Lenox’s Cox wins Female Athlete of the Year Award

Reliable, adaptable and determined are three words Lenox standout athlete Sadie Cox’s coaches would use to describe her.

Cox was a four-sport athlete for the Tigers, cementing her name into the school’s record books in many ways; however, the most important takeaways she will forever carry with her are the ones that include memories she made playing sports with some of her closest friends.

For her impact on and off the court in the activities she participated in during high school, Cox is the 2025 recipient of the award for the South Central Iowa Female Athlete of the Year.

The honor was created in 2013 as a joint venture by the Creston News Advertiser and Osceola Sentinel-Tribune. Since then, a third Shaw Media newspaper, the Adair County Free Press, has joined in the collaborative effort to honor the region’s most outstanding graduating male and female senior athletes.

There are nine area high schools covered regularly by the three participating newspapers.

Adaptable

Lenox head volleyball coach Kaela David called Cox adaptable.

An all-around player for the Tigers, Cox helped guide her team last fall to a 23-16 record, but that’s not to mention her impact throughout her career on the court.

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Cox finishes her Tiger volleyball career with six school records. She has the most ace serves in a season (71 in 2023) and career (219), kills in a season (482 in 2023) and career (1,450) and digs in a season (406 in 2023) and career (1,283).

“Sadie showcased adaptability by always being willing to do what was necessary. This was so evident in the way she played every position on the court with game play intelligence, how she listened and adjusted to her coaches’ direction and how she led by being willing to adapt to her team’s needs,” David said. “Her adaptability as a volleyball player allowed her to rise to every occasion with grace, resilience and a team-first mindset.”

Volleyball is Cox’s favorite sport, and it always has been. Softball is a close second. She looks to summer practices, fun with friends and the necessity for strong teamwork in volleyball as reasons she loves it so much.

“My junior season, we had a lot of success, making to the round before the regional final. We had a great team atmosphere and always enjoyed being around each other. I think that is what stirred me toward that being my favorite sport,” Cox said. “We’ve all grown up together and obviously volleyball’s a big team sport.”

Keeping the team together and on the same page requires strong, positive and encouraging leadership. Cox felt she could give that to whatever team she was on. She loved watching players older than her, such as Cassidy Nelson, TJ Stoaks, and others, do the same before her.

“Bringing a positive attitude onto the court is a huge thing, so I tried to make sure I was as positive and encouraging as I could be. My first year in volleyball we weren’t the best. I think we all used that as fuel for the next seasons. My junior year we were undefeated for awhile, but then we had a big loss. I think that opened our eyes that we needed to push ourselves and get better,” Cox said. “I think that fueled us into this last season. I couldn’t have had a better senior season and my teammates helped me a lot.”

Determined

Head basketball coach Michael Barbosa described Cox as determined because of her drive to be the best version of herself in every practice and every game.

The Lenox girls were runners-up in the Pride of Iowa Conference this season, going 13-3 in the league and 19-6 overall, qualifying for a regional final against Montezuma. Cox was the group’s leading scorer (15.8 points per game) and rebounder (14.2). She enjoyed having a good point guard-post connection with her best friend, Zoey Reed.

“Sadie always strives to be the best,” Barbosa said. “On the basketball court, I saw how determined she was, chasing the other team’s player with the ball from one side of the court to the other, just trying to get the ball back.”

Cox had a team-high 87 steals her senior season to go with 55 blocks. Of her rebounds, 114 were offensive rebounds — another team-leading stat.

Cox leaves the halls of Lenox High School with nine hoops school records. She scored 40 points in a game last season — a school record. She’s also the all-time leading scorer for the Tigers with 1,567 points. She tied the record for rebounds in a game against Earlham in January 2022 with 26 boards. She has the season rebounds record with 358 in 2021-22 and is the program’s leading rebounder with 1,349 in all.

Her junior season, Cox dished out 11 assists in a game against Southwest Valley in January 2024.

She’s also a school record holder for steals in a career (320), blocked shots in a game (12 in December 2024) and blocked shots in a season (71 in 2021-22).

Cox remembers her group of basketball players focusing hard at developing in that sport from a young age, coached by Reed’s father, Jason, who later would coach them in middle school and high school.

“We had a couple of different coaches throughout my high school career, so we had to adjust to the different circumstances. That played out throughout my senior year and we ended up making a regional final, which was a huge thing for all of us because that was our goal throughout the year,” Cox said. “To make it to the regional final showed we were working hard and our hard work was paying off.”

Cox had to display determination in a heated POI race her senior year in basketball. The Tigers played well the first time they faced Mount Ayr but came up just short. They defeated the Raiderettes the second time they played. With an opportunity to face them a third time, Lenox was victorious that time as well.

Cox remembers the strong community support displayed for the Tigers throughout her whole career, but especially in the penultimate game against Montezuma.

