The 50th anniversary of the Athena award winner has been selected as BSM senior Mary Zavoral. This award showcases one female athlete from each school’s senior class who shows exceptional athletic ability and leadership. Zavoral received this award because she excels not only in the classroom but on the ice and field.

Throughout her years at BSM, Zavoral has participated in three varsity sports. These include soccer in the fall, hockey in the winter, and lacrosse in the spring. Her speed is something that stands out to her teammates and coaches in every sport.

On top of athletics she is a part of many community organizations: RKVC, edina dream skates, and link crew. She has achieved many scholastic achievements in her years at BSM on top of her extracurricular accomplishments. Zavoral is a member of National Honor Society, National Language Honors Society, was on the honor roll all four years, and won the all state academic award for hockey.

Zavoral made the BSM hockey team her freshman year and has been a huge asset to the team ever since. She ended her senior year with a total of four letters, three conference awards, an MVP award, and made it in BSM’s top five all time career goal scorers. Underclassmen admire Zavoral’s work ethic and the care she has for her team. “I look up to Mary because she is aggressive, very fast, and she helps our team win games…she’s a very nice teammate and drove me to practice,” sophomore Julia Evens said.

Zavoral joined the BSM soccer team her sophomore year. By the end of her senior season she had lettered three times. “Mary is a welcoming teammate and she’s very nice to everyone on the team…she is super speedy and even though she’s a defender, she finds a way to get up the field and be a part of the attack,” sophomore Lauren Hillins said.

In the springtime, Zavoral plays lacrosse on the BSM varsity lacrosse team. She made the team freshman year, but then unfortunately had her sophomore season canceled due to the pandemic. She has three letters in lacrosse and junior Izzy Garvin, a lacrosse teammate of Zavoral’s notices how her speed makes her a major threat on offense. “She is the fastest one on the field, if you see her running down the field with the ball, you know thats Mary…she is always driving towards the net and she knows how to put the ball in the back of it,” Garvin said.

Zavoral’s dedication and passion to everything she does rubs off on others. Many people in the BSM community think this award was well deserved. “Mary is always working 100%…she always shows up ready to play…the way she plays is encouraging to others…just having a positive attitude and hyping up everyone on the bench and field,” Garvin said.