The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The City of Lakewood hosted its annual Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame Awards Banquet on Monday evening, honoring the best athletes in the city in each high school sport, while also selecting an overall Athlete of the Year for 2024.
Dozens of athletes, championship teams, and coaches from all four of Lakewood’s high schools were recognized, with Lakewood High’s Nyemah King earning the highest honor as the 2024 Athlete of the Year.
“it’s truly a blessing to be chosen,” said King in her acceptance speech, while thanking her mom, coaches, teammates, and other supporters in attendance. “This means a lot to me, it means a lot to all the kids that you guys are doing this, to show that our hard work is getting recognized.”
King was recognized for her excellence not only in girls’ basketball, where she was the Moore League Player of the Year as a junior, leading Lakewood all the way to a CIF-SS title game, but also in flag football, where she was an All-CIF performer for the Lancers.
She joins an exemplary list of athletes who’ve been added to the Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame as an Athlete of the Year, including J.P. Crawford, Travis d’Arnaud, James Harden, Josh Childress, Ed and Charles O’Bannon, and several others. The physical location for the Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame resides in the Piazza Family McDonald’s, located at 4848 Woodruff Avenue in Lakewood.
Other winners include the 605 All-Star Band, which was given the Chairman’s Award. Jason Zuniga was the Special Olympics Athlete of the Year, Lakewood High’s Michelle Kaeka was recognized for her sustained contributions to youth sports, Leona Hobby-Villegas received the Mayor’s Award, and Makenzie Hutchinson was chosen for the McDonald’s Press-On Award.
The Scholar Athletes of the Year were Cayden Del Rosario (Artesia HS), Anthony Heang (Lakewood HS), Izel Ramirez (Mayfair HS), and Olivia Hunt (Saint Joseph HS).
The Larry Van Nostran Future Star Award went to Mayfair’s Katie Cummings, the All-Round Performer of the Year was Analise Martins of Saint Joseph and the Outstanding High School Career Award went to Lakewood’s Cat Calzada.
Soccer coaches Joe Esquivel of Artesia and Alex Diaz from Lakewood were each named the Joe Esquivel Coach of the Year.
Performers of the Year were recognized in each sport, along with Distinguished Nominees. The winners of Performer of the Year in each sport are listed below.
Badminton
Andrew Heang, Lakewood
Anthony Heang, Lakewood
Baseball
Nolan Fox, Mayfair
Basketball
Cristina Jones, Lakewood
Beach Volleyball
Piper Owen, Saint Joseph
Cheerleading
Vasiliki Georgakopoulos, Saint Joseph
Cross Country
JaVonn Chhu Bol, Mayfair
Flag Football
Lexi Loya, Saint Joseph
Football
Caleb Tafua, Lakewood
Golf
Natalia Pe, Saint Joseph
Gymnastics
Katherine Bell, Saint Joseph
Soccer
Merielle Navor, Artesia
Softball
Breanna Ochoa, Saint Joseph
Swimming
Ellie Bartschi, Mayfair
Tennis
Mandy Oliveros, CAMS
Track and Field
Keiasja Carbins, Artesia
Volleyball
Lalelei Hall, Lakewood
Water Polo
Alyssa Valente, Saint Joseph
Wrestling
Kayden Cartee, Mayfair
Ashley Wafer, Lakewood
