Xavier High School graduate Kayla Armstrong has been elected as the recipient of the "Jack North Basketball Award," one of the highest high school athletic honors in Iowa.

The award is given by the IGHSAU to an outstanding basketball player from the previous year who has graduated. Armstrong was a member of Xavier's 2013 state championship girls basketball team and was named captain of the 2013 state tournament team. She currently attends Drake University, where she plays soccer.

"I am both humbled and grateful to have been selected as the recipient of the Jack North Award," said Armstrong. "I may be the one accepting this honor, but this award truly belongs to the great teammates and coaches that I have had the opportunity to work with and teams I have been fortunate enough to be a part of during the various stages of my career.

"Xavier athletics taught me that with hard work, a positive attitude and dedication, even an unranked team can not only make it to the state tournament, but also become state champions," she said. "Due to this optimism, I not only accept this award for myself, but on behalf of my teammates and Xavier High School."

"Not a surprise," said Xavier basketball coach Tom Lilly upon learning of the honor. "Kayla oozed championships while at Xavier.

"Everyone knew of her skill on the soccer field, but her crowning achievement was the 2013 4A state girls basketball title and being named captain of the all-tournament team.

"The brighter the lights, the better she played," said Lilly. "Kayla was and continues to be a free spirit. Trying to rein that in would have been a mistake. Congratulations to Kayla and let's not forget all the teammates that played alongside of her. Kayla would be the first to recognize them and all their hard work as well."

Armstrong will be presented with the award at halftime of Friday night's Class 1A girls' state basketball championship game at 6 p.m.