Senior athletes Gage Larvadain and Ashley Hymel were named Riverside Academy’s Male and Female Athletes of the Year at the annual athletic banquet held May 12 in the gym. All athletes who participated in the 2020-2021 sports season were recognized at the banquet. Due to Covid, sports teams were unable to hold individual team or season banquets in the fall.

Larvadain, who has signed to play both basketball and football at Southeastern Louisiana University, took home a load of trophies for his success in football, basketball and track. The quarterback/receiver/defensive back was named Mr. Rebel, given annually to the most outstanding player on the football team. He also received a trophy from Crescent City Sports and WGNO for being named the Outstanding Offensive Football Player in the Metropolitan New Orleans area.

Hymel participated in soccer, swimming and softball this year. She was the Most Valuable Player on the soccer team, a state qualifier in swimming and an all-district outfielder in softball. Hymel plans to attend Louisiana State University in the fall to major in Animal Sciences.

Athletes from every sport were honored by their coaches with awards for athleticism, leadership and overall improvement.

Outgoing boys basketball coach Tim Byrd gave the inaugural Jared Butler Basketball Award for academics, attitude and sacrifice to senior Tairyn Lockhart, who is headed to Penn State on an academic scholarship. Butler is a former Riverside Academy standout basketball player who went on to star at Baylor University and helped the Bears win the 2021 National Championship. His number was retired at the school last month.

Kevin Dizer, who is the head football, girls basketball and track coach, awarded the annual Jalen Banks Coaches Award for boys track to Chamar Jackson. Banks is another former standout athlete at Riverside.