Best reunion
After injured football player Louie Swope had his full scholarship offer for next season revoked by SMU, the Westlake senior accepted a preferred walk-on invitation from Texas A&M University. He’ll see a very familiar face in the locker room – older brother, Ryan, will be a sophomore wide receiver for the Ags next fall.

Best debut
Westlake’s girls soccer team entered the season with nagging questions on the back row, but freshman Hannah Meyer provided an emphatic answer. The all-state defender started 27 matches for the Chaps and helped them make a surprising run to the Class 5A Region IV finals.

Best roller-coaster ride
No one will ever say the 2009 Chap football team bored its fans. Remember these games? A regular-season shootout against Austin High that ended with a 49-42 win. A 31-27 playoff-opening win over San Antonio Madison that came down to the last snap of the game. A 41-38 loss to Trinity in the 5A Division I state championship game. And you thought the Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta had its share of thrills.

Best orbit scratch
He may not have led Westlake’s district-championship boys basketball team in scoring, but senior R.J. Vickers paced the team in musical talent. The DJ and fledgling freestyler has already produced one album.

Best rivalry
Austin High still gets the blood pumping for the more seasoned Chap fans, and Lake Travis draws the attention of the Westlake neophytes. But when it comes to each sport, no one gives Chap Nation more competition than Bowie. Boys basketball, softball girls soccer, boys soccer baseball – all those Westlake programs were nipped by the Dawgs.

Best comeback
Less than a year after mangling her knee ligaments in a playoff game, senior softball player MacKenzie Whyte returned to her starting shortstop spot and earned first-team all-district honors.

Best power surge
Westlake’s baseball team did its best Bash Brothers impersonation during a playoff game against San Antonio Stevens with five home runs in one inning, including two from centerfielder Collin Shaw.

Best trend
Several school records fell in 2009-10, including yards from scrimmage for a football player (Tanner Price), career kills from a volleyball player (Sara Shaw), career points and assists in boys basketball (Cody Doolin), goals scored in a season by a boys soccer player (Dillon Short), the boys swimming 500-yard freestyle (Reed Snyder) and the girls 100 freestyle (Samantha Tucker).

Best game to pitch
Chap hurlers must see a start against Bastrop like a kid sees Christmas. Both perfect games in Westlake history came against Bastrop, and the Bears have two hits in the past four games against Westlake, including two in 2010.

Best fashion statement
It’s no surprised that gritty girls basketball player Cherrell Mays, left, broke her nose in an early-season game and had to don a plastic mask. But instead of tossing the mask aside after her injury healed, Mays kept the look intact as a warning about her, ahem, hard-nosed play.

Best family feud
How about Westlake’s Peyton Burns against the Bernstein family of Allen? In 2009, Burns bested Eden Bernstein for the 152-pound state title. In February, Burns rallied for a win over Eden’s younger brother, Opher, en route to winning bronze.

Best performance by an alumnus
There is this football player named Drew Brees, and a football team called the New Orleans Saints, and a football game called the Super Bowl.