St. James’ Bolton wins Evelyn Gates Award as KC’s top high school volleyball player
Ellie Bolton of St. James Academy has won the 16th annual Evelyn Gates Award, presented each year to the top varsity high school volleyball player in the Kansas City area.
The winner, chosen annually by volleyball coaches around the KC Metro, is selected as someone who “exhibits top-tier skill, spirit and sportsmanship,” according to the Kansas City Sports Commission & Foundation’s WIN for KC website.
Other finalists for the award included Bolton’s St. James teammate Caroline Zabroske, Odyssey Warren of Lee’s Summit West and Torri Henry of St. Teresa’s Academy.
Bolton, who will attend Creighton University and has also played for the KC Power club program, was presented with a traveling trophy that will be displayed at her school and a $500 stipend for her athletic department during a ceremony in the St. James gymnasium.
The 5-foot-8 senior defensive specialist helped the Thunder to a state runner-up finish this season — tradition-rich St. James advanced to the Kansas Class 5A title match before losing 10-25, 25-19, 25-16 to St. Thomas Aquinas Nov. 2 in Salina. St. James won the 5A championship in 2017 and 2018.
A four-year starter at St. James, Bolton set the Thunder’s all-time record for digs, with 1,906, was first-team All-State each of the last two years and served 131 career aces.
The Evelyn Gates Award is named for a former KU Medical Center technician and longtime high school sports official in the KC area who ardently supported girls high school athletics until her death in 2003.
Here are the Evelyn Gates Award winners since 2004, the year of its inception:
2019: Ellie Bolton, St. James Academy
2018: Ellie Bichelmeyer, St. Teresa’s Academy
2017: Annika Welty, Park Hill South
2016: Madison Lilley, Blue Valley West
2015: Orie Agbagi, Oak Park
2014: Lexi Hart, Truman
2013: Anna Kropf, St. Teresa’s Academy
2012: Cheyanne Lyons, Raymore-Peculiar
2011: Paige Brown, St. James Academy
2010: Hanna Forst, St. James Academy
2009: Marianne Beal, Lee’s Summit North
2008: Jessica Kopp, Lee’s Summit West
l2007: Kathleen Ludwig, Bishop Miege
2006: Michelle Jantsch, St. Teresa’s Academy
2005: Erin Birmingham, Park Hill South
2004: Sammie Williams, Fort Osage
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 6:55 PM.