Here’s who you named Centre Daily Times Boys and Girls Athlete of the Fall Season
The fall high school sports season in Centre County has come to a close, but readers at CentreDaily.com recently cast votes for athletes who stood out.
To be clear, the Athlete of the Season poll — like Athlete of the Week polls — are not scientific and just for fun. We invited people to vote as many time as they’d like. You can look for Athlete of the Week polls to resume soon for Centre County’s winter sports season athletes.
Below are the winners of the fall Athlete of the Season polls.
Boys Athlete of the Season
Philipsburg-Osceola boys soccer and football’s Carson Long won the CDT’s Boys Athlete of the Fall Season poll with 43% of the vote (3,180 votes). Penns Valley football’s Jackson Romig placed second with 2,000 votes (27%) and State College boys soccer’s Owen Hollobaugh had 713 votes (10%) to finish third.
Long is a two-sport athlete and is now a two-time winner of the CDT’s Athlete of the Fall Season, with a follow-up his win in 2021. The sophomore had 20 goals on the season and went 8-for-8 on extra points in a 64-7 victory over Montgomery to end the football season. He went 21-for-22 on extra points on the year.
“It means a lot to me,” Long said of his second CDT Athlete of the Fall Season win. “(It’s fun) scoring goals and kicking the extra points. I usually kick on Thursdays the night before the game and I have soccer the other days. You’ve just got to kick a few balls. You’re coming from playing soccer and you get over to football and you have to kick a few and get back into it.”
Last year, Long broke his father Ryan’s record for assists in a single game. Ryan Long continues to be impressed by his son’s accomplishments on the field.
“He had a pretty successful season with soccer again and at the same time, he was very successful on Friday nights kicking,” Ryan Long said. “It’s a lot — he had training after school everyday with soccer, and some days he’d have two trainings. It’s a lot of coming and going and running here and running there and it’s definitely all well worth it. But it’s all due to his commitment. It boils down to that. He wants to be successful and he’s going to be successful.”
Philipsburg-Osceola Athletic Director Kelly Kephart-Rees said that Carson Long is the right athlete to continue to represent the school’s success in athletics, on and off the field.
“I think that Carson Long is one of our student-athletes who is a role model for younger soccer players and other athletes,” Kephart-Rees said. “He puts the time in during the offseason. He’s a hard worker and I know that he cares about the sport and cares about his teammates.”
Girls Athlete of the Season
Heather Leskovansky of Bald Eagle Area girls soccer won the CDT’s Girls Athlete of the Season fall poll with 44% (9,509 votes) of the vote. Bellefonte girls soccer’s Keira Whitman finished second by drawing 8,010 votes (37%) and State College field hockey’s Ella Tambroni had 1,559 votes (7%) for third place.
Leskovansky was the winner of CDT’s Girls Athlete of the Week poll when she scored a goal in Bald Eagle’s 2-1 loss to Penns Valley on Oct. 26. She capped off her high school career with 11 goals scored in 18 games, along with an assist for 23 points in her senior season.
“I want to be a leader for the girls so that they have the motivation to try their hardest in every sport that they play,” Leskovansky told the CDT.
The expectation for Leskovansky as a center-forward is to hustle and be a complete player from end-to-end of the pitch. She attacks the opponent’s goalkeeper with precision and then doubles back and plays defense to prevent the other side from scoring. On corner kicks from the opponent, she defended within the 10-yard marker to keep the ball out of the box.
She’s started on varsity since the ninth grade and part of a tight-knit group.
“Heather is a very good student, a very hard worker, quiet and a cerebral type of athlete,” Bald Eagle Area Athletic Director Doug Dyke said. “You can see her out there thinking while she’s trying to play. At least I’ve noticed it. She gets along with her teammates — that whole soccer team, the seniors were very close, but I also see the younger kids hanging out with them in the hallways every morning.”
Her father, Mark, has seen her become a better and more consistent player over the years. She’s been consistent with steady leadership, with the senior guiding others by soft-spoken words and a kind demeanor.
“She’s a quiet leader,” Mark Leskovansky said. “She’s not too vocal, she leads by example, she’s respectful to the referees, the other coaches and other players. This last game that she played against Penns Valley, in the first half, that’s the best that I’ve ever seen her play. It did lead to a late first half goal, but it didn’t lead to a win.”
