIF official sport during the 2023-24 school year was a factor in several of those being elevated to various honor lists for athlete of the year. For Colfax junior Kaia Diederichs that just meant an even busier schedule than she already was navigating. Instead of being that very rare four-sport athlete in high school, she was even more unusual as a five-sport athlete.
Kaia Diedrichs of Colfax added flag football to her already loaded schedule of four varsity sports. She also competed at the highest levels in everything she did. Photo: Jordan Georgeson / Gold Country Media.
Diederichs, the daughter of Colfax soccer coach Kara Diederichs, played flag football along with volleyball in the fall. She immediately became a star in flag, snagging a reported 34 interceptions during the season to lead the Falcons to the first-ever CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D2 championship game (7-6 loss to Christian Brothers of Sacramento) and a 14-3 record.
Kaia’s best two sports probably would be basketball and soccer, which were played at the same time in the winter, early spring months. She scored 17 points and had five rebounds during the Falcons’ win over Escalon to win the SJS D4 title in basketball. Diederichs wasn’t tired at all. In the same week, she had one goal and two assists in a 4-1 win over Placer of Auburn in the D4 section final.
Later in the CIF NorCal regional playoffs, Kaia had a soccer game in Marin County followed by a basketball game at Kezar Pavillion in San Francisco on the same day. Colfax didn’t get to a NorCal final in soccer, but the Falcons won at Pleasant Valley of Chico to win the NorCal D2 crown. They later lost to Harvard-Westlake of Studio City in the state final. Diederichs had 18 points in the win over Pleasant Valley and 13 in the loss to H-W. In soccer, she went over 100 goals for her career with 26 for the season and has broken the school record for most goals twice.
The spring for Diederichs wasn’t as busy for her as the fall and winter. She competed in several events for the Colfax track team, winning a Pioneer Valley League title in the long jump.
Colfax is a one-town school that goes back to the late 1950s and has never had a state athlete of the year boys or girls. Kaia is the first and she has a chance to repeat next year as a senior.
More D4 Senior Athletes of Honor
Laila Florvilus (St. Bernard’s, Eureka) Basketball, Track
Summer Young (Menlo School, Atherton) flag football, basketball, track (high jump)
DIVISION V
Gizelle Aguirre (Caruthers) Sr.
Before last year, Caruthers High had never had a state girls athlete of the year before in any category. Now, it’s two in a row for the Blue Raiders as Aguirre follows last year’s winner for D3, Morgan Trigueiro, by gaining the honor for D5 (which is the school’s normal designation for CIF sports without competitive equity factors added).
Gizelle Aguirre stands with the CIF state championship trophy after she and her team from Caruthers won the D3 final last March in Sacramento. Photo: Mark Tennis.
Known as the Monster even in her freshman year, Aguirre was a multi-sport athlete at Caruthers just like Trigueiro. The two were teammates in the 2023 season when the team lost in the CIF NorCal D3 regional final to Colfax (which had our D4 athlete of the year as a sophomore at the time). Last season, Aguirre played the role of senior leader on a young, talented team and helped head coach Anna Almeida’s girls to a CIF D3 state championship win over Granada Hills Charter. Almeida was later named State Coach of the Year.
Basketball, however, would not be Gizelle’s top sport. Her accomplishments in both soccer and softball both out-paced what she did on the court.
In soccer, which was played at the same time as basketball, Aguirre scored 51 goals for a Caruthers team that won the CIF Central Section D4 title. She had four goals in the section title game win vs Riverdale. As a junior, Aguirre 37 goals and finished her career with 153 in 72 games. That’s also the sport she will be playing next year at Fresno Pacific.
Not long after basketball ended, Aguirre headed out to the softball diamond and had another outstanding season. In 22 games, she had five homers, 30 RBI and a .443 batting average. Her best season came when she was a sophomore when she slapped out 64 hits with 31 RBI and a .610 average in 33 games. For her career, Gizelle will just miss the state record book with 176 hits, but she goes in for career runs with 191. Her total of 191 also is higher than the previous CIF Central Section record of 187 set in 2011 by Brenna Moss from North of Bakersfield.
The fourth sport that Aguirre competed in at Caruthers was volleyball. She was playing all four sports at the same time during the spring of 2021 as a freshman when the pandemic had pushed all sports into those strange, short seasons.
More D5 Senior Athletes of Honor
Cali Cole (Stoneridge Christian, Merced) Basketball, Softball
Araceli Manzo (Academy of Careers & Exploration, Helendale) Volleyball, Softball
Maddie Yonker (Ripon Christian) Basketball, Volleyball
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
