NEW ORLEANS (August 6, 2025) – Varenka Zhuk, a national champion runner for the New Orleans Metro Stars track club, has been selected as July's Allstate Sugar Bowl Athlete of the Month presented by LCMC Health. Athletes of the month have been selected by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region to be eligible.
 
Allstate Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month

Zhuk, a freshman to be at Country Day, earned the national championship in the 14-year-old 1,500-meter run at the AAU Junior Olympics in Houston on July 29. Running for the New Orleans Metro Stars, Zhuk posted a time of 4:39.44 to defeat 64 other entrants from 21 states. All entrants at the Junior Olympics had to have finished in the top five at one of 26 regional qualifiers – Zhuk had won the 1,500-meter run at the Junior Olympics Regional Qualifier in June. To give her time perspective, the top 1,600-meter time at this year's LHSAA Championships was 4:59.93 (high schools run the 1,600 while the international distance is 1,500); Zhuk's converted time to 1,600 meters would be 4:57 which would have topped every high school competitor in Louisiana at this past year's state championships.
 
She followed her 1,500-performance by posting a personal-best time of 2:16.00 to place fourth in the 800-meter run for her age group. That time would have won the LHSAA championship at the B, C, 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A levels in 2025 – keep in mind she hasn't started high school yet.
 
"Varenka had her best race of the year at the Junior Olympics," said her coach Derek Mills, a 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist. "She has a tireless work-ethic and continues to push herself to improve every day. She has the potential to be one of the top middle-distance runners that Louisiana has ever seen."
 
Zhuk won the July honor over five other standout local athletes.

• Cristiano Windham was a two-way star as Eastbank Little League rallied out of the loser's bracket to win the Louisiana Little League championship and advance to the Southwest Regional in Waco, Texas. In 14 games in July, Windham hit .516 (16-for-31) with two homers and 20 RBI. He also had six doubles and three triples as he rolled up a 1.097 slugging percentage. On the mound, Windham allowed only two hits and struck out 26 in 13 1/3 innings. In the championship round of the state tournament, needing two wins for the title, Windham homered in the first game and delivered the go-ahead, three-run double in extra innings of the second game. He closed out July with the game-winning double to cap a five-run fifth inning in a comeback win over Mississippi at the Southwest Regional.
   
• Luca Saltaformaggio, a Holy Cross graduate who plays for Nunez Community College, led the Gibbs Construction Cardinals – a summer 18U baseball team based in metro New Orleans – to their second consecutive Grand Slam World Series title on July 26 in Panama City Beach, Fla. Saltaformaggio went 3-for-3 with 4 RBI in the championship game, a 12-8 victory over Georgia-based 5 Star. He hit a team-best .500 (7-for-14) with two triples, nine RBI and a 1.468 OBP as the Cardinals went 6-0 in the tournament. He hit .545 with 15 RBI for the month of July as the Cardinals capped their 10th anniversary season with a 29-1 record.
   
• Christopher (C.J.) Newsome, who will be a freshman at Jesuit this fall, used his bat, arm and legs to lead GNO Little League to eight wins in nine games in July and a berth in the U.S. championship game of the Little League Intermediate (50/70) World Series in Livermore, California. He hit .600 (12-for-20) with a 1.300 slugging percentage and 1.992 OPS in the postseason run; as a pitcher, he struck out 10 and allowed one hit in 6 innings. In the first three games of the World Series, Newsome was 5-for-7 with a double, triple, RBI and eight stolen bases. He had six steals in one game, including two steals of home. On the mound, he earned saves in both of GNO's victories. The intermediate division is for 13-year-olds and under and is played with distances of 50 feet to the mound and 70 feet on the basepaths.
   
• Hannah Huppi, a 2011 Tulane graduate, became the first woman to complete an unsupported crossing of the Arctic Ocean – a feat accomplished by fewer people than have traveled to the moon. Her rowing team – the Arctic Challenge 2025 – which included former Saints tight end Jimmy Graham, retired Navy SEAL Andrew Tropp, and her husband John Huppi, shattered the four-team record for the challenge, finishing in a little over 10 days (the record was 15 days, 5 hours, and 32 minutes). The team set a number of firsts by completing this voyage: being the first mixed-gender team of four to row across the Arctic Ocean, as well as being the first team of all American members to row across a polar ocean, and Graham is the first black person to row a polar ocean. The team battled inclement conditions throughout the voyage as weather forced the team to drop anchor at two points en route, as well as dealing with rain and clouds that hampered their ability to recharge electronics. Hannah's journey began at Tulane, where she walked onto the rowing team with zero experience, earned her Bachelor of Science in Management, and met her future husband and rowing partner, John. What started as a college club sport has evolved into elite competition and now, record-breaking expedition. The team used this effort to help raise money for Covenant House New Orleans and Laureus Sport for Good New Orleans with a goal to raise $1 million, one dollar for every meter rowed across the Arctic Ocean.
   
• Mia Ennis, a rising sophomore for Country Day, solidified herself as one of the top young softball players in the country with a memorable performance at the WBSC U-15 Women's Softball World Cup in Caronne Pertusella, Italy, in late June and early July. Ennis was named to the All-World Team after going 8-for-19 (.421) with six runs, and two stolen bases as she keyed Team USA's run to the bronze medal. In a key game on July 3 against Japan, Ennis tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth inning with an RBI single, but the USA would fall, 3-2. Team USA's U-15 women's national team was comprised of 16 players from across the U.S. Players qualified for the team through a series of regional tryouts and then the national tryout in Vero Beach, Fla., in December 2024. Ennis is the only Louisiana player on the World Cup team.

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.