By David Wolman
Plano East remained one of the premier athletic programs in Plano ISD during the 2025-26 school year.
The Murphy Monitor is proud to introduce the second installment of a three-part series celebrating the best teams, athletes, moments and performances from this past school year. The categories and winners for the second annual C&S Media High School Sports Awards were chosen by sports editor David Wolman, with winners being published over three weeks.
Part 1 (July 16) included the Biggest Story, Breakthrough Moment, Newcomer of the Year and Best Team
Part 2 (July 23) will highlight the Best Game, Best Finish, Biggest Upset and Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year.
Part 3 (July 30) will wrap up the series with Coach of the Year, Most Improved Athlete, Best Male Athlete and Best Female Athlete.
These are the winners of the second installment of the series.
Best Game: Plano East volleyball team defeats Lake Highlands in five sets
Beginning this fall, Plano East and Lake Highlands will compete as rivals in District 7-6A.
If their previous match was a sign of things to come, the rivalry could produce many more memorable matches.
Last fall, during a Class 6A Division I area-round match, Plano East trailed Lake Highlands by eight points in the fourth set, but Simone Heard said there was still plenty of belief amongst the Lady Panthers. That same belief was noticeable when Plano East trailed by two points on three different occasions in the fifth set.
All that belief and discipline paid off, as Heard provided the finishing touches on a thrilling 3-2 win (24-26, 25-13, 25-22, 23-25, 15-12) over Lake Highlands at Sachse High School.
Plano East struggled to defend Lake Highlands’ taller hitters at times, but the Lady Panthers put everything together midway through the fifth set. Trailing 5-3, Plano East finished on a 12-7 run, with a Marisabelle Sias dig near the net helped swing the momentum in her team’s favor.
Best finish: Dennis’ late goal clinches playoff berth for Panthers boys’ soccer team
First came a Gatorade bath for first-year Plano East head boys soccer coach Justin Bailey.
Then came the words that the Panthers had been waiting to hear since 2018.
“We’re going to the playoffs,” he said.
Plano East’s players erupted in celebration after earning a 2-1 playoff-clinching win over Plano at Clark Stadium on March 6.
After a one-hour delay for lightning in the area stopped the game with 12:12 remaining in the second half, Plano East faced its tensest moment of the night.
When play resumed, the score was tied 1-1. Plano East needed just nine seconds to score. A throw-in by alum Jordy Rocha was headed back into the field of play by a Panthers forward. Alum midfielder Myles Dennis ran aggressively toward the ball in the middle of the field and placed a header into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
Biggest upset: Defense paces Plano East boys’ basketball team to win over No. 6 Plano
Plano East earned a lot of significant wins during Matt Wester’s eight seasons as head coach.
Although the Panthers’ 47-37 win over Plano on Dec. 6 didn’t match the magnitude of Plano East’s 2024 Class 6A state championship victory over Stony Point, any win over a crosstown rival is significant. It was especially meaningful because the Wildcats entered ranked No. 6 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 6A poll.
Defense helped Plano East to defeat Plano and earn first place in the 13th Annual Craig Bowers Memorial Tournament in Royse City.
After the Wildcats jumped out to an 11-10 first-quarter lead, the Panthers outscored Plano 37-26 over the game’s final three quarters while limiting the Wildcats to 15 points over the second half and 27.3 percent shooting for the entire game.
Moustafa Abualneel, who was named to the all-tournament team, led the way offensively, finishing with 13 points in 14 minutes.
Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year: Simone Heard, girls’ soccer/track and field/volleyball
Even though soccer wasn’t Heard’s primary sport, coaches not only recognized her athletic ability, but also asked her if she can play for them.
Such was the case this spring when Plano East head girls soccer coach Cristy Cooley asked Heard to join the team and play goalkeeper for the first time in several years.
Heard didn’t miss a beat as she made timely saves during the Lady Panthers’ run to their first regional semifinal since 2018.
