The Pueblo Greater Sports Association (GPSA) has selected the 2024 Brian Macartney Award winners for the 2024 Induction Banquet that will be held on Thurs., Nov. 14 at the Occhiato Student Center on the campus of CSU-Pueblo.  Below are short bios of the best male and female high school athletes during the 2023-24 school year.

Maurice Austin—Pueblo South
* Starting point guard on the Colts boys varsity basketball team all fours years for Pueblo South. Lettered all four years (Coach Shannon Lane).
* Four-time First Team South-Central league (S-CL) in basketball; Named S-CL MVP and Defensive "Player-of-the-Year" during his senior year (2024).
* Became the first ever back-to-back CHSAA 5A "Player-of-the-Year" in boys basketball (2023, 2024).

* Career Stats (Colorado History)
Steals: 478 (Ranked #1); FG Made: 872 (Ranked #5); Points: 2,268 (Ranked #8); Assists: 588 (Ranked #11)
* During junior season (2022-23) was featured on the Top 50 National Preseason Watchlist for USA Today
* Lead the Colts to CHSAA Boys State Tournament all four years:
One State CSHAA Championship Game appearance (2021-22); One CSHAA “Final Four” appearance (2020-2021); One “Great Eight” appearance (2022-23); One “Round of 32” appearance (2023-24).
* On the academic side, Austin earned an academic letter every semester and graduated with a gold cord (3.9 GPA).
* AAU Highlights (Junior Season)
Made three all-tournament teams (Pro16/NXT, Big Shots All-Stars, Uprise Preseason Showcase); PrepHoops Top 250 EXPO Top
Performer; Dream Basketball All-American (Blue Team); Top 100 Player (Uprise Elite, 1st Love Top)
* Earned one letter in track & field (senior year).
* Maurice is continuing his basketball career at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM.

Hadli Welsby—Pueblo Central
* 13-time athletic letterwinner for Pueblo Central competing in five sports (Track & Field and Swim/Dive: four letters each; Golf and Gymnastics: two letters each and Soccer: one letter).
*Named “Breakout Athlete” sophomore season on the Wildcats swim and diving team (2021-22).
*Named All-Around Senior Girl Athlete at Central (2023-24).
* Named MVP in both Track & Field and Swim/Dive for the Wildcats during senior year (2023-24).
* Voted by peers to be captain of Swim/Dive team senior season (2023-24).
* Hadli was the recipient of eight academic letters at Pueblo Central.
* Senior Class President and Girl's Cabinet Head Girl.
* Health Occupations Student Leader of America (HOSA) President her senior year (2023-24).
* Welsby's HOSA Achievements:
3rd place at HOSA Bowl: International Conference (2024); 6th place State HOSA Bowl; 10th place: State HOSA Bowl: Medical
Assistant (2023-24)
Outside Interests:
Hadli has worked at Paws for Life as a team leader and volunteer, as well as Tom and Louie's Cupboard to prepare food baskets during the holiday season.

During the GPSA’s August monthly meeting, the association picked it’s “The Three Greatest Moment’s” for their banquet on Wed., Nov. 13. The three listed below are by different Group Era’s (I: 1913-1987; II: 1988-2005; III: 2006-Present).

The Great moments in GPSA history are broken down into three era's spanning 110 years.

ERA I: (1913-1982)
1972: SCSC Men’s Basketball hosts NCAA West Region. They won their Region with an 86-83 win over Seattle Pacific to earn a trip to the Elite Eight. Over 4,100 fans packed Massari Arena both nights to take in the Indian’s wins.

ERA II: (1983-2005)
2000: Bobbi Hall of Pueblo Centennial wins 4A State Shot Put Championship and 4A State Discus Championship.

ERA III: (2006-Present)
2022-23: Pueblo East Wrestling wins back-to-back 4A State Wrestling Championships (coached by Pat Laughlin).

Sollie RasoAt their GPSA August 19 monthly meeting, it was determined that Pueblo West High School (PWHS) was the winner of the Sollie Raso Championship Award for the 2023-24 school year, according to Miles Gorham, GPSA Vice-President.

