BILLINGS - Isabelle Erickson and Neil Daily are the Midland Roundtable’s latest Athlete of the Year winners after being crowned during Wednesday night's banquet at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.
Erickson is Billings Central’s 2021 class valedictorian and was academic all-state in both volleyball and basketball. She is a three-time Class A state volleyball champion and was a member of the Rams’ co-championship basketball team in 2020. Erickson was all-state in both sports and has signed to play basketball at Carroll College.
Daily excelled in football, basketball and track for Billings West and Missoula Sentinel. He earned Class AA state championships in football and basketball at Sentinel before transferring to West after his sophomore year. Daily earned academic all-state honors in each sport, carries a 3.89 GPA and has a scholarship to play football at Montana State.
The five female and five male finalists were announced two weeks ago.
This year’s female finalists include West’s Kendell Ellis and Senior’s Olivia LeBeau, along with Central’s Kellan Wahl and Molly Molvig.
Senior’s Thomas Klepps, Junior Bergen and Jacksen Burckley joined Central’s Marcus Wittman as male finalists.
High school coaches in Billings nominate athletes for the award before members of the Midland Roundtable narrow the list of finalists and vote on each year’s winners. Skyview's Julius Mims and West's Maddie Albrecht were crowned last year.
The Roundtable is a group of local sports enthusiasts eager to promote prep and collegiate athletics in the Billings area, according to its website. Since 1947, the Roundtable’s main focus has been devoted to fostering and perpetuating more and better sports. The Athlete of Year Banquet is one of three events sponsored by the active membership annually, along with its Top 10 track and field meet and the Montana-Wyoming All-Star Basketball Series each June.