Of course, her primary sport is volleyball. Her senior season was her best. Named the District 6-6A MVP for the second consecutive season, Heard, an outside hitter and a Georgia Tech signee, provided an offensive spark for a Plano East team that finished the 2025 season in the Region I-6A Division I Final. She finished with 679 kills, 47 blocks, 436 digs and 40 service aces.
Heard was a standout track and field athlete, helping lead Plano East’s girls 4×100 relay to first place in the district and an appearance in the Region I-6A meet final.
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By David Wolman
For the second straight summer, Plano East incoming junior guard Arianna Robinson represented the United States in a FIBA (International Basketball Federation) tournament.
Robinson scored 14 points and the United States’ 17U National Team finished Sunday’s game on an 11-0 run over the final 4:34 to rally for an 82-73 victory over Spain and secure the gold medal in Brno, Czechia.
The title marked the Americans’ seventh championship in the tournament’s eight editions. Last year, Robinson helped the 2025 USA Women’s U16 National Team win gold at the 2025 FIBA U16 Women’s AmeriCup in Irapuato, Mexico.
The United States finished this year’s tournament with a 7-0 record. The Americans went a perfect 3-0 in Group A, earning victories over Ivory Coast (117-24), Australia (74-72) and Latvia (105-53). In bracket play, the U.S. dominated Mexico (112-36) in the Round of 16, topped Slovakia (77-57) in the quarterfinals, cruised past Canada (86-60) in the semifinals before completing a perfect tournament with a late-game rally over Spain in the championship game.
Robinson came up with several crucial plays for the United States during their late fourth-quarter run.
She converted two free throws with 2:06 left to give the Americans a 76-73 lead. After a Spain turnover led to a basket by Nation Williams, Robinson made a driving layup for a commanding 80-73 lead with just 46 seconds remaining. A steal by Micah Ojo set up Robinson’s layup.
The Plano East star averaged 10.1 points, 2.1 steals, 2.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game over the seven games in Czechia.
Robinson is coming off a standout sophomore season in which she helped lead the Lady Panthers to an undefeated district championship, became the school’s all-time leading scorer and set Plano East’s single-game scoring record with 40 points in a 67-53 road win at McKinney on Jan. 6.
Her 26.4 points per game ranked among the highest averages in Texas. She was named the District 6-6A MVP.
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By David Wolman
Former Plano East head football coach and athletic director Johnny Ringo is one of seven coaches who will be inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor Saturday. The event will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.
“It’s a reflection of the opportunity to work with great coaches and coach so many great young men over the years,” he said. “It’s quite an honor and very humbling.”
Ringo built a distinguished career as a Texas high school football coach and athletic administrator whose career includes head coaching stops at Uvalde, Irving MacArthur, Coppell and Plano East. He garnered District Coach of the Year honors and was The Dallas Morning News Coach of the Year.
Plano East marked the final leg in Ringo’s legendary 29-year coaching career. He moved on to Highland Park Independent School District and served as athletics director from 2013 until his retirement in June 2022.
Most of Ringo’s coaching stops involved a rebuild, but not at Plano East. Ringo inherited a program in 2004 that had consistently made the playoffs under Scott Phillips and John Crawford. Phillips won 26 of his last 28 district games at Plano East before leaving for the same job at Odessa High in 2002.
Ringo led Plano East to more success in his nine seasons. The Panthers made the playoffs five times during his nine seasons, with their best season under Ringo coming in 2006. Plano East finished 10-3, won eight straight games after opening the season with a 30-29 loss to Mesquite and made the third round of the postseason.
Plano East outlasted Rockwall 31-24 in the bi-district round of the playoffs, edged Tyler Legacy 21-18 in the area round before falling 31-27 to Austin Westfield in the third round.
Ringo’s Panthers played three different quarterbacks in 2006 – Rico Smalls, Dallas Bush and Jeff Emens. They also got 2,494 combined rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns between Bush, Smalls, Chris Slater and Philip Oladjeji.
The Panthers also boasted a stout defense that held opponents to an average of 14.46 points per game.
