SWFL Sports Awards: Zara Stewart, Madrid Tucker win Athlete of the Year honors – The News-Press

The 2025 Southwest Florida Sports Awards rolled out the red carpet on May 29 for more than 1,000 area high school athletes, coaches, administrators, their families, and friends.
First Baptist Academy’s Zara Stewart and Fort Myers High’s Madrid Tucker earned the marquee honors at the show, held at Suncoast Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College. The pair was crowned the Girls and Boys Athletes of the Year by The News-Press and Naples Daily News. In all, 39 awards were handed out for the 2024-25 school year.
Stewart, who will play volleyball at San Diego State, carried the Lions to the Class 2A Final Four. On the basketball court, she led FBA to the regional finals. Stewart ended her prep volleyball career with 1,231 kills and 1,927 digs, while on the hardwood, she finished with 1,288 career points and 445 rebounds.
“It’s so special to me,” Stewart said. “I just love my teams and this wouldn’t be possible without my teammates and the coaching staffs, and my family, and all the sacrifices everybody makes for me.”
The other Girls Athlete of the Year finalists were Gateway’s V’Davrielle Stewart and Gulf Coast’s Ciara McCloskey.
Tucker, a finalist for the Boys Athlete of the Year award last year, was the leading receiver on Fort Myers’ district championship football team and top hitter on the Green Wave’s regional championship baseball team. He also contributed to the school’s 4×100 relay team that placed fifth at the state track and field championships.
The other Boys Athlete of the Year finalists were Mariner’s Maximus Brady and First Baptist’s Jayden Petit.
The Barron Collier soccer team won the Boys Team of the Year Award. The Cougars won their school’s first state title in boys soccer after defeating Mater Lakes 4-2 for the Class 4A championship. Led by an experienced senior class and head coach John Damasco, the team set a program record with 20 wins.
Winning four consecutive state championships places a team in rarified air, which is why Seacrest volleyball earned Girls Team of the Year honors. The Stingrays defeated Boca Raton Christian in the title game for the third straight year as first-year head coach Andy Wimmer helped deliver yet another trophy for Seacrest.
The Jeff Sommer Memorial Coach of the Year Award, named after the late Estero High cross country and track mentor, has been presented annually to the Southwest Florida coach who not only succeeds in the athletic arena, but also best exemplifies the 3Ds that Sommer championed — Discipline, Desire, and Dedication. This year’s recipient was Canterbury baseball coach Frank Turco.
Turco was inducted into the LCAC Hall of Fame, and capped his year by leading the Cougars to the Class 1A state championship. It was the fourth state championship for the coach at Canterbury, including three in a row from 2016-18. Turco has an overall career record of 533-191-1 between Estero from 2001-14 and with Canterbury starting in 2015, when he took over as baseball coach and athletic director. He won his 500th career game against Bonita Springs on April 11, 2024.
“This is the best award I could win,” an emotional Turco said. “This means more to me than anything. I didn’t expect to win this may be until I retired.
“All the hard work and dedication (Jeff) put in and the friendship we had, how he molded kids and how he treated everybody, he was just great. Nobody will ever match what he’s done for this area.”
Fort Myers baseball coach Brad Crone, Barron Collier boys soccer coach John Damasco and First Baptist volleyball coach Marci Walker were finalists for the Jeff Sommer Award.
Unified Sports, a division of Special Olympics, is continuing to grow in Southwest Florida. Immokalee’s Eduardo Pablo Campos was honored as the Special Olympics Athlete of the Year.
Eduardo excelled on the football field, basketball court, and track. Doubling as a defensive back and wide receiver on Immokalee’s Unified flag football team, Eduardo led the team in touchdowns, winning the 2024 FHSAA State Championship and the SOFL Unified Flag Football Division 1 Senior Level State Championship. As Center on the Unified basketball team, Eduardo averaged double digits in points and rebounds, leading Immokalee to the 2025 FHSAA Unified Basketball State Championship. He also earned three silver medals with the Unified Track & Field Team.
