Kana, Ballard named Katy ISD student-athletes of the year

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 6/17/22

Katy’s Ty Kana and Mayde Creek’s Simone Ballard were named the Katy ISD student-athletes of the 2021-2022 school year on Friday.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Kana, Ballard named Katy ISD student-athletes of the year

Posted

Katy’s Ty Kana and Mayde Creek’s Simone Ballard were named the Katy ISD student-athletes of the 2021-2022 school year on Friday.

Each year every Katy ISD campus nominates one student athlete both male and female for the prestigious award, with the winners of the award receiving a $2,500 scholarship donated to Katy ISD by BSN Sport.

For Ballard, the award caps off a tremendous high school career, where she won two individual gold medals at the state track and field meet and is the current state record holder in the 300-meter hurdles. She also has the No. 1 time in the nation in the 100-meter hurdles and No. 2 time in the nation in the 300-meter hurdles while holding the Mayde Creek school record in both events.

 Ballard is an eight time All-American and graduated with a 3.8 unweighted GPA and a 4.0 weighted GPA. She will continue her track & field career at Baylor in the fall and wants to pursue a career in coaching and education once her track career is over.

“I want to come back and coach on the high school level and privately,” Ballard said.

Kana was named the boys student-athlete of the year, which capped off a terrific football career for the senior.

Kana helped lead the Tigers to a state championship as a junior in 2021 before serving as a team captain his senior year. He was named to the all-state team three times and was a THSCA Academic All-State recipient.

Kana recorded 101 tackles, including 61 solo tackles in his senior season. He also had eight tackles for loss, one sack, nine quarterback pressures and three pass breakups while being named District 19-6A defensive player of the year. For his career, Kana had 268 tackles, 158 of which were solo, 28 tackles for loss and five sacks.

He also helped lead the Tigers to a state semifinal appearance and helped them to a district title in his senior season.

Kana graduated early in December and enrolled at Texas Tech University, where he is competing for a starting spot at linebacker this fall. He is. Also an engineering major at the University.

“Ty is an extremely competitive athlete, yet he learned how to win with class and lose with dignity,” Katy ISD said in its press release.

Katy ISD, sports, athlete of the year, Simone Ballard, Ty Kana