SportStars’ Bay Area 75 Athlete Rankings 2023 | Nos. 50-26

Our 11th Annual Bay Area 75 Athlete Rankings For The ’22-’23 School Year Continues On With Nos. 50-26

PICTURED ABOVE: No. 39, Money Williams of Oakland High

Welcome to our 11th annual Bay Area 75 rankings — SportStars’ countdown of the top 75 Bay Area athletes from the 2022-23 school year.

Covering high school sports in the Bay Area continues to be luxury that we vow never to take for granted. The talent that we’re able to witness over a 10-month stretch every year is truly remarkable. Every year we build this list, we marvel at the final list of names and shake our heads at the many names that have come before them. This year was no different. 

As always, our only criteria used in generating the list is that the athletes must compete at a school from within one of the nine Bay Area counties, and they must have played in a sport which culminated in a sanctioned section title or reached a national-level of success (i.e., won a national championship or been named to a youth national team).

All sports fans know rankings are an opinion, and certainly subjective. They also spark debate and conversation, which is why we love them. So don’t hesitate to give us your thoughts. We’re looking forward to it.

— Chace Bryson

2023-24 Bay Area 75 Rankings 

SKIP TO: Nos. 75-51 | Nos. 25-1

50. CHARLES WILLIAMS (Marin Catholic-Kentfield)

Football, Basketball
Williams was honored as the Marin Independent-Journal Offensive Player of the Year and a SportStars All-NorCal selection as a player who could change a game with one run for the NCS Div. IV champs. He rushed for 1,239 yards and 23 touchdowns despite often not playing full games due to blowout victories. The junior also rushed for 207 yards in a CIF NorCal Division 2-A game loss to San Ramon Valley-Danville. In the winter, he was a key contributor to the basketball team, earning honorable mention on CalHiSports.com’s All-State Grid-Hoop Team. 

49. PAIGE MCLEOD (San Ramon Valley)

Softball
McLeod was a dominant pitcher and dynamic two-way player for a Wolves team that finished at No. 7 in our final NorCal Softball Rankings. The Illinois State-bound talent went 15-6 in the circle with a 0.89 ERA and 220 strikeouts. She also hit .326 with six homers and 21 RBI and was named 2nd Team All-State by CalHiSports.com.

48. DASHIELL WEAVER (Campolindo)

Football
The SportStars All-NorCal quarterback selection led the Cougars to a DAL-Foothill Division title and a trip to the NCS Div. II final by passing for 3,239 yards and 32 touchdowns. He also finished with 543 yards and 11 rushing TDs, both team-highs. The San Jose State-bound QB accounted for all six of Campo’s touchdowns in an epic NCS Div. II semifinal win over Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park.

47. CHLOE HO (Washington-Fremont)

Badminton
Ho is the first badminton athlete we can ever remember making the rankings, and the competition for it was fierce. She earned her inclusion on this list over Valley Christian-San Jose talent, Suneri Chinthapati, due to a head-to-head doubles win over her in the CIF NorCal Championships tournament. Ho and her partner Mia Zhang would eventually win the doubles title. Ho was also a member of the USA Badminton Junior Nationals team in the fall and the Pan American Junior Championship team that competed this July.

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46. CLARENCE MOORE (Branham-San Jose)

Wrestling
Clarence “Scotty” Moore was as a lightweight machine during the wrestling postseason. In the CCS Masters and CIF State Championship tournaments combined, Moore went 11-0 with eight pins. He closed out his season by pinning Rocklin Zinkin of Buchanan-Clovis in 4 minutes, 45 seconds to earn the 106-pound state title.

45. SAILASA VADRAWALE (Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park)

Football
Arguably one of the Bay Area’s best two-way players of 2022, the Cal-bound All-NorCal All-Purpose selection could’ve made the team on his defensive back chops alone. He led the Cougars with 75 tackles (37 solo) with an interception, blocked field goal and a fumble recovery scoop-and-score. On offense he had 62 catches for 1,069 yards and 17 TDs.