The award will be presented to one of the eight area high schools whose athletic teams excelled the best in the three sports season (Fall-Winter-Spring).

The GPSA established the "Sollie Raso All Sports Championship Award" in honor of Sollie. Sollie was a teacher, coach, administrator, and county commissioner. Raso served on many boards for the city of Pueblo as well as for the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA).

When the GPSA was first established he was the first president of the association.

In the award’s eighth year, it marked the sixth time PWHS won the award outright (they also ended in a tie with Pueblo Central during the 2022-23 school year). The other lone winner was Pueblo South (2021-2022).

Pueblo, CO -- Paul Plinske, Vice President for Athletics and Strategic Partnerships, at Colorado State University-Pueblo, has announced the school's selections for the Jessie Banks and James "Spank" Blasing awards which will be presented at the Greater Pueblo Sports Association (GPSA) Banquet on November 14.

Kylie Severin (women's golf) became the 36th members selected for the Jessie Banks Award. The award is named after Jessie Banks, a pioneer in women's sports. Banks launched the women's basketball program and served for many years as its coach. She also played an important role in the expansion of the women's sports programs at CSU-Pueblo. The award recognizes the school's top female scholar-athlete.

Severin, from Aurora, CO, has finished as CSU Pueblo’s top finisher in 22 events in her four seasons at CSU Pueblo. She has helped the Pack in five team wins and has recorded a career low round score of 68 twice in her career. Her first round of 68 score came at the RMAC Championships in 2023 and again in 2024 at the NCAA West Regionals.

Kylie has been the medalist/co-medalist four times in her career and includes ten Top 5 finishes and 16 finishes in the Top 10. She has helped guide the ThunderWolves to back-to-back RMAC Championships (2023, 2024) and is a two-time First Team All-RMAC selection and has earned an RMAC Academic Honor Roll honors twice (2021-22, 2022-23).

She is a 3x RMAC Women’s Golfer of the Week all of which came during the 2023-24 season. (Sep. 14, Mar. 28, Apr. 12)

Two Thunderwolves soccer players - Shjon Andrews and Kenshin Uneo -- are the recipient of the James Blasing award. This award, which now has 41 recipients, is named for James "Spank" Blasing, a longtime coach and sports administrator at CSU-Pueblo. Blasing launched the men's track and cross country programs during his tenure at the school. The award recognizes the school's top male scholar-athlete.

Andrews, who hails from Longmont, CO, appeared in 57 matches and made 49 starts in his four seasons at CSU-P. Shjon has recorded over 4,300 minutes on the pitch and has scored 6 goals and 8 assists and totaled 20 points. He has recorded 3 game-winning goals and is a 2x RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-American status in 2023.

Andrews has earned RMAC Academic Honor Roll accolades three times and was named D2CCA First Team All-American two times and listed on the United Soccer Coaches All-South Central Region twice. He was named RMAC Defensive Player of the Week, four times.

Uneo, a native of Hyogo, Japan, has spent three seasons at CSU Pueblo, Kenshin Uneo has played in 73 games and has made 58 starts at midfield for the ThunderWolves. Kenshin was named the NCAA Elite 90 Award recipient in 2023 which recognizes the student-athlete with the highest GPA competing at the NCAA Championships. He received the RMAC Summit Award last season which goes to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average who is a sophomore or above academically, is in his second year of competition at their current institution, is an active member on the roster, has competed in 20 percent of available competitions and is traveling to, and competing, at the championship site.

Uneo has recorded over 5,100 minutes at the midfield position and has totaled seven assists for the Pack. Kenshin is a 2x RMAC First Team All-Academic and was named All-RMAC First Team along with United Soccer Coaches All-Region, United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American (2022), College Sports Communicators Academic All-American and D2CCA All-Region.

This duo has helped guide the CSU Pueblo Men’s Soccer team to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA DII National Championship Match (2022 and 2023). Back-to-back South Central Regional Champions and in 2023, the ThunderWolves won their first RMAC Conference Tournament title, beating Fort Lewis 2-0 in Durango.