“We just had great kids,” Ringo said. “We had 420 kids playing high school football at Plano East, which was unheard of. We had tremendous involvement with the kids and parents. That year, we had great kids playing for us. It was a really special year.”
In addition to the great relationships that he built with the other coaches, faculty and members of the community, Ringo also lauded the relationships that he had built with former Plano East head coach Tom Kimbrough and former Plano Senior High head coach John Clark – Kimbrough and Clark both have stadiums in Plano ISD that are named in their honor.
“They were just very business-like in everything they did, but they were great about helping and guiding us,” Ringo said. “They were tremendous mentors and role models and great examples as far as how football should be played.”
Ringo was elected to the THSCA Board of Directors from 2008-11, served as the President of the THSCA in 2012-13, and was recognized as one of MaxPreps’ Top 100 High School Coaches.
Robert Brown, Steven Cerny, Mike Hedrick, John King, Weldon Nelms and Dennis Parker are the other six coaches who will join Ringo for induction into the THSCA Hall of Honor Saturday.
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By David Wolman
Plano East recently completed its final season in District 6-6A, capping another successful year across its athletic programs.
The Murphy Monitor is proud to introduce the first installment of a three-part series celebrating the best teams, athletes, moments and performances from this past school year. The categories and winners for the second annual C&S Media High School Sports Awards were chosen by sports editor David Wolman, with winners being published over three weeks.
Part 1 (July 16) includes the Biggest Story, Breakthrough Moment, Newcomer of the Year and Best Team
Part 2 (July 23) will highlight the Best Game, Best Finish, Biggest Upset and Multi-Sport Athlete of the Year.
Part 3 (July 30) will wrap up the series with Coach of the Year, Most Improved Athlete, Best Male Athlete and Best Female Athlete.
These are the winners of the first installment of the series.
Biggest Story: Plano East prepares for new District
The sports landscape will look a lot different going forward for the Panthers.
At the University Interscholastic League’s bi-annual realignment meeting, Plano East will say goodbye to District 6-6A and join Plano and Plano West in District 7-6A, and also renew rivalries with Coppell, Lake Highlands, Richardson and Berkner. JJ Pearce will also compete in District 7-6A.
Plano East was last in the same district with Lake Highlands, Richardson and Berkner from 2006-08, and was with Coppell in District 6-6A from 2020-24. The girls’ soccer team faced Coppell in the bi-district round in 2025, while the boys met the Cowboys in the first round this season. In February, Plano East lost 69-56 to Coppell in bi-district in boys’ basketball.
Breakthrough moment: Girls’ cross country team wins 1st district title since 2017
Several minutes after the conclusion of the girls’ varsity race at the District 6-6A cross country meet, Plano East head coach Robert Reed was still parsing through the results.
The Lady Panthers had already secured a team berth in the Region I-6A meet, but Reed wasn’t sure whether Plano East had won the district title or if a tiebreaker would decide it.
Ultimately, that tiebreaker went in Plano East’s favor.
Plano East and Prosper both finished with 52 points, but Plano East claimed its first district title since 2017 thanks to a faster time from its sixth runner.
Reagan Noel finished fourth with a time of 18:46 to pace the Lady Panthers. Meena Mulford was seventh in 19:21, Brooke Tierney took 12th, Louisa Christensen was 14th and Alina Nguyen took 15th. Dyan Tecuatl’s 22nd placing proved to be the tiebreaker that allowed Plano East to finish in first place. Kate Salyer captured 47th place.
On the boys’ side, incoming sophomore Levi Rowe placed sixth in 16:11, earning his first trip to regionals.
Co-Newcomer of the Year: Emerson Bailey, softball; Treyce Seldon, football
Although both the Plano East football and softball teams missed the playoffs, each squad had a freshman that made a solid impression.
Bailey stepped in at catcher and in the infield and was a difference-maker both at the plate and in the field.
Named the District 6-6A Utility Player of the Year, Bailey finished her first season in high school with a .342 batting average, 25 RBIs and 10 runs scored. Defensively, she committed five errors on 81 chances for a .938 fielding percentage and was credited with 57 putouts and 19 assists.
