POCATELLO — By the end of the night, Abby Lusk had run out of hands to carry her hardware.

The Pocatello senior didn’t just win an award Tuesday at the Idaho State Journal’s Sports Stars Award Show hosted inside Idaho State University’s Stephens Performing Arts Center.

She won three. Volleyball Athlete of the Year. Girls Basketball Athlete of the Year. Overall Girls Athlete of the Year.

A sweep that would have felt outrageous for anyone else felt almost understated for a player who spent the last four years redefining what a Pocatello athlete could be.

On the basketball court, Lusk was the Class 5A Player of the Year again after averaging 20.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.8 steals — all career highs — while leading the Thunder to back-to-back state titles. She leaves as the program’s all-time career scoring leader with 1,560 points. A basketball scholarship to Gonzaga, which has made five NCAA Tournament appearances over the last six seasons, shouldn’t come as a surprise.

If that wasn’t enough, she dominated a completely different sport. On the volleyball court, she was just one vote shy of being the 5A Player of the Year after leading the state with 613 kills. She was still a first-team all-state selection despite her team missing state. Lusk exits with a program-record 1,496 kills.

Lusk’s awards were among the 50 handed out that night in front of more than 800 people. The annual event celebrates the best high school athletes, coaches, teams and moments Southeastern Idaho had to offer this school year.

The crowd didn’t need warming up.

Every finalist announcement drew cheers. Every winner drew a roar.

The Century High School football section deserves its own mention — the Diamondbacks were loud, proud and had every reason to be.

Their team was awarded Game of the Year for a 36-35 overtime victory over Nampa to open the season, a win that snapped a 17-game losing streak and launched a 9-1 campaign. Quarterback Justus Mangum was named Football Player of the Year.

Head coach Ryan Fleischmann capped an exciting night by taking home both the Boys Fall Coach of the Year and Overall Boys Coach of the Year honors after overseeing one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the state. He guided the Diamondbacks from a two-year winless stretch to an undefeated regular season and a run to the state quarterfinals. The program took home four awards on the night. They celebrated like it.

Highland’s Spencer Van Orden was the big winner for the boys.

The senior took home both the Boys Track Athlete and Overall Boys Athlete awards by doing something almost no one does — being elite in seven events at the same time. The Texas Tech signee owns the state’s fastest times in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles, with his 110-hurdle mark of 13.44 seconds ranking eighth nationally after a scorching run at California’s prestigious Arcadia Invitational. He also ranks in the top six statewide in four other events, is undefeated against Idaho competition in the hurdles and is chasing a three-peat in both events at state.

The final multiple award winner of the night was Lydia Townsend.

The Marsh Valley senior walked away with both the Girls Track Athlete and Individual Performance of the Year awards, the latter for a 13-foot-8 pole vault clearance at Arcadia that ranks second in the nation and made her the first Idaho girl to win at the meet in at least 11 years. She is currently unbeaten in the pole vault and will seek her third straight state title in the event and 10th overall. Townsend will continue her career at BYU following an LDS mission.

There was hardly a dry eye in the building when Kaiden Irwin received the Inspirational Athlete of the Year award. The Pocatello senior returned to the pool just months after open-heart surgery last summer to rack up four state medals. He leaves with 10 overall — the most in program history.

Rockland boys basketball and Malad girls basketball were named the overall teams of the year. Pocatello’s Sunny Evans took home the Overall Girls Coach of the Year honor after engineering back-to-back state titles with just one returning starter — a detail that somehow keeps getting more impressive the longer you think about it.

Malad was the runaway School of the Year. The Dragons won state championships in boys cross country, girls cross country, girls basketball and boys wrestling, reached the volleyball state final, and still have baseball, softball and track squads positioned as favorites before the school year wraps up.

The evening also included the induction of two Hall of Fame recipients. Highland’s Gino Mariani compiled a 187-52 record over 21 years with four state championships and seven runner-up finishes, never once missing the state tournament while extending Highland’s streak that dates to 1989.

Preston’s Launa Moser transformed Idaho volleyball with an 83% winning percentage, five state championships and 19 state tournament appearances in 22 seasons — all while co-authoring a coaching text adopted nationally by the United States Volleyball Association and sending 31 players on to college scholarships.

Rounding out the highlights were a pair of three-peat winners in Blackfoot’s Keanna Conrad and Highland’s Addisyn Fenstermaker, who claimed the Girls Wrestling and Girls Swimming Athlete of the Year awards for the third consecutive year.