Who needs a school calendar? The school year is over when the Star Tribune presents its annual All-Metro Sports Awards.
Athletes, coaches, teams and moments: the All-Metro Sports Awards
Here's one more look at the 10 featured winners, who were feted Wednesday at Target Center.
June 29, 2023 at 1:20AM
![The Rosemount softball team takes groups photos before the Star Tribune's sixth annual All-Metro Sports Awards show Wednesday, June 28, 2023, at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. ] AARON LAVINSKY • aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/X6SEZJXPZNUL42SXSTCAVCIPDA.jpg?&w=712)
We've introduced the winners of the 10 biggest awards this week, and on Wednesday we honored them with a banquet at Target Center. It's an annual affair, held in the various large venues in the Twin Cities. We've presented the awards six times, though we've had only four banquets, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The list of invited guests starts each year with six winners who are honored for their results, the wins (lots of them) and losses (few to none): Female Athlete of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, Girls Team of the Year, Boys Team of the Year, Girls Team Coach of the Year, Boys Team Coach of the Year. We choose a Play of the Year — this year that play made itself pretty obvious — and invite those involved. Then we sift through nominations and our memories and choose three athletes whose success went beyond the playing field: Courage in Competition, Difference Maker and Student First.
The invitation list also includes All-Metro first-team athletes and Metro Players of the Year from the school year. Then we invite three other teams: the Adapted Sports Team of the Year, the Dance Team of the Year and the Synchronized Swimming Team of the Year.
About 400 athletes and coaches and their supporters attended Wednesday, treated to a keynote presentation featuring Tyrell Terry, former DeLaSalle and Stanford basketball player who gave up his NBA career because of anxiety.
The 10 featured All-Metro Sports Awards winners:
Female Athlete of the Year: Ella Pagel, Northfield, wrestling and football
Male Athlete of the Year: Hayden Bills, Rosemount, football and track and field
Difference Maker: Fiona Sitzmann, Dakota United, adapted sports
Courage in Competition: Jacob Kilzer, Maple Grove, football
Student First: Rob Htoo, St. Paul Harding, football, basketball, track and field
Six players plus head coach Garrett Raboin and assistant coach Ben Gordon are from Minnesota. The tournament’s games will be televised starting Monday.
