Another school year complete, another lengthy list of high school athletic achievements compiled.

Trying to narrow this group down to a Butler County male and female athlete of the year is a daunting task, indeed.

But I'm going to try — just for fun.

On the boys side, Mars running back Billy Bair rewrote the WPIALrecord book with his 2,428 yards rushing and 36 touchdowns. Knoch running back Tim McNerney took over for an injured teammate and rushed for 1,785 yards and 24 TDs while leading the Knights to the WPIALsemifinals.

Aaron McGarvey produced 29 goals and 17 assists for Karns City's soccer team, Seneca Valley pitcher Cory Mazzoni was named WPIAL Class AAAAPlayer of the Year, Tim Geibel helped end an 11-year playoff drought for Butler baseball by excelling on the mound and at the plate.

Then there's the two-sport standouts, such as football and basketball stars C.J. Brown of Seneca Valley, Tyler Armagost and Josh Loos of Moniteau, Rob Briggs of Knoch and Cameron Turner of Karns City.

For that matter, how about Conor Barrett of Seneca Valley?He excelled in two sports at the same time, helping the Raiders boys volleyball team make the playoffs and finishing third in the high jump at the state track meet last weekend.

But the ultimate two-sport athlete in the county this school year, and my choice as male athlete of the year, is Slippery Rock's Zack Ejzak.

Ejzak put up his usual numbers in basketball — 17.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game — and shot 77 percent from the foul line on top of that.

The amazing part of his school year is what he did on the football field. As a first-year player for the Rockets, and having never played organized football before, Ejzak went on to catch 44 passes for 889 yards and five TDs, shattering school records.

Now he's going on to Slippery Rock University to play football.

On the girls side, player of the year candidates who immediately spring to mind include Knoch's Amanda Sharbaugh, who scored 109 goals in her soccer career, the Knights' Carol Cress, who excelled in the shot put and discus, and Mars basketball standout Lily Grenci, who averaged a double-double in basketball.

And let's not forget Moniteau softball pitcher Maura McCaslin, whose mound exploits are a major reason why the Warriors are still playing.

My selection is Allyson Kepple, a three-sport star at Karns City.

She was named MVPof the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference in soccer, scoring 31 goals and adding 14 assists. In basketball, she averaged 15.1 points, 4.6 assists and 4.5 steals per game while draining 40 3-pointers.

This spring, Kepple was the heart and soul of the Gremlins softball team. She played shortstop, batted leadoff and led the team with 18 runs scored.

During KC's 8-1 District 9 playoff win over Cranberry, Kepple scored three runs and knocked in four more.

Sounds like a winner to me.