Pollard and Nieri named Athlete of the Year

Ryan Pollard and Taylor Nieri were chosen as the two athletes that stood out as being committed to the entire athletics program at Sisters High School. They have each been named Sisters High School Athlete of the Year.

Athletic Director Tim Roth told The Nugget that Pollard and Nieri both had to overcome significant adversity this past year, and were leaders on their teams.

"Ryan and Taylor are both mentally tough students and we were lucky to have them this year," said Roth.

Pollard was a standout basketball player and earned first-team all-league honors, as well as being voted the team's MVP. He was also a first-team all-league pick for baseball, and earned second-team all-league honors in soccer. Over the course of his high school career he earned eight varsity letters.

Head coaches Rand Runco (basketball) and Steve Hodges (baseball) both coached Pollard.

"Ryan has been such a success story in our program," said Runco. "He is a three-sport athlete and true team player. He steps up into any role needed. He developed into a superb athlete, a lock-down defender and our best and most consistent scorer. He finished his senior year as a first-team all-league selection, with a league average of over 15 points, four rebounds and two assists per game. He is a superb shooter that developed into a true scorer. Ryan's consistency to step in any role that the program needed never failed and his potential has few limits."

Hodges said, "Ryan is the ultimate team guy that every coach loves to have on his team. He works hard in practice and he makes others around him better because of how he goes about his business. He is extremely coachable and is a pleasure to watch compete because of his desire to help the team be successful. And, congratulations on your selection to the 4A Senior All-Star Series."

Nieri was also a standout basketball player. Taylor was named the Sky-Em Player of the Year and earned first-team all-league honors, the first time in SHS history for a women's basketball player to receive the award.

In addition, Nieri broke nearly every basketball record, including single game scoring with 34 points, season scoring at 440 points and career scoring of 1,173 points. She also set a single-game free-throw record with 202 this past season.

Head girls basketball Coach Julianne Horner said, "Taylor has shown for the past four years a commitment to sports that is unparalleled. In the four years of playing basketball, she never missed a practice, she never missed a game and was committed to all of the off-court activities for fundraising and team bonding. She was a true leader in her actions as well, and worked hard to achieve every goal we set. It will be difficult for any athlete to break as many records she has set this year."