Three-sport senior standout Carson Miller was named Rye Lions Club Athlete of the Year on Wednesday at The Osborn, winning the 28th annual award in an especially competitive year for the Garnet athletic program.
With nine team section championships and three state titles – so far – this year, the Class of 2026 may go down as the most highly decorated in the history of the school. Rye athletic director Susan Reid, and many of the school’s hall of fame coaches, attended the annual awards luncheon to introduce the nine graduating seniors who earned Athlete of the Month honors: Miller (football); Emma Lunstead (volleyball); Lex Cox (boys soccer); Clare Nemsick (girls soccer); Jack Anderson (wrestling); Phoebe Greto (girls basketball); Will Weinman (hockey); Beau Whaling (girls lacrosse); and Henry Shoemaker (boys lacrosse.)
In his introduction of Miller, legendary Rye football coach Dino Garr acknowledged what his all-state quarterback has meant to the city over the past four years.
“This young man has done so much for Rye, it’s hard to put it into words,” said Garr, who won the fifth state title in his 50-year career last fall. “Captain of two state championship football teams, a state semifinal basketball team, and the lacrosse team, which has a big game tomorrow. In the history of Rye High School, what Carson has done is unheard of.”
Miller, and fellow Harvard commit and Athlete of the Year nominee Henry Shoemaker, will play in their third New York state semifinal in as many sports during their senior year, when the boys lacrosse team takes on Wantagh, the Long Island regional champions, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Middletown.
“Carson is a great leader who makes every player around him better in every sport he plays,” Garr said. “His father, Steve, played for me, his brother, AJ, played for me. Just an amazing Rye family.”
In addition to boys lacrosse’s state semifinal game this week, two other monthly honorees, Whaling and Nemsick, will also try adding to Rye’s state title collection, suiting up for the girls lacrosse team in its state semifinal at 2 p.m. Friday. The Garnet girls face Sayville at SUNY Cortland.
With state championships in football, girls soccer, hockey, and potentially two more in lacrosse this weekend, Lions Club member and lifelong Garnet Tommy Maloney summed up the school’s success and the senior standouts who fueled it.
“What these amazing young men and women have accomplished is truly remarkable, but they haven’t done it all on their own,” Maloney said. “Their coaches, teammates, and families, as well as Susan Reid and her staff in the Rye athletics department – all have a hand in their success. And I firmly believe that being a graduate of Rye High School and a Garnet athlete gives you a leg up in life. So, take advantage of it.”