44. COURTNEY ANDERSON JR. (Dublin)

Basketball
Anderson will begin his Pac-12 career at Colorado after wrapping up his Gaels career with a second consecutive first-team All-East Bay Athletic League selection — which was followed by SportStars 2nd Team All-NorCal honors and 2nd Team All-State honors. His athleticism was on display nightly as he averaged 16.4 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

43. MALCOLM ZALAYET (Marin Academy-San Rafael)

Soccer
Zalayet returns to the Bay Area 75 for a second straight year after delivering 21 goals and seven assists for a Wildcats team that went 21-2-1 and won a second NorCal title. The Cal-committed junior was named the Marin IJ Boys Soccer Player Of The Year, and still has one more season to go for a BA75 threepeat.

42. TAYLOR WILLIAMS (Saint Francis)

Volleyball
One of two Lancer volleyball players to make this list, the Duke-committed junior led the squad with 407 kills to pair with 207 digs, 44 aces and 37 blocks. Saint Francis went 34-1 with its only loss coming in the Open Div. state final. PrepDig.com currently ranks Williams at No. 5 in the state’s 2024 recruiting class.

41. MARCO JONES (San Ramon Valley)

Football, Baseball
At 6-foot-4, 205-pounds, the SportStars All-NorCal linebacker strikes an immediate presence on the field — and that’s before he’s flying around making one of his 149 tackles or forcing one his five turnovers for the section- and NorCal-champion Wolves. His offer list is loaded with Power 5 schools, including Alabama, Oklahoma and Notre Dame. During the spring, Jones played in 28 games for the 20-10 team that won the EBAL baseball tournament. He had 15 hits with two doubles and a home run.

40. TOMMY KIESLING (Menlo School-Atherton)

Water Polo, Swimming
Among the most impactful water polo players in all of NorCal, not just the Bay Area. Kiesling will head to UC Davis in the fall after landing on just about every water polo postseason honors list. He was named a 1st Team All-American by the National Instructional Swim Coaches Association, 1st Team All-NorCal by WaterPoloPlanet.com and 1st Team All-WCAL. He amassed 252 career goals, 77 assists and 90 steals across three seasons. He also swam in the spring and was part of the West Bay Athletic League-champion 200-yard medley relay team.

39. MONEY WILLIAMS (Oakland)

Basketball
There was plenty of talent throughout the roster, but Williams was the driving force behind the Wildcats’ first ever CIF state title. The Montana commit averaged 17.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists on his way to being a 3rd Team All-State and 1st Team All-NorCal selection.

38. SOO-JIN BERRY (Clayton Valley-Concord)

Basketball, Softball
Before she was a 2nd Team All-State softball selection, Berry led the Ugly Eagles basketball team by averaging a double-double of 15.7 points and 16.2 rebounds over 20 contests. Then she hit the diamond and promptly batted .451 with 26 RBI, 29 runs scored and 12 stolen bases.

37. NATALIA MARTINEZ (Piedmont)

Basketball
SportStars named the junior 2nd Team All-NorCal after leading a Highlanders team that ranked No. 1 (and was undefeated) throughout the regular season. On a roster filled with stars, Martinez stood out. She ran the show for Piedmont, and also scored 20 points a game to go along with plenty of steals and assists.

36. JACK EBERTIN (Saint Francis)

Volleyball
Ebertin found himself on several postseason honors lists after helping lead the Lancers to a 27-10 record with a deep postseason run. The USC-bound outside hitter was part of Volleyballmag.com’s Fab 50 recruit list as well as the Junior Volleyball Associations’s All-National Team. The WCAL Player of the Year racked up 421 kills.

35. LESLIE IORIO (San Ramon Valley-Danville)

Lacrosse
San Ramon Valley girls lacrosse is an absolute machine, and this year Iorio was the primary driver. The Villanova-committed junior led the Wolves with 81 goals and chipped in with assists on 17 others. SRV went 24-0, won NCS and CIF NorCal titles, and outscored opponents by a combined 273 goals. Machine.