The other finalists for the award were Lehigh’s Yasef Carbon, Lely’s Nicholas Harrigan, and Cape Coral’s Sol Rosas.
Mike Lowell, who played 13 Major League Baseball seasons and won World Series championships with the Marlins (2003) and Red Sox (2007), was the show’s special guest speaker. The 51-year-old Lowell, a four-time All-Star is currently an analyst for the MLB Network.
Lowell shared a piece of advice he received from a mentor with the assembled athletes.
“It sounds cliche, but just enjoy every step of the way,” he said. “Things go by so fast that sometimes the journey is going to be one I’m not sure everybody’s going to enjoy it throughout.
“No matter what level you get to, there are a lot of things that are going to happen that were good and I don’t think everyone stops and celebrates the good things.”
Celebrated for her academic achievements as well as her athletic ones, Gulf Coast’s Ciara McCloskey received the Southwest Florida Scholar-Athlete Award.
McCloskey, who had a 5.2 weighted GPA and scored 1470 on the SAT, plans on majoring in computer science at Notre Dame. She was involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Student Government, Model UN, Student Athletics Leadership Team (SALT), and National Honor Society. McCloskey is a National Center for Women and Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing Southwest Florida Affiliate Winner, an AP Scholar with Distinction, she founded the Underclassmen Honors Society, and was Mindset Matters president.
Athletically, McCloskey earned Southwest Florida All-Region honors in cross country, lacrosse, and track. She placed 47th at the state cross country meet and won the Class 3A gold medal in the 3,200 as a senior. She was also a four-year lacrosse letter winner.
“I think this kind of shows all the hard work and dedication I put into all aspects, not just athletics,” she said. “I’m just completely honored to win this award. It means so much.”
The other finalists were Fort Myers’ Masha Dorofeev and Cypress Lake’s Ezekial Dube-Garrett.
The Courage Award is annually presented to an athlete who overcomes long odds to succeed in the sporting arena. This year’s winner was Estero’s Lily Jason.
Jason lost her 41-year-old father Steven unexpectedly on December 30. Steven Jason always supported and encouraged his daughter in her athletic endeavors. As her soccer team and the Estero community rallied around her, Lily helped lead the Wildcats to their first regional final since 2020.
Here’s a complete rundown of all of this year’s award winners.
Madrid Tucker, Fort Myers
Zara Stewart, First Baptist
Lily Jason, Estero
Frank Turco, Canterbury
Ciara McCloskey, Gulf Coast
Eduardo Pablo Campos, Immokalee
Margaret Sirianni, Fort Myers
Barron Collier soccer
Seacrest volleyball
Joey Lawson, Bishop Verot
Daniel Lynn, Cape Coral
Brooke Pabst, Cape Coral
Spencer Clayton, Barron Collier
Nalah Smith, Evangelical Christian
Gabby Dywer and Ashlee Tenkley, Fort Myers
Angel Cruz, Mariner
Masha Dorofeev, Fort Myers
Khari Bendolph, Naples
Deshon Jenkins, Bishop Verot
Lila Dinkel, Bishop Verot
Spencer Ives, Community School of Naples
Eva Lye, First Baptist
Michael Slusar, Community School of Naples
Stella Lynch, Community School of Naples
Abby Hynes, North Fort Myers
Emerson LaOrden, Barron Collier
Hannah Busenbark, North Fort Myers
Nick Fabian, Community School of Naples
Madison Bates, Naples
William Freshwater, Barron Collier
Chelsea Casapu, Barron Collier
Ryan Peterson, Bishop Verot
Ava Heskett, Gulf Coast
Zara Stewart, First Baptist
Nick Bloomston, Fort Myers
Imani Greaves, LaBelle
Maximus Brady, Mariner
Kiera Partello, Barron Collier

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