Three Hamilton County basketball players are among the 69 Indiana high school seniors — 36 boys and 33 girls – that have been chosen as first-team Academic All-State for 2023 by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, it was announced Thursday.
University’s Andre Ozlowski and Westfield’s Alex Romack were both named to the Boys First Team, while University’s Kelsey DuBois was named to the Girls First Team.
In addition, 234 more boys and 247 more girls were recognized as honorable mention Academic All-State for 2023, IBCA executive director Marty Johnson said. In total, 550 players received some level of recognition in this year’s IBCA Academic All-State program.
Hamilton County’s Boys Honorable Mention players are Sam Bishop (Westfield), Maddox Bohland (Hamilton Heights), Anthony Ferrucci (Guerin Catholic), Jake Griffin (Carmel), Colin Kuhn (Hamilton Heights), Matthew Naas (Westfield), Logan Reinhart (Carmel), Ty Sanders (Guerin Catholic), James Stasey (Fishers), Reph Stevenson (Hamilton Southeastern), Cooper Vondersaar (Hamilton Heights) and Aidan Zimmer (Fishers).
Hamilton County’s Girls Honorable Mention players are Teegan Acres (Hamilton Southeastern), Charity Beal (Hamilton Southeastern), Olivia Brown (Hamilton Southeastern), Megan Cobb (Guerin Catholic), Emmrey Collinsworth (Westfield), Maren Dee (Westfield), Brooklyn Ely (Noblesville), Natalie Fernandez (Guerin Catholic), Hannah Lach (Carmel), Riley Makalusky (Hamilton Southeastern), Dani Mendez (Noblesville), Caitlyn Sharpe (Guerin Catholic), Kaitlyn Shoemaker (Noblesville), Chaney Smith (Sheridan) and Lauren Stewart (Hamilton Southeastern).
The IBCA Academic All-State program is one where academic prowess and athletic prowess both are considered in the selections. Items such as grade-point average, academic class rank and SAT or ACT scores are considered along with athletic performance in areas such as points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game.
“The quality of these student-athletes shows that success in academics and success in athletics are not separate entities,” Johnson said. “Rather, in many cases, a player’s success in the classroom directly contributes to his or her success on the floor.”
IBCA-member head coaches from schools across the state may nominate their senior student-athletes who meet criteria that include a 3.5 grade-point average or higher on a 4.0 scale, a class rank in the upper 25 percent of one’s class and either an SAT score of 1100 (on the reading and math sections) or an ACT composite score of 24. Once nominations were received, an IBCA committee reviewed the information and determined awards for first team and honorable mention.
Those selected will receive certificates from the IBCA for their honor. Plans are for certificates to be distributed in PDF form to coaches via e-mail during April for the coach to print. The coach then may present the certificate to each honored player sometime before the conclusion of the 2022-23 academic year.
The IBCA has selected an Academic All-State team for boys since 1973. The program was expanded to include a girls’ Academic All-State team in 1980.