Meanwhile, it didn’t take long for Seldon to emerge as the go-to option on offense for the Plano East football team.
Named the district’s Offensive Newcomer of the Year, Seldon rushed for at least 89 yards in each of his first four games with one touchdown in each game. He had three straight 100-yard rushing performances, including a season-high 185 yards and three touchdowns in a 57-55 double-overtime loss to Princeton. He finished the season with 870 rushing yards and 10 scores.
Best team: volleyball
When the seniors for the Plano East volleyball team stepped on the court for the first time four years ago, they walked into a program that won just two district matches the previous season.
They helped engineer one of the area’s quickest turnarounds.
After helping lead Plano East to back-to-back appearances in the third round of the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, the Lady Panthers took things one step further last fall. They advanced to their first regional final in 17 years.
Although Plano East fell to nationally ranked Byron Nelson in the regional final, the Lady Panthers finished 31-11 and won at least 30 matches for the third consecutive season.
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By David Wolman
With only one month separating Michael Godwin’s first day on the job as head coach of the Plano East boys basketball team and the start of the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Showcase, Godwin wanted to keep things simple.
Godwin implemented only a couple of minor schematic changes, but the biggest thing that he told his players as they prepared for the Showcase was to play hard and play hard for each other.
The Panthers did both at the June 27-28 event in Cedar Hill and Duncanville, and they turned that into a 3-0 record – earning wins over DeSoto Kingdom Collegiate (62-58), Spring Dekaney (43-26) and Baytown Sterling (54-47).
“We just played good Plano East team basketball over the weekend,” Godwin said.
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By David Wolman
Plano East enjoyed another successful year in athletics, and the seniors who donned black and gold during the 2025-26 school year were key contributors to their respective teams.
The Murphy Monitor will review the accomplishments of some of the top seniors from the Class of 2026.
Alexa Perreira, girls’ soccer
All the seniors for the Plano East girls’ soccer team wanted was a playoff win.
Not only did the Lady Panthers defeat Hebron 1-0 for their first postseason win since 2009, but Plano East also conjured a playoff run that lasted three rounds deep. Perreira scored the game’s lone goal midway through the first half. During Plano East’s next game, a 7-1 rout of Arlington Martin in the area round, Perreira netted a hat trick.
Plano East’s playoff run came to an end in the regional semifinals following a 3-2 loss to Keller.
Named to the District 6-6A first team as a senior and the district’s Co-Newcomer of the Year as a freshman, Perreira, a North Texas signee, also stepped in at goalkeeper in addition to her starting role at forward.
Caitlyn Tran, track and field
District 6-6A featured the top three runners in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles in Region I-6A – Tran, Princeton’s Sydney Smith and Plano’s Morgan Olschewsky. Smith entered the regional meet ranked first, Tran second and Olschewsky third.
Tran did more than enough to earn her first-ever state berth after the SMU pledge ran to second place with a time of 13.94 seconds. Tran was the district runner-up after clocking a 13.872 and took second at the area meet with a 13.73.
Tran, who placed fifth at state with a wind-aided time of 13.9, broke the school record in the 100 hurdles three times this season.
As a junior, Tran was the district runner-up, clocking a time of 14.42.
Malachi Terry, track and field
Like Tran, Terry was a first-time state qualifier, but his qualification came in the boys’ 200-meter dash.
Terry placed third in the District 6-6A meet and second in the area meet. He earned his spot in the state meet after running a second-place time of 21.06 seconds at the Region I-6A meet. His time of 20.96 at the area meet at Denton Braswell’s Carrico Stadium was a new school record.
Terry, a New Jersey Institute of Technology signee, placed eighth at the Class 6A state track and field championships in Austin with a 21.05.
He was also a regional qualifier in the boys’ 100-meter dash.
Moustafa Abualneel, boys’ basketball
The last remaining player of Plano East’s 40-0 state championship team, Abualneel did a lot of winning when he was with the Panthers.
