Year: 2019
Award: Trailblazer, Basketball
Location/Affiliation: Regis High School, Stanford University
- First Girl to Dunk in a Colorado High School Game
- Beat the Boys to Win the 2019 McDonald’s All-American POWERADE Jam Fest
The buzz started when Francesca “Fran” Belibi was a prep basketball player at Regis High School in Aurora. And, for good reason. Fran was the first girl in Colorado to dunk in a high school game and YouTube’s been lighting up ever since.
The Trailblazer Award is given to someone who forges a new path in sports, and Fran has definitely done that. After her history-making performance at Regis, she took on the guys at the POWERADE Jam Fest dunk contest at the 2019 McDonald’s All American Game. Not only did Fran become just the second woman, and the first in 15 years, to win the event, she earned four perfect scores.
Picture this. Fran put down two reverse dunks. She jammed it through off the backboard. She even flew over a player sitting in a chair before slamming it home!
Our Trailblazer won the Sportswomen of Colorado High School Basketball Award in 2018 before she really started to shake things up. Now she’s a sophomore at Stanford University where she’s wowing PAC-12 fans. Fran Belibi scored her first college dunk in December 2020.