NEW ORLEANS (June 25, 2025) – My-Anh Holmes, a four-time state tennis champion from The Willow School, and Kade Anderson, a St. Paul's graduate and the ace pitcher for the LSU baseball team, have been selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Outstanding Athletes from the New Orleans area for 2024-25.
 
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has selected annual award winners in a variety of categories since 1958; it also selects Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month and each year's New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame class. Overall, 30 individuals and two teams will be honored for their achievements at the 2024-25 Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Banquet presented by LCMC Health on August 2. Honorees are currently being announced, wrapping up with the Corbett Awards for the top male and female amateur athletes in the state on July 8 and 9.
 
Holmes (first name pronounced Me-Ahn) dominated her competition in the LHSAA Division II state tennis championship bracket. The senior dropped just three games in five matches as she blazed her way to her fourth straight state championship. Holmes posted 6-0, 6-0 wins in the first three rounds of the state tournament before dropping a game to Ben Franklin's Mallory Kymes in the semifinals. Her championship match came against a familiar opponent – her younger sister My-Linh, also of Willow. In a rematch of last year's state final, the elder Holmes prevailed, 6-2, 6-0 (last year's result was 6-1, 6-0).
 
"My-Anh is exactly the type of player every coach dreams of leading their team," said Willow coach Gian Balsamo. "She is coachable and helpful to her teammates. She plays with great tenacity and her tactical intelligence on a tennis court is outstanding. I am very honored to have been a part of her journey through her four years of high school at The Willow School and I will miss her greatly."
 
Last year, Holmes dropped a total of three games en route to the state title. In her 2023 championship run, she lost just one game and as a freshman in 2022, she lost just two games – in four years of state title appearances, she has posted a game record of 228-9 in 19 matches. Holmes, who is listed by the U.S. Tennis Association as the top-ranked 18-and-under girls tennis player in Louisiana (and top 50 in the country), has signed to continue her career at UC Santa Barbara in the fall.
 
Anderson, a native of Madisonville and a St. Paul's School graduate, closed one of the top pitching seasons in LSU history by turning in a pair of sensational College World Series outings to earn Most Outstanding Player honors as LSU captured its eighth baseball national championship. For the year, the southpaw recorded a 12-1 record with a 3.18 ERA and 180 strikeouts (No. 1 in the nation) in 119 innings (tops in the SEC). Opponents hit just .211 against him and he walked just 35 batters.
 
The First Team All-SEC selection started LSU's opening game at the World Series and tossed seven innings of three-hit ball, allowing just one run and striking out seven as the Tigers took down No. 3 Arkansas, 4-1. In the first game of the championship series against Coastal Carolina, which came in with a 26-game winning streak, he then turned in one of the best games of his career at the most crucial time as he threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out 10 in a 1-0 victory which put LSU in the driver's seat for the championship.
 
"He's the best player in the country," LSU coach Jay Johnson said. "There's nobody closer to the major leagues than that right now."
 
The Sugar Bowl also conducted a fan vote for its annual awards and the fans' choice for the Female Athlete of the Year was Leah Varisco (Scared Heart Cross Country/Track & Field/Basketball). Varisco keyed four different Sacred Heart teams to at least sixth place finishes in the state this year as a junior, including helping the Cardinals to the state title game in basketball for the first time in school history. Anderson was also the winner of the fan vote for Male Athlete of the Year.
 
Joining Holmes and Varisco as finalists for New Orleans' Outstanding Female Amateur Athlete honor were Stella Junius (Mount Carmel Soccer/Cross Country/Track & Field), Sierra Sacco (Mississippi State Softball), and Luci Schroeder (Xavier University Soccer). Junius, the Cubs;' team captain scored 18 goals and dished out 10 assists during the run to a Division I state championship. Sacco, a graduate of John Curtis Christian School, earned First-Team All-America honors after hitting .450 to lead the Bulldogs to a 39-19 record. Schroeder, a senior midfielder from Germany, was selected as the top women's soccer player in Louisiana for the second straight year after scoring 14 goals and 17 assists in 21 games to lead Xavier to the NAIA National Tournament.

Additional finalists for New Orleans' Outstanding Male Amateur Athlete were Harlem Berry (St. Martin's Episcopal Football), Bryce Calloway (UNO Baseball), John Johnson (Edna Karr Football), and Drew Timmons (Archbishop Hannan Basketball). Berry, a top signee with LSU, ran for 2,178 yards and 41 touchdowns and was the Metro Offensive Player of the Year for small schools. Calloway led UNO in nearly every offensive category and was also an exceptional relief pitcher for the Privateers. Johnson recorded 4,301 total yards and 50 touchdowns for the state champion Cougars as he has named the Metro Offensive Player of the Year for large schools. The 6-foot-6 Timmons led Hannan to its second LHSAA state championship in four years and was the LSWA Mr. Basketball for Louisiana as well as the Times-Picayune All-Metro boys basketball player of the year for the 2024-25 season.
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl will continue announcing its annual awards tomorrow (Thursday) with the Outstanding Boys and Girls Teams from New Orleans.
 
Jimmy Collins Awards: Noah Confident, Brother Martin Wrestling; Brian Marelo, Hahnville
Outstanding Boys' Prep Coach of the Year, New Orleans: Hank Tierney, Archbishop Shaw Football
Outstanding Girls' Prep Coach of the Year, New Orleans: Courtney Ward, Sacred Heart Basketball
Outstanding Female Amateur Athlete, New Orleans: My-Anh Holmes, Willow Tennis
Outstanding Male Amateur Athlete, New Orleans: Kade Anderson, LSU Baseball
Outstanding Boys' Prep Team, New Orleans: Edna Karr Football
Outstanding Girls' Prep Team, New Orleans: Slidell Volleyball
Outstanding Collegiate Coach, Louisiana: Brad Neffendorf, LSU Shreveport Baseball
Eddie Robinson Award – Burzis Kanga, UNO Tennis
Corbett Award – Male: Kade Anderson, LSU Baseball
Corbett Award – Female: Aneesah Morrow, LSU Basketball
Women in Sport Scholarships: July 28 (Monday)
 
New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025:
Shan Foster, Basketball, Bonnabel HS/Vanderbilt/NBA, 2001-13
Temeka Johnson, Basketball, Bonnabel HS/LSU/WNBA, 1997-2018
Joe McKnight, Football, John Curtis Christian School/USC/NFL, 2004-16
Andy Russo, Basketball, Fortier HS/USL/Brother Martin HS, 1956-78

The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 69th year in 2025.
 
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 110 Hall of Fame players, 55 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 91-year history. The 92nd Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2026. 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 over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.