Abualneel, a Henderson State pledge, came off the bench during Plano East’s run to the state title, but the Henderson State signee has been just as important a contributor since becoming a starter two years ago. The 6-foot-7 forward was honored on the District 6-6A first team as a senior after helping lead Plano East to a co-district championship and a 27-8 record.
One of seven seniors for Plano East, Abualneel helped anchor a stingy Panthers’ defense that allowed less than 50 points in 12 of 16 district games and to 47 points overall on the season. Alum Jayden Parker, a UT-Arlington signee, was the district’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Reagan Noel, cross country/track and field
Noel went from being a middle-of-the-pack junior varsity team runner and running a 5K time of 26 minutes when she was a freshman to contending for a varsity district title and an appearance in the regional meet.
During her senior season, Noel broke 19 minutes for the first time at Southlake Carroll and the following week at Lovejoy ran an 18:39. Her time of 18:39 was the second-fastest in program history, just 17 seconds behind Martha Brown’s school record of 18:22.
Noel later helped lead Plano East to its first district title since 2017. At the 6-6A meet, she took fourth place with an 18:46 – a performance that comes one year after she placed 46th in district.
Noel’s season and high school career ended at the Region I-6A meet. Her time of 18:46 would have qualified her for state had she competed in any of the other three Class 6A regionals. She placed 21st.
Simone Heard, girls’ soccer, track and field/volleyball
Heard’s primary sport has always been volleyball, but her athleticism has translated well to track as well as the soccer field.
Heard joined the Lady Panthers’ soccer team late in the season and she stepped in at goalkeeper and played an integral role in helping Plano East reach the third round of the postseason for the first time in 16 years.
Of course, Heard’s biggest success came in volleyball. She helped lead a huge turnaround for a Plano East program that improved from seven district wins during her freshman season to back-to-back appearances in the regional semifinals during her sophomore and junior seasons and an appearance in the regional final during her senior season.
Named the Most Valuable Player of District 6-6A in both her junior and senior seasons, Heard, a Georgia Tech signee, finished her four-year varsity career with 1,913 kills, 135 service aces, 199 blocks and 1,282 digs.
On the track, Heard helped lead Plano East’s girls 4×100 relay to two straight appearances in the regional meet, in addition to winning the district title this year.
Travis Agee, football
At 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds, Agee was a physical force on both sides of the ball.
Agee was a downhill runner who used his legs to churn out tough yardage and moved the chains for Plano East’s offense, while defensively, he excelled as an outside linebacker.
Although his numbers dipped his senior season because of the emergence of running back Treyce Seldon, Agee still made a big impact. As a senior, he rushed for 453 yards with five touchdowns. That came one year after a breakout junior year in which he rushed for a career-best 1,297 yards and seven rushing touchdowns. As a sophomore, Agee rushed for 528 yards and contributed 17 tackles (13 solo).
Agee finished his career with 2,278 rushing yards, 17 touchdowns, 47 tackles (32 solo) and two tackles for loss.
Plano East made the playoffs during Agee’s sophomore season, won six games during his junior season and won two games during his senior season.
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By David Wolman
Plano East’s girls basketball team will enter the upcoming season with one returning starter.
That’s why head coach Derrick Richardson was eager to see how well his team would mesh at the TABC Girls Showcase in Bryan.
Although the Lady Panthers went 0-3 at the Showcase, they gained valuable experience.
The Lady Panthers opened with a 36-30 loss and then came up three points short in a 58-55 loss to Pflugerville Weiss.
Plano East concluded the Showcase with a 79-44 loss to Houston Kinkaid.
Robinson averaged 27 points, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Julia Elwo had a 10-rebound game. Kamaria Marcy, a move-in from Kansas, averaged 6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Emma Shafer averaged 5.2 points, 2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals. Gabby Archer, Alexis Wong and Meerah Azhar all played quality minutes.
“I feel like we got a lot of good out of the weekend,” Richardson said. “We saw some flashes of what I think we can be.”
Plano East was without incoming sophomore Olivia Woods, who missed all of last season with an injury and continues to battle a knee injury.
