Best High School Athlete

In this era of specialization, where the two-sport athlete is increasingly rare, we give you Erin Parsons. After being named to all-conference, all-city and all-state basketball teams last year as a sophomore, Ms. Parsons, a 6-foot-1 center, has college scouts drooling. Like most high-school ballers, Parsons participates in summer leagues and camps during June. But, unlike all of the others, when the summer leagues come to an end around the Fourth of July, Erin hooks up the horse trailer to the pickup truck and goes out on the junior rodeo circuit, hitting several stops in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. An accomplished rider and roper, last year she won the Barry Burk's Breakaway Roping title, the equivalent of the national championship in the event. This coming season, her Marana High Tigers should be one of the favorites to win the Class 4A state basketball crown. And she's only a junior.