Top athletes, top scholars and community leaders. The high school honorees at the National Football Foundation's annual awards banquet truly are the best of the best from across the state. About his quarterback Clay Garcia, Alamosa football coach Manny Wasinger says, "He's a great student leader and the most competitive athlete I've ever coached." D.J. Horton's coach and dad, Doug, calls his Hotchkiss valedictorian "the definition of a scholar-athlete." Football, though, isn't the only sport in which this group excels. Columbine's C.J. Gillman and Scott Cure of Idalia will play baseball in college. In addition, two nights before the dinner, Matt Stiasny from Dove Creek and Burlington's Brian Hendricks had wrapped up their final state wrestling tournament. Hendricks went out as a two-time undefeated state champion, while Stiasny went home with two souvenirs of his own . . . his Bulldogs' first state wrestling team title and a black eye.

IT'S A PARTY: What do a 1986 graduate of Ponderosa, Highlands Ranch championship girls basketball coach Caryn Jarocki and a bunch of Douglas County middle school girls have in common? All were honored at the second DougCo Girls and Women in Sports Day luncheon. "It's a great success," said district athletic director Dave Callan. "We started with less than 200 attendees last year and this time we were up over 400."

The occasion salutes the school district's girls sports programs from the past, present and future. One of the best examples of all three is Mickey O'Donnell-Margraff. She graduated from Douglas County in 1979, and nearly 30 years later her school record in the high jump still stands.

CBS4's Marcia Neville has been Colorado's prep sports specialist for more than 22 years.