Sienna Foster of Benton Central named Journal & Courier Female Student-Athlete of the Year

LAFAYETTE — The Journal & Courier sports department is proud to present the 21st annual Student-Athlete of the Year awards.

The selections were based on a student-athlete's athletic and academic achievements, along with community activities. The winners were asked to write about what high school athletics meant to them.

The female recipient for 2024 is Sienna Foster of Benton Central. She was a class officer for four years and a member of CAAP, Council for Academic Excellence, National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society.

Foster also worked as an office assistant and teaching assistant at Benton Central.

Foster is one of the best volleyball players to come through Benton County. She was a four-year All Hoosier Conference selection and helped the Bison win three sectional championships and two Hoosier Conference titles.

She was an all-state honoree and a three-time all-state selection. An all-around player, she showed her prowess both on offense and defense, smashing 1,258 kills, 1,381 digs and 244 aces during her career.

Foster was also a skilled basketball player and was a two-time Hoosier Conference Defensive Player of the Year and All-Hoosier Conference Selection as a senior.

She will play volleyball at Purdue University and study health sciences.

Winning this award is an honor but I could not have gotten here without the people that surround me.

Ever since I have been able to walk I have been involved in athletes in some sort of way. This includes soccer, gymnastics and etc. all the way to my senior year finishing with basketball and volleyball. I think I have almost tried everything and every single sport has taught me multiple different lessons. Throughout these lessons I have faced many challenges that I had to overcome because not everything always goes the way you want it to.

This past year during volleyball the biggest challenge.

I had was a knee injury called posterior capsule sprain and it limited me to barely be able to bend my knee and caused me issues with moving on the floor. I did not want any days off so I knew I just had to be smart and fight through any pain I had. This did affect my game but thankfully we still advanced to regionals.

Basketball on the other side was not effect as bad but defensively it was a struggle at first but throughout therapy I progressively got healthier. I not only enjoy competing but meeting so many different coaches and players throughout the way has been a blessing. I am so grateful for all the lessons, experiences, and challenges I have faced.

With all the support I did get I couldn’t thank my family enough for being there every minute they could. Such as my parents driving me to a ton of practices and tournaments when I was younger. The time they took out of there to help myself out athletically was an honor and they continue to do the same for my younger siblings.

Both of my younger siblings, Cali and Wyatt, have a very bright future ahead of them when it comes to athletics and I am hoping that my presence in there sports to push them to the best they can be in the future. Specifically when it comes to my dad, he has always seemed to be my role model that I follow when it comes to athletics.

The stories he has told me of his past athletic history has swayed my mind to think like him and to want to put in as much time, effort, and accountability in that he did. I wouldn’t change anything about my journey.

Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached atehanson@gannett.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.