The votes are in and the BASD ECHO’s senior athletes of the year are . . . Haley Tooch and Robert Cestra!

The ECHO asked Beaver Area’s coaches, administrators, and athletic department members to name the senior athletes they felt best represented Beaver Area with Tooch and Cestra getting top nods.

Tooch has been a staple in both basketball and soccer throughout her high school career. Tooch started playing basketball when she was three years old and has yet to stop.

Along with the Bobcats, Tooch was a pivotal player in travel basketball organizations such as BVBA and DFS between sixth and ninth grades.

Tooch contributed to the Cats’ team that won both the section and WPIAL championships in 2021, her sophomore year, as well the WPIAL championships runner-ups her freshman year in 2020.

As a four-year letter winner and a team captain her senior year, Tooch was also selected for the Brentwood Tip-Off Tournament All-Tournament team as well as the all-star Roundball Tournament this past season.

Mr. Greg Huston, the girls’ basketball coach, explained that “Hailey is very deserving of this award because of her abilities on the soccer field and basketball court. She always displayed leadership qualities, was a great teammate, and also a great person. I’m so glad she was honored in this way.”

Along with being extremely impressive on the hardwood, Tooch has put her all into the Beaver Area girls’ soccer team her entire high school career.

Like basketball, Tooch started playing soccer at the young age of three and never stopped.

Also similar to her career in basketball, Tooch was a four-year letter winner and chosen as a team captain her senior year for the soccer team.

Tooch was honored with being selected for all-section both her junior and senior years.

As for Beaver Area soccer awards, Tooch was awarded co-defender of the year her sophomore year as well as defender of the year her senior year.

Tooch was incredibly proud of her contribution to helping lead the soccer team to their first playoff win in 11 years this past season.

Outside of her sports, Tooch has been a high honor student throughout high school as well as an assistant soccer coach for one of Beaver’s U10 soccer teams.

Tooch will be attending West Virginia University to study criminology in the fall.

Both Cestra and Tooch were selected as Midwestern Athletic Conference athletes.

Cestra has played three sports all four years of high school and was a pivotal player in soccer, swimming, and baseball.

He is a three-year letterman in soccer and a four-year letterman for swimming.

He was also this season’s boys’ swim team captain.

Cestra was a part of a relay team on the swim team that was a contender for the state championships this past year.

As the varsity Bobcat goalkeeper, Cestra helped lead the soccer team to a second place finish in the WPIAL championships in an overtime matchup against Deer Lakes.

Cestra was credited with saving the boys’ soccer team’s season not once but twice with two overtime shootout saves in the playoffs.

Soccer coach Mr. Scott Hazuda stated that “Robert played such a huge role for our team all season long as a player and leader, but really stood out during our playoff run with one big save after another. He was a major reason we advanced to the WPIAL championship this season, but it was the result of four years of hard work, and I'm certainly going to miss him.”

Along with being an impressive athlete, Cestra is credited with being the biggest joker on all of his teams, always keeping his teammates laughing and guessing.

Cestra is also acknowledged with being a six-time Academic Games national qualifier, a three-year member of the student council, a member of the math league, and a high honor student throughout his high school career

Cestra is also extremely proud of being the 2023 Mr. Beaver High winner and having his “redemption arc” fulfilled.

He was also a leader of the Beaver Dam student fan section this year and a manager of the Bocce team.

Cestra will attend Penn State, University Park in the fall and is currently undecided in a major.