NEW ORLEANS (August 8, 2023) – Olivia Pierce, a 15-year old gymnast from Metairie, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for July. Monthly award-winners are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
 
Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month
 
Pierce, a sophomore at Dominican, earned a spot on the USA Gymnastics Junior National Team for Tumbling after a successful competition at the 2023 USA Gymnastics National Championships in Tulsa in July. Despite coming off an injury which caused her to miss six weeks of preparation, Pierce achieved the needed score to be one of eight elite gymnasts selected from a nation-wide pool of competitors. At the national competition, she completed a series of back handsprings and whips (a back handspring without hands), ending in a double pike, as well as a full-in pike. Her tumbling combination encompassed the 82-foot length of the floor, which is six feet wide. Her routine demonstrated a difficulty level for an elite competitor.
 
"Olivia works hard," her coach Toni Mortillaro told Nola.com. "After her performance at nationals, Olivia is officially a senior elite athlete, and she can try to make the Senior National Team and will have the possibility of World Age Group or World Championships for upcoming seasons."
 
Pierce was selected for the honor over six other area standouts:
 

• Rhett Centanni was the top player for the NOLA Cardinals in July. The Cardinals won the AABC South Regional Championship at Tulane's Turchin Stadium and advanced to the Connie Mack World Series in New Mexico. Centanni, who prepped at Archbishop Rummel and signed with South Alabama, batted .395 in the wooden bat competition (15-for-38), slugging .684 with an on-base percentage of .500. The first baseman/right fielder had a home run, four doubles, two triples, and 15 RBI in 10 games played. 
• Gerald Green, a 42-year old Master Olympian in track, broke nine Masters records at the U.S. Powerlifting Association national competition at the Alario Center in Westwego from July 13-16. Green competed in the 75-kilogram weight class (165 pounds) and squatted 518 pounds, bench-pressed 341 pounds, and deadlifted 645 pounds. "I don't think most people believe they can do this at our, well, my age, drug-free at all. I love doing this for children to look up to me. I love doing this for people my age, and say we can do it," said Green, a product of Lower Ninth Ward who now lives in Baton Rouge. 
• Brady Schmidt was the top pitcher for the NOLA Cardinals in July. He helped his team to the AABC South Regional Championship at Tulane's Turchin Stadium as they advanced to the Connie Mack World Series in New Mexico. Schmidt, who prepped at Archbishop Rummel and signed with Delgado, was 3-0 with a 1.95 ERA, allowing just seven hits in 14.1 innings, recording 14 strikeouts. 
• Mia Stolakis, a sophomore on the Tulane bowling team, placed third overall at the 2023 Teen Masters Championships in Detroit from July 22-28. The Worcester, Mass., product totaled 7,365 pins in 36 games for an average of 196.3. She had 1,257 pins (day 1), 1,105 pins (day 2), 1,263 pins (day 3), 1,162 (day 4) and 2,278 (day 5). Only the top 25% made it to the fourth day, while the fifth day consisted of match play. Her overall match play record was an impressive 10-1. This was the 26th Teen Masters Championships which is part of the North American Championships. 
• Jacob Vangilder, who will begin his senior year at Brother Martin in August, won the boys classic division of the 57th annual Louisiana Scratch Match Games bowling tournament July 29 and 30 at Creole Lanes in Houma. Bowling 14 games in two days, Vangilder averaged 209, with a high game of 250, and won four of six head-to-head matches in the round-robin finals to take the championship. The victory capped off a 2022-23 season in which he finished in the top three in three different tournaments, posted a second consecutive top-10 finish in the LHSAA singles finals, earned all-district honors for a third consecutive season, and helped Brother Martin capture an unprecedented fifth straight state boys bowling title. 
• Marcel Volz, a graduate student from Iffezheim, Germany on the UNO tennis team, won the Kahlenberg Open in his native Germany after earning his way into the main draw as a qualifier. In the final, Volz beat a fellow qualifier in Emil Rast in a three-set marathon in Ringsheim. Volz fought off four match points from Rast and prevailed in two tiebreak sets after dropping the first set. Volz won 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) to claim the title in the 20th edition of the Kahlenberg Open. His path to the final saw him go through some difficult players but perhaps his best win of the journey was in the second round. When he coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Leopold Zima who is the 42nd ranked German and has an ATP ranking of 890. Volz also had wins over Adrian Obert in the first round, Noah Thurner (quarterfinals) and 8-seed, Edison Ambarzumjan in the semifinals. 

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has been selecting an Amateur Athlete of the Month each month since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. The 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2024. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.