Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — No athlete in the entire H-DNL has achieved more on the sports fields over the past few years than the 2024 Humboldt Sports Little 4 Girls Athlete of the Year.

She has received conference MVP awards in three different sports and was a state qualifier in another.

And that, along with the tremendous success her teams have enjoyed in every sport she has played, makes Madelyn Shanahan our Little 4 Girls Athlete of the Year for the second straight year.

This past year alone, the St. Bernard’s standout senior was named conference MVP in volleyball after leading the Crusaders to another Little 4 title, and she followed that by leading the team to the H-DNL’s first North Coast Section championship in the sport in 37 years.

And she was just getting warmed up.

In the winter, Shanahan won a second straight conference co-MVP award on the basketball courts, along with teammate Laila Florvilus, and she would go on to lead the Crusaders to the H-DNL’s first-ever state championship in the sport, boys or girls.

She carried that tremendous success into the spring, where she was one of just three H-DNL athletes to qualify for the state track and field championships, placing 14th in the discus and saving her best for last with a new PR of 132’ 2”, which smashed her previous best mark by more than 10 feet.

“She’s incredible,” St. Bernard’s volleyball coach Wendy Joyner said after Shanahan was named Little 4 MVP in volleyball. “She just brings a lot of energy to the floor and she always has a positive attitude. She’s just a great player.”

For good measure, Shanahan also was an MVP in soccer as a junior, showcasing her incredible overall athleticism.

And she was hugely influential on the teams she played with during her time at St. Bernard’s, winning NCS crowns in soccer and volleyball to go with the state title in basketball.

After helping the SB girls rally late to beat league rival Arcata in a thrilling NorCal Division-4 basketball championship game earlier this year, Shanahan went to play a major role in the state final, leading the Crusaders to a 47-29 win over Grossmont in Sacramento.

She came within three blocks of a triple-double in that historic showdown, finishing with 16 rebounds, 15 points and seven blocked shots, and after the season ended she was named to the CalHiSports Division-4 All-State Team.

Congratulations to Madelyn Shanahan and all of our finalists for the 2024 Little 4 Girls Athlete of the Year.

A huge shout out to the local businesses that have stepped up to help sponsor this year’s awards, a group that includes Mendes Supply, DelReka Distributing, Bode Construction, The Humboldt Fence Company, and Chris Prior of Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty, whose generosity ensures all six award winners will receive trophies to honor their accomplishments.

In addition to the 2024 Humboldt Sports Little 4 Girls Athlete of the Year, we’ll also be naming our other end-of-year award winners this weekend, including our Little 4 Boys Athlete of the Year, as well as our Coach of the Year and Team of the Year and the Big 5 Boys and Girls Athletes of the Year.

Submitted photo – Madelyn Shanahan and teammate Laila Florvilus both qualified for this year’s state track and field championships.

Submitted photo