JEFFERSON TWP — None of them expected it. All three of them earned it.

Asa Adams, Ashlynn Carlsson and Katie Bozzo were recently named the fifth annual Knoch High School Male and Female Athletes of the Year by a panel of the school's varsity head coaches.

Adams was the starting catcher on the Knights' WPIAL and PIAA championship baseball team and played wide receiver and cornerback in football.

Carlsson was a three-time state qualifier in cross country and a two-time state qualifier in the 4x800 relay in track and field. She ran on the Knights' cross country team that placed second at the WPIAL meet.

Bozzo was a three-year starter, team captain and all-section setter in volleyball. She was a two-time state qualifier in the 300-meter hurdles as well.

“There were so many guys who could have gotten this,” Adams said. “Jordan Geist set records in track, Cole Shinsky deserved recognition, and there's others.

“I'm honored. I'm happy. The whole thing is just hard to believe.”

Adams is headed to Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea, Ohio and will catch for the baseball team there. He plans to major in sports management and business administration.

“I've been a catcher since I was 11,” Adams said. “My coach asked me to try a new position as I had been a shortstop-pitcher.

“Once I tried catching, I never left it. I love it.”

Carlsson is headed to Penn State Behrend to major in nursing and continue her running career. She was originally a soccer player.

“My best friend playing soccer got three concussions and my mother told me I wasn't going through that,” Carlsson said. “My twin brother (Preston) was already running cross country, so I switched to that sport.

“It's been fun, accomplishing what we did as a team over the last few years.”

Team has always meant a lot to Carlsson, who focused her track and field efforts on the 4x800 moreso than individual events.

“I ran the 400 and 800, too, but I concentrated on improving my splits in that relay to benefit the other three I was running with,” she said. “All of the girls were pretty close and it was fun working together to get better.”

Bozzo will be attending Pitt and majoring in human resources management. While she will participate in intramural sports, her time as an athlete representing her school are over.

“Yeah, I'll miss it, but I got a lot out of it,” Bozzo said. “Volleyball is such a team sport and the essence of teamwork will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“All of my coaches taught me things and I made so many friends I'll never forget.”

Knoch athletic director Mike King said the decision of who is named the school's athletes of the year is never easy.

“That's why every head coach of every respective sport is involved in the process,” he said. “We get together and weigh everything. We look at the accomplishments, their contribution to team, dedication ... There are so many variables.”

The winners' names are engraved on a plaque hanging on a wall outside of the high school gym.

“Knowing there's a plaque in the school that will forever have my name on it — that's a big deal,” Bozzo said.

Previous Knoch female athletes of the year were Jamie Mahan in 2011, Brooke Armahizer in 2012, Tena Pettit in 2013 and Gabi Lassinger last year.

Previous male winners were Adam Tuzikow in 2011, Andy Tuzikow in 2012, Dakota Bruggeman in 2013 and Eric Hacker last year.