“Having a good coach and a good support system, I’ve had a really good relationship with Zoey. I think our friendship sprung up in basketball,” Cox said. “We’ve had a really good connection through sports and have each other’s back.”

Reliable

It’s track and field that Cox feels made her better for all of her other sports. While she didn’t set any school records on the oval, she was a part of a successful 4x100m relay at the 2024 state track meet, finishing .14 off of Lenox’s record, posting a time of 52.48 seconds along with Bentley Petersen, Gabby Robles and Reed.

Cox also ran 200 and 400m dashes for the Tigers and was a part of the 4x200, 4x400m and sprint medley relays her senior year. The sprint medley was her favorite event, which she ran last season with Petersen, Reed and McKinzie Menefee.

“The last couple of years is probably the strongest we’ve ever been [in the sprint medley]. Throughout my career we’ve had a couple of different girls on it but this year we had a really good connection on it. McKinzie was a freshman, so she was nervous. She did a great job coming in and playing her part well,” Cox said. “We don’t have the biggest numbers going out for track. We kind of know who’s going to be on our relays and who’s not. To build that relationship from day one of practice to the end of the season, being able to get our handoffs down, we know what each other’s going to do, and that’s a big part of it.”

Head track coach Mandy Stoaks, who also coaches softball, said Cox is reliable.

“When she is playing a sport, her teammates can always count on her to help guide them through a game. She has experienced a lot of success in all sports and wants her teammates to be successful also,” Stoaks said. “She does whatever a coach asks of her to help bring success to the whole team.”

Cox said track and field is a sport that can help an individual gain the confidence they need.

“Seeing results you want to see mentally helps you know you can succeed,” Cox said. “Track’s not the most fun sport obviously — you have to really love it, you have to really enjoy doing it — but it’s really rewarding and helps you mentally more than physically, I believe.”

Stoaks will always remember Cox as a softball player who made the tough catches look easy. She said Cox has great athletic knowledge and instincts you can’t coach or teach.

“Any ball that goes up in a triangle from behind third base, the pitching area to short right centerfield, everyone yells ‘Saaadieee!’ and she calmly takes it no matter how hard of a catch it is,” Stoaks said. “She makes plays look so easy.”

As an eighth grader, Cox broke the season (9) and career (32) home run records as well as the season RBIs (45) record. In her career, she drove in 157 runs, which is best in Lenox history.

She had a batting average (.448) and on-base percentage (.515) this season that were the highest any player has had since 2016. Her slugging percentage (.828) was tops of anybody since 2010.

Her eighth grade season was Lenox’s most successful during her softball career, and this year was second-best, Cox said.

Cox started playing softball in about fourth grade and began to love it immediately, joining a fun travel team.

“We had a really great team my eighth grade year with TJ Stoaks, McKinna Hogan and several other girls I looked up to all those years. It was really cool to be able to play with TJ and McKinna. I had a pretty good season that year. I caught that year and had never caught before,” Cox said. “The next couple of years ended up being rebuilding years with a lot to learn from and build off of. I think this season was probably our next best season after that eighth grade season. We had a winning record and made it to the regional semifinals.”

Giving back

When she’s not the one competing on the field, Cox has been known to give back to athletes younger than her through officiating and simply caring about the development of others.

“She always shows up, not only to officiate, but also to help teach the younger athletes the game,” Stoaks said.

The biggest growth Stoaks saw in Cox during her career was her mindset.

“Any challenge that was presented to her, she was ready to tackle it with determination,” Stoaks said. “She had a positive mental approach to everything that she did.”

Strong roots

Cox comes from strong roots of athletic ability and success. Her father, Donald, wrestled and ran track at Iowa State and South Dakota State Universities, but first, he won a state wrestling championship in high school in 1982. Cox’s brother, Jake, was also a very accomplished wrestler for Bedford/Lenox a few years ago.

“Our family’s kind of a big family of athletes. I’ve had cousins go to college for different sports. I kind of feel like it was a lot to live up to, but it was a lot of fun,” Cox said. “It wasn’t really pressure, but it was more me pushing myself to be better and feel successful. My teammates drive me to do that. We’ve grown up with the same girls for 12 years now. We push each other and feed off each other.”

It’s those teammates who Cox said also deserve this athlete of the year award. She is excited to deepen her friendship with Reed by becoming her roomate at Iowa State University, where they’ll study interior design and elementary education, respectively.

“This is a big honor for me to be chosen, but I can’t give myself the credit. I have to give my teammates the credit, my coaches the credit and my parents the credit. It’s a big honor and I’m very happy to receive the award, so thank you,” Cox said. “Knowing the importance of being a teammate and a good friend are the things I’ll take away from my experience. It’s hard for people to succeed when there’s drama or there’s bad blood behind the scenes. Knowing that in my future endeavors I need to be a positive encourager and good teammate no matter what I do is important.”