34. KATE MUNNERLYN (Archbishop Mitty)

Softball
Munnerlyn earned 1st Team All-State honors after a two-way season that was nothing short of stellar. She posted a 16-3 record in the circle with a 0.55 ERA. She no-hit Granada-Livermore at the Livermore Stampede and didn’t surrender an earned run over 16 innings of championship games (CCS Open and CIF Div. I NorCal). Munnerlyn also hit .350 with six home runs and 31 RBI. 

33. ELIJAH CORTEZ (Gilroy)

Wrestling
The first of two brothers to make the list, Elijah Cortez is FloWrestling.com’s No. 11-ranked wrestler in the nation at 126 pounds. He won the 126-pound CIF State Championship final with a 2-1 decision over Joseph Toscano of Buchanan-Clovis. Cortez went 6-0 at the state meet and was 4-0 at the CCS Masters Championships one week prior. 

32. IAN DYKES (Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton)

Lacrosse
The San Mateo Journal Lacrosse Player of the Year and WCAL MVP netted 81 goals and added 30 assists for a Gators team that went 16-7 overall and reached the CCS finals. Dykes is already committed to Duke, but still has one more year with Sacred Heart. 

31. MAKIAH ASIDANYA (Salesian-Richmond)

Basketball
Like the team she plays for, the senior guard (who will play for UNC Greensboro next year) goes a little under the radar at times. That wasn’t the case this year when it came to postseason accolades, however. Asidanya picked up 1st Team All-State honors from CalHiSports.com and 2nd Team All-NorCal from SportStars. She averaged 14.2 points per game, made 34 percent of her 3-point shots, and added 5.3 rebounds.

30. HAVANNAH HOEFT (Saint Francis)

Volleyball
Hoeft topped an impressive list of Bay Area setters in 2022, posting 884 assists and earning WCAL Player of the Year honors for a Lancers team that won its first 34 matches before falling for the first time in the CIF Open Div. state final. Hoeft’s senior season numbers also included 199 digs, 68 kills and 34 aces. She’ll attend the Univ. of Portland in the fall.

29. CONNOR HARRISON (De La Salle)

Baseball
He’s the younger brother of Giants top pitching prospect, Kyle Harrison, but Connor is absolutely carving his own path of baseball success. The senior catcher wrapped up his De La Salle career by hitting .404 with a team-best 36 RBI for the NCS and NorCal Div. I champion Spartans. Harrison’s big season garnered him 1st Team All-State recognition and led to his selection as the Bay Area News Group’s Player of the Year. His next stop is Saint Mary’s College.

28. ELLIE MCCUSKEY (St. Ignatius-S.F.)

Track
Having a better freshman season than McCuskey would be awfully hard to do. The St. Ignatius track phenom announced her presence with authority by sweeping both the 100 and 200 meter sprints at the CCS Championships. She also won the long jump at the meet and was part of the winning 400 meter relay team. One week later at the state meet, she took 2nd in the 100 and sixth in the long jump.

27. BAILEY HARTMAN (Carondelet-Concord)

Swimming
Hartman was a no-brainer for this list. The Virginia-committed junior has a chance to be the East Bay’s next national swimming star. She wrapped up her penultimate varsity season by winning the 100 and 500-yard freestyles at the NCS Championships. She also grabbed a third NCS medal as part of the champion 400 relay team. Swimcloud.com lists her as the state’s No. 1 swim recruit for 2024, and No. 8 in the nation.

26. ANDREW MCKEEVER (Granada)

Basketball
The Saint Mary’s-bound center closed out a remarkable prep career by leading the Matadors program to its first ever state finals appearance. He had a 31-point, 16-rebound effort in a regional semifinal win over Riordan-S.F. His postseason kudos included being named 1st Team All-NorCal and 2nd Team All-State.