
Canton’s Ava Dakin, left, and Ryan Weller were honored as Scholar Athletes by the CIAC on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Kim Hirth)
Fourteen area athletes were honored by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Sunday at the Aqua Turf in Southington at the 40th annual Scholar Athlete awards banquet.
The Scholar Athlete program recognizes two high school seniors whose academic and athletic careers have been exemplary, whose personal standards and achievements are a model to others, and who possess high levels of integrity, self-discipline and courage.
The honorees are chosen by the member schools and are submitted to the CIAC.
Emeka Okafor, who won a national championship with the UConn men’s basketball team and played in the NBA for 10 years, delivered the keynote address.
Scholar Athletes 2023
Avon – Isaiah Adams / Tanvi Raman
Canton – Ava Dakin / Ryan Weller
East Granby – Ava Guyer / Kiernan Rudzik
Farmington – Jingang Calvin Chen / Hannah Stephenson
Granby – Alayla Bolduc / Tyler Kroninger
Lewis Mills – Jack Stanislaw / Gabriella Zeller
Simsbury – Gabriel Park / Reece Willison
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2025 and the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.
