The winners of the 2024-25 Tribune Sports Awards have been decided.
Check out page 10 for a full list of winners.
High School Boys Athlete Logan Page | Humboldt
Acing the Humboldt Cubs pitching staff while earning postseason honors in two sports, Logan Page established excellence on the field.
In football, Page was an Honorable Mention All-Tri-Valley League and All-KSHSAA Class 2A selection with 267 total yards and four total touchdowns on offense. He also contributed 14 tackles, three for a loss, and one interception on defense. The Cubs went 10-1 on the gridiron with an undefeated regular season and two postseason wins.
Page truly excelled on the mound, guiding Humboldt to a Tri-Valley League title, regional title and fourth place finish at the KSHSAA 3A State Tournament in Manhattan.
Over 55.1 innings pitched, Page posted a 6-2 record, one save, a 1.39 ERA, .904 WHIP and 94 strikeouts.
At the plate, Page hit .376, slugged .576, maintained a .486 on-base percentage and drove in 35 runs.
“With Logan, I’ve never seen him cower to a situation,” said Logan Wyrick, Humboldt’s head football and assistant baseball coach. “He has a confidence about himself. With him, that was a big positive. We always had the belief that we wanted to throw our best and see what happens. We never wanted to leave bullets in the gun.”
Page was a First Team All-Tri-Valley League, First Team All-KABC Class 3A and KABC All-Star Game selection.
“I’ve coached Logan for a long time and athletically, he’s grown more as an individual and knows how to get the most out of himself,” Wyrick said. “You want to play with emotion, but keep things in check as well. Especially on the mound. He learned to rely on his teammates and he really grew as an athlete.”
High School Girls Athlete Kiley Dillow | Chanute
Never suffering a blemish on the mat while also being a vital piece of a volleyball league championship, Kiley Dillow of the Chanute Blue Comets is entering hallowed territory.
In the fall, Dillow was a First Team All-SEK League selection in volleyball with 157 kills, 52 digs and 29 aces as the Blue Comets won their third straight league crown.
Heading to the wrestling mat in the winter, Dillow posted an undefeated record of 46-0 en route to her second straight Class 4A state title at 170 pounds. She also claimed SEK League and region titles individually.
“Kiley is obviously very blessed with a lot of natural ability, but she also puts in a lot of extra work and effort to be the best,” Chanute girls wrestling head coach and athletic director Nick Nothern said. “She wants to be the best in everything she does. During wrestling season, she’s playing travel volleyball as well. She’s constantly working year-round. That shows in the results that she has.”
Dillow will widely be viewed as the best all-around wrestler in the state as she enters her senior year. She’ll also be a key contributor as the Blue Comets seek a four-peat in volleyball.
“You’ll continue to see the same thing we’ve seen the last few years,” Nothern said. “She’ll continue to have success. She’ll continue to dominate in wrestling and have a great volleyball season. She sets expectations for herself that are very high. She works very hard and she has a natural ability. I set high expectations for her, and hers are even higher for herself. She’ll always compete to the best of her ability.”
High School Boys Coach Mike Miller | Humboldt
Navigating the Humboldt Cubs baseball program through an adversarial playoff run, Mike Miller kept the Cubs in high stature this past spring.
Miller led Humboldt to a 24-6 overall record while surpassing 250 career wins.
The Cubs won their fourth straight Tri-Valley League title while also winning a regional crown to earn a berth to the KSHSAA 3A State Tournament in Manhattan. There, the Cubs finished in fourth place.
It was far from an easy road to get to state as Humboldt trailed in all of its final five games in the postseason — the Cubs won three of them and one of the two losses came in extra innings of the third place game.
“From the beginning, we knew we were one of the smallest Class 3A schools. On this side of the state, we knew the regional we’d get,” Logan Wyrick, Miller’s assistant, said. “We knew we wanted a solid seed. What speaks the most about Mike is when we were down, there was never a panic button pushed. He knew we’d bounce back and scratch and claw. That’s why we won so many games.”
Miller’s steady hand berthed clutch play in crucial moments, catapulting the Cubs to their deep playoff run.
“He gets the guys to play sound, solid baseball,” Wyrick said. “It’s high school baseball. Kids make mistakes. But he helps the kids grow and win games. You saw that at regionals and state. The kids do their things and do their jobs.”
High School Girls Coach Jory Murry | Chanute
Traipsing to three straight SEK League titles, Chanute Blue Comets volleyball coach Jory Murry has turned her club into a powerhouse.
Chanute posted a 26-11 overall record, won the league crown and advanced to the substate title match for the third straight year.
This past fall, Murry kept Chanute among the elite despite losing a large senior class the year prior.
“Jory has very high expectations for her teams,” Chanute athletic director Nick Nothern said. “There’s no excuse-making. There was never a thought in her mind that she graduated a ton of players. Her expectations remained the same. She’s very knowledgeable and knows how to get her teams to win at a high level with the right mindset. Those girls play hard and she’s built a strong culture around her team.”
Murry has become a tone-setter for the Blue Comets’ girls athletics program, one of the most successful in the region across all sports.
“She’s so important. The girls that I have that wrestle and do volleyball, they tend to be pretty dang competitive and gritty,” said Nothern, who coaches girls wrestling in the winter. “They all have high expectations for themselves. There’s girls on my team that haven’t had the success they want, and they continue to get better. But they’re always chasing something greater. Jory establishes that mindset of not accepting mediocrity. It’s fun to watch. Anytime you can get high school kids to believe in themselves and accomplish more than they thought they could, that sets them up for success in the future.”
Neosho County Male Athlete Grant Thackray | Soccer
Patrolling the pipes for the national runners- up, Neosho County Panthers goalkeeper Grant Thackray was one of the nation’s best at donning the gloves.
Thackray, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, posted 110 saves and a .846 save percentage.
Neosho County won 11 games in shutout fashion in 2024 en route to its second place showing at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament in Alabama.
Thackray was a First Team All-KJCCC selection and First Team NJCAA All-American, a critical component for a club that had three All-Americans across the pitch.
Neosho County Female Athlete Kamri Naff | Softball
Utility in its finest fashion, Neosho County Panthers star and Chanute native Kamri Naff was the lynchpin for the softball program.
In the circle, Naff pitched 10-6.2 innings, posting a 16-4 overall record with one save, a 2.69 ERA, 81 strikeouts and a 1.27 WHIP.
At the plate, Naff nursed a .428 average, slugged .697, belted nine home runs and 21 extra-base hits.
For her efforts across the field, Naff was a Second Team All-KJCCC selection for a team that won 34 games and finished second in the KJCCC.
Neosho County Coach Elliot Chadderton | Men’s Soccer
Guiding a team sport to its highest finish in school history, Elliot Chadderton led the Neosho County Panthers men’s soccer program to a runner-up showing at the NJCAA Division II National Tournament in Alabama.
Chadderton also guided the Panthers to a KJCCC crown and coached three First Team All-Americans in Callum Niven, Joe Taylor and Grant Thackray.
A native of Manchester, England, Chadderton has turned Neosho County into of the nation’s elite soccer programs and a home across the pond for budding stars seeking an education in the states.
