By TOM WILLIAMS

2023 was a pretty good year and Ocean City High School’s sports teams made the best of it.

The coaches play a big role in this success, especially because the strength of the programs continues even after graduation losses. But you have to have good athletes to put together a success story like this.

And Ocean City High School had them again in 2023.

There were many athletes who brought success to OCHS sports over the last 12 months. But the purpose here is to recognize two of them – one male and one female – as the best of the year. It is never an easy choice but two have emerged.

Nick Layton had a terrific football career. He led the Raiders in tackles each of the last two seasons and was in the top five as a sophomore. His average tackles per game in 2023 (11.6) was the second highest average among all players at Cape-Atlantic League schools. And the senior finished his career with 262 tackles. Over the last 22 seasons, only one Raider (Brandon Lin, 279) made more.

But that’s not all.

On the wrestling mat in 2023, his junior year, Layton was 24-8. He finished third in the District 32 Tournament, was third in the Region 8 Tournament and reached the third place round in the state tournament in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. He has already started his senior year with a win in the Art Marinelli Tournament at Egg Harbor Township.

Junior Sophia Curtis has already made her mark on Ocean City High School sports history..

Curtis, who is committed to Virginia Tech, set three school records in outdoor track during 2023 – in the 400 meters, the 400 hurdles and the triple jump. She won the triple jump in the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, just the eighth time an OCHS athlete has won in that prestigious event. She won the 400 meters, 400 hurdles and triple jump in the state Group 3 Meet and won the 400 hurdles and triple jump in the South Jersey Meet, plus a second in the 400 meters and a fifth in the long jump.

In the Penn Relays at the beginning of the season, she recorded the longest triple jump by an American female. And, during the indoor track season, she registered the second best triple jump in New Jersey indoor history.

Nick Layton and Sophia Curtis have had impressive high school careers through 2023. And both will continue those careers in 2024. For their success and as representatives of all the other outstanding OCHS athletes, they are the Ocean City High School Athletes of the Year for 2023.

Tomorrow – the 61st annual Ocean City Sportsperson of the Year.