2026 Inaugural Winner
Lea Gentry, Denver North
Gentry, a senior from Denver North, is the first winner of the Heinrichs Award. The Oregon State signee who plays winger was also an all-state flag football player as a quarterback and safety. In soccer, she led the Vikings to four straight playoff appearances, including the Class 4A semifinals as a sophomore and the program’s first-ever league championship as a junior.
She graduated in the Top 10 of her class with a 4.98 GPA, and is a digital artist who won a congressional art contest for a piece depicting Red Rocks Amphitheatre. For 12 years, Gentry has volunteered with her family at the Saint Elizabeth soup-and-sandwich lines for the homeless. While a student at Denver North, she also helped coordinate a food and shelter relief project for Venezuelan migrants, assisted her father with a tiny-home project for the homeless, and volunteered at various soccer clinics, including one held recently at Valdez Elementary.
Denver North’s 2025-26 female athlete of the year was voted the winner of the inaugural Heinrichs Award by a 17-person selection committee. She was named on all but two of the ballots, and received 10 first- or second-place votes.
Read the feature story on Gentry in The Denver Post →
2026 Inaugural Finalists
Reese Morgan, Fossil Ridge
Talk about clutch: Morgan scored the game-winning OT goal in the semifinals and title game as Fossil Ridge repeated as the Class 5A champions. The Sabercats’ captain was CHSAA’s Class 5A Player of the Year. She served in Key Club International and volunteered at Children’s Hospital, for Special Olympics and for SERVE 6.8, which assists people in need. DU commit.
Mae Blazer, Buena Vista
The Demons’ star had 27 goals, 18 assists and 72 points in 17 games en route to earning CHSAA’s Class 2A Player of the Year and leading her team to the state title game. Among other outreach efforts, she led a Vacation Bible School in Costa Rica, completed a mission trip in Nicaragua, and organized a National Honor Society blood drive. Westmont College commit.
Tyler Sternberg, Chatfield
The Chatfield valedictorian was a two-year captain for the Chargers who rebounded from an ACL tear that sidelined her as a sophomore. Sternberg had 12 goals, 13 assists and 37 points in her career. She served as president of Jefferson County Relay For Life, belonged to an array of clubs and volunteered for Operation Christmas Child. Attending North Carolina.
Emily Gesick, Frontier Academy
While leading her team to the Class 2A semifinals, Gesick put up video-game numbers. She led the state (all classifications) with 42 goals and 94 points in 17 games. Gesick worked shifts at the local food bank, helped at a family literacy night, collected blankets and toys for animals, and was a leader in her Vacation Bible School. Western Colorado commit.
Learn more about the 2026 finalists in The Denver Post →
2026 Inaugural Honorable Mention
Ambry Plate, midfielder, Windsor; Kate Mullen, center-back/center-mid, Standley Lake ; Brynleigh Schmitz, center-back, Columbine; Elle Ceres, midfielder, Boulder (Boston University); Canyon Tucker, center-mid, Rock Canyon (University of the Pacific); Brittany Lomas, center-back, Sheridan; Audrey Kingery, midfield, Flatirons Academy (Dordt University); Abby Reiss, center-back, Loveland; Shea Gordon, defender, Windsor.
April Heinrichs Award 