Richardson is hopeful that Woods can resume basketball activities in mid-to-late July.
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By David Wolman
Dasan Harris committed to the University of Oklahoma baseball team as a walk-on out of Plano East despite being nationally ranked and holding offers from multiple Division I programs.
Harris concluded his junior season at OU as a national champion.
Oklahoma dominated No. 5 North Carolina 13-2 in Game 3 of the championship series on June 22 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska – lifting the Sooners to their third national title and first since 1994.
Harris, a 2023 Plano East graduate, went 2-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored in the series clincher. He drove in a run with an RBI single that he hit into left field in the eighth inning for a commanding 10-2 Sooners lead.
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By David Wolman
Plano East recently completed its spring sports season and the Panthers experienced plenty of success in its final season in District 6-6A.
The Murphy Monitor will look back at the accomplishments of Plano East’s baseball, softball and track and field teams.
Baseball
Challenges were aplenty for the Panthers – most notably having to play their home games at Naaman Forest and Rowlett high schools because of recent construction at Plano East High School to renovate the baseball and softball fields.
Plano East also brought in a new head coach with the hiring of former Naaman Forest coach Carey Willingham taking over the reins.
A 3-1 start to 6-6A play had the Panthers firing on all cylinders. However, Plano East proceeded to drop in the district standings following a five-game losing streak in the middle of 9-6A play. Although Plano East rebounded with a four-game winning streak, the Panthers had their playoff aspirations cut short by Allen in the final week of the regular season.
Plano East finished 18-12 overall and 7-9 in District 6-6A. The Panthers went 10-3 during non-district play, highlighted by a 4-3 win over a Tyler Legacy team that won 27 games and was a regional finalist.
Graduation will take a hit on Plano East as it lost 14 seniors from this year’s team, but they will return six underclassmen who logged significant playing time.
Softball
One year after making the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and reaching its first regional final since 2012, the Lady Panthers set high goals for this year.
Despite losing four key seniors to graduation, including pitcher Jadyn Dawson, last year’s 6-6A MVP, Plano East leaned on seven starters and also welcomed three varsity newcomers who were ready to make their mark.
Everything came together at the start of district play for the Lady Panthers. Plano East was 5-4 through nine games and in postseason contention. However, a rough stretch of play in which the Lady Panthers lost four straight games to Plano West, Prosper, McKinney Boyd and Rock Hill proved too much for them to overcome, and Plano East came up just short in its quest for a second consecutive playoff berth.
The Lady Panthers finally ended that losing streak with an 8-6 win over Plano, followed by a 13-3 rout of McKinney. Plano East was competitive against Allen in its final game of the season – a 2-1 Lady Eagles win.
Plano East finished with an 8-15-2 overall record and a 7-9 district record.
Incoming sophomore catcher Emerson Bailey, who was named the District 6-6A Utility Player of the Year, finished with a .342 batting average with 25 RBIs and 10 runs scored. Defensively, she committed five errors on 81 total chances for a .938 fielding percentage.
Track and field
Caitlyn Tran and Malachi Terry saved their best for last, qualifying for the Class 6A state meet for the first time, with Tran earning a berth in the girls’ 100-meter hurdles and Terry in the boys’ 200-meter dash.
Tran persevered in one of the toughest districts and areas to earn her first-ever state berth in the hurdles, earning her way into the state meet after placing second in the Region I-6A meet at the University of Texas at Arlington. At the state meet in Austin, Tran, an SMU signee, placed fifth with a wind-aided time of 13.90. She broke the school record three times.
Meanwhile, Terry, a New Jersey Institute of Technology signee, broke the school record in the boys 200 twice and qualified for state after placing second in the regional meet with a time of 21.06. At the state meet, Terry improved on that time and finished eighth with a 21.05.
Plano East’s girls’ 4×100 of Lauryn Bowen, Liana Wright, Ce’Niyah Brown and Kosi Ngadi placed third in the regional meet, while its 4×200 of Bowen, Ngadi, Brown and Sophia Sawyerr took 11th.
