Jesuit wrestler Spencer Lanosga Earns New Orleans Athlete of the Month honor

Heavyweight Clinched State Championship for Blue Jays

NEW ORLEANS (March 6, 2023) – Jesuit High School state champion wrestler Spencer Lanosga has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for February. Monthly award-winners are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Lanosga was a perfect 11-0 in the heavyweight division for Jesuit in 2023, finishing all of his matches with a pin. His biggest victory came in the LHSAA state finals when he pinned his Brother Martin opponent in 41 seconds to win the individual title – the win also clinched the first team state championship for the Blue Jays since 2009. The 6-3, 285-pound Lanosga had dispatched his state semifinal opponent in 15 seconds. The junior will aim to defend his 2022 heavyweight national title in the NHSCA National Wrestling Tournament in Virginia Beach in late March. Lanosga also won the LHSAA 285-pound title in 2022 and he finished second as a freshman. He has won his last 24 LHSAA matches.

Lanosga earned the honor over one of the largest and most accomplished fields of candidates in recent history.

• Liliane Arjmand, just a freshman, had an impressive postseason showing for the Newman girls soccer team despite battling a stress fracture in her back that severely limited her playing time. After not playing in the first two playoff games due to the injury, she returned to score six goals in the final three rounds of the playoffs. Her biggest performance came when she tallied three goals to lift the Greenies to a comeback win over Episcopal to capture the LHSAA Division IV girls soccer championship on Feb. 22 in Hammond. The freshman had tallied a pair of goals in the Greenies’ 4-0 state semifinal win over Northlake Christian on Feb. 17 and also scored in the quarterfinal victory over Pope John Paul II.

• Sandra Cannady was named the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Year after leading Loyola women’s basketball to its second straight regular-season title. In February, the 6-1 senior averaged 15.6 points, 11 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game to lead Loyola to an 8-1 record, including a trip to the SSAC Championship game. She tallied a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds in just 24 minutes of action in a Feb. 14 win over Spring Hill. She followed that with a career-high 20 rebounds as well as 16 points and three steals in a Feb. 18 win over Life. In the first round of the SSAC Tournament, the Texas product posted her 18th double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds, as well as a career-high six steals, in another win over Life. The ninth-ranked Pack (27-2) will host NAIA National Championship Opening Round games in The Den on March 7-8.

• Jalen Galloway earned MVP honors at the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Men’s Basketball Tournament after leading the Loyola men’s basketball team to its second straight SSAC Championship. An All-SSAC First Team selection for his regular-season performance, Galloway averaged 16.3 points and 7.7 rebounds in three Loyola victories in the league tournament. He was outstanding with 19 points and 11 rebounds in an 82-73 championship game victory over No. 13 Faulkner. He also added 17 points in the semifinals and 13 in the quarterfinals. During February, the 6-7 senior also added a 26-point performance against Stillman and a 21-point effort against Dalton State. For the season, the Idaho product leads the Wolf Pack with 17.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He is shooting 51.9 percent from the field and 76.3 percent from the free-throw line. Next up for the Pack (24-6) is the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, as 19th-ranked Loyola was announced as a host for the tournament that takes place March 7-8 in The Den.

• In the LHSAA state wrestling championships, Bodi Harris posted a 5-0 record in the 113-pound division, including pinning four opponents and winning 6-2 in the state title match to help the Jesuit wrestling team to a state championship. Harris pinned the fifth seed in the semifinals and beat the No. 2 seed in finals. It is the first state title for Jesuit since 2009.

• Jake Kaufman was scintillating to open the 2023 baseball season for the Delgado Dolphins. The sophomore infielder was among the best in the nation with a .586 batting average through 14 February games as Delgado posted a 12-2 record to climb to No. 20 in the national rankings. A Holy Cross product, Kaufman collected 17 hits in 29 at bats and, maybe more impressively, he added 13 walks for a .714 on-base percentage (No. 1 in the nation). He has also scored 17 runs while driving in 12.

• Kristen O’Handley from the Tulane University Track & Field team had a strong showing at the 2023 American Athletic Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham February 24-25. O’Handley won the pentathlon with 4,175 points to set school, conference and meet records. It was her third time breaking the school pentathlon record this season and the second time that she has ever eclipsed 4,000 or more points. Based on her efforts, O’Handley will qualify and compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in her career in the second month of March. She set five different personal bests in the five individual events of the pentathlon at the meet. She won the pentathlon 800m (2:15.94) and the pentathlon long jump (5.74m). O’Handley finished second in the pentathlon shot put (11.74m) and earned third in the pentathlon 60m hurdles (8.52) and the pentathlon high jump (1.71m).

• A senior guard, DeArica Pryor averaged 20.1 points per game in eight games in February, helping the University of New Orleans women’s basketball team to a 4-4 record. Five times in the month, she topped the 20-point mark, including a 27-point effort at Northwestern State on Feb. 18. The Urbandale, Iowa, native was named Southland Player of the Week on Feb. 27 after leading UNO to a pair of victories, averaging 25.0 points per game for her final two games of the month, including the game-winning layup with 6.1 seconds left in a 62-61 victory at Lamar. For the season, Pryor leads the Southland in scoring and steals.

• Xavier Reaves earned MVP honors for the Red River Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, which Xavier University of Louisiana won with a 79-63 victory against top-seeded, NAIA No. 17 and three-time defending champion LSU-Shreveport. In the title game, Reaves had 20 points, 10 rebounds and was 8-of-12 from the floor in 28 minutes against LSUS.The 6-6 forward scored 10 points during XULA’s 41-18 run of the final 14 1/2 minutes against LSUS to erase the Pilots’ 45-38 lead. XULA was seeded third in the RRAC Tournament and defeated the top two seeds – the Gold Rush beat second-seeded Texas A&M-Texarkana 72-64 in the semifinals as Reaves tallied 10 points, 13 rebounds and four steals. He’s the only XULA men’s basketball player of the last 26 seasons to produce two double-doubles or two consecutive double-doubles in a conference tournament. The graduate transfer from Burtonsville, Md., and Marymount (Va.) University only played four games in February as he missed the first six games of the month due to a concussion.

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. For more information, visit allstatesugarbowl.org.