Closing out their high school athletic careers in style, a quartet of Escalon High senior Cougars were recognized with the top awards for the Class of 2025.

Samuel Jimenez and Genevieve Casazza were selected as the Bob & Mark Loureiro Most Inspirational Senior Athletes, while Karisa McNeil and Ryan Lewis received honors as the Lloyd C. Engel Most Outstanding Senior Athletes.

The honors were presented as the final piece of the last sports awards night of the school year, highlighting spring sports as well as the top senior award recognition.

For Jimenez, it was a bittersweet moment, as he lost his entire senior season to injury, suffering a torn ACL at a football camp just prior to the start of the 2024-25 school year. He was poised for a huge senior season but the devastating knee injury kept him off the playing field as a competitor for the entire football season last fall and basketball this past winter.

He remained with his teams, however, serving almost as an assistant coach on the football sidelines and the basketball bench, offering encouragement, support and guidance to his teammates.

“Gives me chills and even gets me a little bit choked up, just to start talking about this young man. It hurt every coach involved in this young man’s life on a personal level to see what he went through and what he lost this school year,” EHS Athletic Director and varsity head football coach Andrew Beam said of Jimenez. “Not because of his athletic abilities but the heartbreak of losing the memories that he was deprived of, of being a senior on the hardwood or the football field, which he had worked so hard for the last three years.”

While he was unable to play football, he remained a team captain, involved in every contest. On the basketball court, he was able to take one shot this season; it turned out to hit nothing but net and was an emotional moment for the team, the crowd and even their opponents that night, understanding the enormity of the swish.

He was key to the football team’s Section title win over Patterson during his junior season.

“He was one of the best basketball and football players to come through this school, period, regardless of his senior year,” Beam added.

Jimenez was humbled by the recognition.

“This means everything; I figured since I’m hurt, I can’t contribute on the field or on the court … I might as well try to do my best to contribute otherwise,” Jimenez said. “It was all tough but I’m glad it impacted people and I still got something out of it, it was a learning experience and I couldn’t be more happy, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Jimenez plans to attend MJC and will suit up for football, while study kinesiology in the classroom. He also feels that his senior year opened up the possibility of coaching in the future.

“It’s going to be part of my calling eventually,” he predicted.

For Casazza, her sports were golf in the fall, softball in the spring.

She was lauded by Beam for helping “lead our female golf team from a 1-11 record in 2023 to a 9-3 record, second place in the TVL in 2024.”

As a softball player, she was the lone senior on this year’s team, and her coach Caitlin Schulte said “she played a variety of positions, doing whatever was asked of her” to help the Lady Cougars.

She was described as “the ultimate team player and teammate,” said Beam.

Casazza said she doesn’t necessarily think of herself as inspirational; she just wants to be there for her teammates.

“When I play, I like to play for my teammates because when they do good, it makes me feel good because I know they’re having fun,” she admitted. “And if they’re having fun, I’m having fun too and when everybody is supportive, it just supports the team dynamic.”

She was coached in golf by her dad, Chris Casazza, and together they helped lead the team turnaround from a last place team to a TVL title contender.

“It was exciting, none of us were really expecting that at all,” she said, adding that there were many inexperienced players but they grew together as a team. “We definitely had to push each other; we had to believe in ourselves.”

Casazza is headed to UC Davis where she will major in Biological Sciences to go on to Pre-Med.

A four-year varsity soccer athlete and a four-year volleyball player, serving as a captain on both the pitch and the court, Karisa McNeil was described by Beam as “a competitor through and through” and one who was always there to support her teammates whether it was on the volleyball court in the fall or the soccer field in the winter season.

She is Escalon High School’s all-time leader in saves among female goalies and has been a stable force in front of the goal for four years; as well as a steadying presence on the court for her volleyball team.

“I was very shocked; I did not expect to get this award, but I’m very grateful for it and for anybody that voted for me but I was definitely very shocked that I got it,” admitted McNeil.

She added that soccer is her favorite sport, having played it since she was five years old.

“It’s always been part of my life,” she said. “I hope to continue to play some rec soccer when I go to college.”

McNeil will attend Cal State Monterey Bay and study psychology.

Recognized for his accomplishments in football and basketball, Ryan Lewis was a four-year varsity starter for the football Cougars and accumulated 56 varsity starts, never missing a game.

“He was a four-time first team All-League player, four-time All-District player, two-time TVL Defensive Player of the Year, two-time First Team All-State. Also, a two-time TVL champion, won three straight Section titles, played in three NorCal championships and played for one state title in 2022,” Beam said of Lewis.

He also played basketball for four years at EHS and was an integral part of the team.

“He will continue his (football) career at Fresno State, where we are all eager to watch him thrive,” Beam said.

Lewis – who previously signed his Letter of Intent to play for Fresno State – was appreciative of the Engel honor.

“I’ve been extremely blessed to be surrounded by amazing teammates, amazing coaching staffs throughout all my sports and I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I think I made the most of it for sure,” Lewis said. “We won a few (football) Section titles, which is awesome, a lot of people don’t even get the chance to do that at all so I’m just really happy that I was able to be involved in these games and have these opportunities; I’m just grateful and I’ll remember these the rest of my life.”

He is eager to start his time at Fresno State, embracing the experience and getting the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.

The Engel award winners also each receive a $250 scholarship.