{"id":2444565,"date":"2019-05-23T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/williams-lanese-named-senior-athletes-of-the-year-at-ahs-sports-banquet\/"},"modified":"2019-05-23T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T05:12:00","slug":"colbert-williams-lanese-named-senior-athletes-of-the-year-at-ahs-sports-banquet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colbert-williams-lanese-named-senior-athletes-of-the-year-at-ahs-sports-banquet\/","title":{"rendered":"Colbert: Williams, Lanese named senior athletes of the year at AHS sports banquet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.7138364779874\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-306456-908\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Mary Williams, left, and Dominic Lanese were named the female and male senior athletes of the year on Thursday, May 23, 2019, during Aspen High School's annual senior sports banquet at The Inn at Aspen.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"14\">\n<p><strong>Mary Williams, left, and Dominic Lanese were named the female and male senior athletes of the year on Thursday, May 23, 2019, during Aspen High School&#8217;s annual senior sports banquet at The Inn at Aspen.<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1.jpg\" alt=\"Mary Williams, left, and Dominic Lanese were named the female and male senior athletes of the year on Thursday, May 23, 2019, during Aspen High School's annual senior sports banquet at The Inn at Aspen.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen High School senior Dominic Lanese swings during golf practice on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Aspen High School senior Dominic Lanese swings during golf practice on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017.<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Aspen High School senior Dominic Lanese swings during golf practice on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen volleyball senior Mary Williams serves against Moffat County on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018 inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert).\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Aspen volleyball senior Mary Williams serves against Moffat County on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018 inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"Aspen volleyball senior Mary Williams serves against Moffat County on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018 inside the AHS gymnasium. (Photo by Austin Colbert).\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times | Aspen Times sports editor Austin Colbert\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Aspen Times sports editor Austin Colbert<\/strong><br \/>Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/sportsbanquet-atd-052419-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"Aspen Times sports editor Austin Colbert\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/williams-lanese-named-senior-athletes-of-the-year-at-ahs-sports-banquet\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/williams-lanese-named-senior-athletes-of-the-year-at-ahs-sports-banquet\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Without providing any of the in-person drama I did my best to dish out at the time, Dominic Lanese and Mary Williams were named the male and female senior athletes of the year Thursday evening when Aspen High School held its annual senior sports banquet at The Inn at Aspen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The first two years I covered this event I wrote this story from more of a pure news angle, but I\u2019ve become too heavily involved in the handing out of those awards to keep that up. So I\u2019ll write this one from a first-person perspective and maybe explain why those two won opposed to all the others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">First off, this award predates my arrival in Aspen only a month before the 2016-17 fall season kicked off. It seems it\u2019s been a long-standing tradition for the sports editor of The Aspen Times \u2014 that would be me \u2014 and the AHS athletic director to agree on a single senior boy and girl to recognize with the awards at the end of the season. So, last week I gave Martha Richards, who is wrapping up her second year in charge of AHS athletics, my two choices and she didn\u2019t disagree so that was that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Of the two, I\u2019d say the male athlete of the year was the most difficult to decide. We put a lot of stock in multi-sport athletes who have seen a lot of success from season-to-season, and certainly Lanese checks those boxes. It came down to him and Noah Hollander, who I have to bring up here, because he deserves the recognition as much as Lanese does.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In fact, Lanese brought up Hollander\u2019s name with the first question I asked him after winning the award. Hollander was a three-sport standout in football, basketball and lacrosse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere were a lot of great candidates, like Noah Hollander. I\u2019m super thankful to be in the shoes of all those other people who have won it,\u201d Lanese said. \u201cI\u2019m still in awe. I did not think I was going to win this award.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">To recap, Lanese closed out his spectacular golf career by helping the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-boys-golf-team-wins-first-state-title-senior-jack-hughes-second-overall\/\">AHS boys win their first state championship in program history<\/a> for coach Mary Woulfe. He easily led Dru Lucchesi\u2019s hockey team in points during the winter and was neck-and-neck this spring in points with junior Robbie Fitzgerald for second on the boys lacrosse team coached by Tommy Cox, behind sophomore Tyler Ward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I bring up the coaches because Lanese did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cMost of my success came from them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were awesome. Coach Dru has been with me forever and I\u2019m so thankful for him, and Mary Woulfe was awesome and having Tommy Cox this year was also awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Lanese plans to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he hopes to walk onto the men\u2019s golf team. If he does, he would be playing alongside AHS teammate Jack Hughes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/three-ahs-golfers-among-recognized-on-signing-day\/\">who signed to play golf for CU back in November<\/a>. He\u2019s undecided on a major.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I didn\u2019t have quite the difficulty deciding the female athlete of the year, although there were plenty of viable candidates. But the dominance Williams showed in her two sports was tough to beat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She was an offensive workhorse for the volleyball team in the fall, which won 18 games, which very well could be the most wins in program history (the records on MaxPreps only go back to 2007, so I don\u2019t have a lot of easy info prior to that).<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">This spring, Williams wrapped up her fourth straight season playing at No. 1 singles for the girls tennis team. She ended up finishing third at state and made the state semifinals for the first time in her career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt was surprising, but it was awesome to hear that everything I\u2019ve done people are recognizing. It was really cool,\u201d Williams told me of winning the athlete of the year award. \u201cI get super emotional thinking about it because I love my class and I think we have done great things together. I\u2019m super surprised that out of all of these amazing people that I got chosen for this, but I think it\u2019s so awesome our community is able to be so athletic and be so successful academically, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Unlike Lanese, who obviously doesn\u2019t mind the cold of Colorado, Williams is heading to the sunny, warm beaches of Southern California to attend Chapman University in Los Angeles. She hopes to continue her athletic career in either sport for the NCAA Division III school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She plans to study health sciences and pursue a career as a physical therapist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hopefully none of the other kids, especially Hollander, holds a grudge against me for not picking them. I\u2019d hand out more awards if I could. Either way, I want to say a heartfelt goodbye to this spectacular senior class. It was a tremendous year across the board and I\u2019ve thoroughly enjoyed writing about you these past three years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Class of 2020, you\u2019re up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/williams-lanese-named-senior-athletes-of-the-year-at-ahs-sports-banquet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mary Williams, left, and Dominic Lanese were named the female and male senior athletes of the year on Thursday, May 23, 2019, during Aspen High School&#8217;s annual senior sports banquet at The Inn at Aspen.Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Aspen High School senior Dominic Lanese swings during golf practice on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017.Austin Colbert\/The Aspen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 18:27:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}