Anna Laible just returned from covering the 2024 Summer Olympics with a group of students from University of North Carolina where she attends college.

At age 19, the Lehighton teen already has an impressive resume in sports journalism.

She has co-hosted the National Dog Show, reported for Sports Illustrated Kids and written for MLB.com.

Similar to the young athletes we saw compete, Laible set her sights on the Olympics and worked hard to get there.

When it came time to decide on a college, Laible had to find one that would be taking a team to the games. She selected UNC but as a freshman, she knew she needed to fight for a place on a 20-student team.

She won her place on the Paris reporting team. Her coverage appeared in the “Raleigh News & Observer,” as well as the “Charlotte News” and several sister newspapers in South Carolina.

We’ve had students — and adults — who have promised to write when they were away — but got distracted.

We shouldn’t have been surprised that Laible sent an update every single day.

Upon her return to the states, Laible said the Olympics “is truly a place where dreams become a reality not only for the athletes, but for journalists, families of the athletes, and fans.”

Up next? “My goals now are to continue growing on all aspects of my young career as I head into my sophomore year at college where I will be writing for ‘The Daily Tar Heel,’ working for GoHeels Productions, and hopefully being an on-air talent for Sports Xtra, our on-campus sports show.”

Anna Laible is one of the rising stars The Times News has the privilege of covering on a regular basis.

It’s not the Olympics, but every year we recognize the hard work of local athletes with our Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Athletes of the Year.

This year we recognized the following: Sophia Cornell, girls cross-country, Northwestern; Camryn Fitch, girls soccer, Northwestern; Sydney Frantz, field hockey, Palmerton; Lydia and Michael Strucko, brother and sister swimming for Marian; Mallory Conner, girls tennis, Northwestern; Aubrey Pollard, girls basketball, Northern Lehigh; Brenda Banks, girls wrestling, Panther Valley, Devon Bush, lacrosse, Pleasant Valley; Matt Johnson, boys soccer, Northwestern; Connor Hibell, boys cross-country, Palmerton; Luke Fugazzotto, boys wrestling, Northwestern; and Mason Ligenza, baseball, Tamaqua; Matt Machalik, football, basketball, Palmerton; Lydon Patascher, golf, Pleasant Valley; Bayto Cokrlija, tennis, Lehighton; Riley McArdle, volleyball, Panther Valley; Emma Freeman, softball, Northwestern; and Nataly Walters, track, Palmerton.

Our students have also excelled in national competition. Carbon Career and Technical Institute Senior Kyle Kuznicki won a top title in June.

Kuznicki, from the Lehighton Area School District, won a gold medal at the 2024 SkillsUSA National Competition in June 24 to 28 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

He won the 2-axis CNC turning competition, making him the best student machinist in the nation.

In addition to his classroom training at CCTI, Kuznicki gets on-the-job training at TPEI, a business on Blakeslee Boulevard Drive West in Lehighton.

A shout-out goes to instructor Kevin Kuehner, who has been teaching at CCTI since 2007. Kuehner has now trained six national champions in his years as an instructor and SkillsUSA adviser, a phenomenal accomplishment.

Kyle’s brother Matthew won in CNC turning specialist competition in 2022.

These are just a few of our rising stars.

We ask our readers to join us in saluting them for their hard work.

They are our future leaders and the future looks bright because of them.

MARTA GOUGER | mgouger@tnonline.com