Wright also placed sixth at regionals in the 100. Kourtney Houston was sixth in the shot put and 10th in the discus. Maya Shariff placed 10th in the 800. Naomi Williams placed 11th in the triple jump.
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By David Wolman
Plano East enjoyed a breakthrough in multiple sports during the 2025-26 school year.
The Lady Panthers soccer team advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2008, the boys’ soccer team made its first postseason appearance since 2018, and Jake Li became the first male golfer from Plano East to qualify for the regional tournament since 2012.
The Murphy Monitor will take a closer examination of each sport and highlight their individual and team success.
Boys soccer
Plano East turned to a familiar face to try and get the Panthers back into the playoffs after barely missing in each of the previous two seasons.
Head coach Justin Bailey and his coaching staff had the Panthers firing on all cylinders, with the reward being their first postseason berth in nearly a decade.
The clincher was a 2-1 road win over Plano on March 6. The Panthers were forced to play from behind after the Wildcats scored on a breakaway in the 16th minute. Brandon Cazeault scored in the 30th minute to level the score at 1-1. Following a one-hour delay for lightning in the area, the Panthers took the lead for good after Myles Dennis scored on a header.
Plano East had its chances in a Class 6A Division I bi-district playoff match at Coppell, but the Panthers were unable to find the back of the net in a 2-0 loss. Kolby Lee had Plano East’s best scoring chance. He beat three Cowboy defenders on his own, but he couldn’t get a clean shot away.
Following the conclusion of the season, Garrett Caldwell was named the District 6-6A Co-Goalkeeper of the Year.
Girls soccer
Head coach Cristy Cooley felt that the Lady Panthers needed “just a taste” of the playoffs to fully realize their potential.
Plano East got that taste last year when it qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.
Although the Lady Panthers’ season ended in the bi-district round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs after losing 4-1 to eventual state champion Coppell, Plano East was just getting warmed up.
Fast-forward to this year and the Lady Panthers went three rounds deep in the postseason.
After earning a defensive-minded 1-0 victory over battle-tested Hebron in bi-district, Plano East put forth a dominant effort in front of its home fans during a 7-1 rout of Arlington Martin in area.
Backed by dueling hat tricks from Alexa Perreira and Lauren Delapaz, Plano East scored the game’s final six goals after the Lady Warriors had tied the score at 1-1 during the 18th minute.
In the regional semifinals, Plano East saw a late rally come up short in a 3-2 loss to eventual state runner-up Keller.
Following the conclusion of the season, Delapaz was named the District 6-6A Co-MVP and Cooley was tabbed the district’s Coach of the Year.
Golf
Plano East has experienced plenty of success in golf over the years, especially on the girls’ side, highlighted by a state runner-up finish by Meagan Winans in 2021.
However, advancing a male golfer past the district tournament had been a struggle over the past decade.
That drought finally ended this year.
Incoming senior Jake Li earned third place in District 6-6A with a score of 147, becoming the first male golfer at Plano East in 14 years to qualify for regionals.
Li began the tournament by starting on the back nine. He shot double bogey on the first hole but he quickly regrouped and finished strong. Over the final four holes, he shot 3-under par, including a hole-out eagle from approximately 40 yards in the rough, and a closing birdie with a made 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole to secure his qualification for the regional tournament.
Carter Cox (21st, 160), Surya Sastry (35th, 167), Rayden Lee (39th, 168) and Grant Rae (41st, 169), Kristian Leask (41st, 169), Mason Le (54th, 176), Rohan Sukesh (54th, 176), Blake Work (54th, 176) and Zachary Jordan (86th, 211) also competed for Plano East at the 6-6A tournament.
At the regional tournament, Li shot a 3-over 151 to finish in 29th place.
On the girls’ side, Plano East finished in 10th place at the district tournament.
Michelle Phan (27th, 182) led the charge for the Lady Panthers, followed by Hannah Tong (40th, 197), Saydee Vo (45th, 206), Haley Nguyen (63rd, 225) and Georgia Martin (65th, 228).
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