One ran the fourth-fastest mile in the country, while the other ran around the bases after hitting home runs.
Excelling in the classroom and in athletic competition, Peabody’s Lizzy Bettencourt and Newburyport’s Michael Mohoric have been selected as the Moynihan Lumber North Shore Student-Athletes of the Year for 2025-26.
Moynihan Lumber has honored student-athletes monthly during the school year since 1991-92. Overall female and male winners are announced at the end of each year.
A four-year volleyball starter, three-year basketball starter, and softball captain for two years, Bettencourt dominated at the varsity level for the Tanners. This past spring with the Tanners, she batted .509 with eight home runs, 30 runs scored, and 28 RBI, earning Player of the Year honors from the Northeastern Conference, The Salem News, and Daily Item.
She will suit up for the softball and volleyball teams at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
“I just want to compete and try to make the team as good as possible because, obviously, the competition is going to be higher,” she said.
Academically, Bettencourt ranked No. 2 in her class and was a member of the National Honor Society. She was also an Agganis Foundation scholarship recipient.
When asked about balancing academics and athletics, Bettencourt said it was all about time management and setting priorities.
“School always came first, then practice. Don’t fall behind and make sure everything gets done,” she said. “You can really do anything — any challenge. Take the hard classes and do what you can because in the end, as long as you keep pushing, everything comes and works out.”
Do-it-all Bettencourt also started and ran her school’s unified sports program, was a member of the math team, yearbook club, and involved with student leadership tutoring, among other commitments.
She credited older sisters Isabel and Abby for paving the way. “I did get to play my first few years with them and they really showed me the way and how to balance everything,” she said. “I was really excited (about the award). There are a lot of options and good ones at that. It meant a lot to win this one.”
Like Bettencourt, Mohoric believes “no goal is ever too audacious.”
From divisional championships and relay titles to being named an All-American runner, Mohoric checked a lot of boxes during his time with the Clippers. He stunned the field with a 4:05 mile during the Bay State Running Elite Scholastic Meet in May, shattering the previous record.
“The last person from my school to win the monthly version of this award (Sam Acquaviva) served as a lot of inspiration for me,” Mohoric said. “It feels like a full-circle moment, and it’s very meaningful to me.”
Mohoric earned a perfect score on the ACT exam and will study and run at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a double major in biology and chemistry.
He also volunteered at Avita of Newburyport, a memory care center, and helped with local road races.
“Specifically, my time at the memory care center was important to me,” he said. “My life goal is to cure Alzheimer’s disease.”
Athletically, he’s looking to break a 4-minute mile and a few Division 3 college records along the way.
Mohoric said he couldn’t have done any of this without his mother, Kate Lyubimova, and physical therapist Mark Baldwin, who helped him go from “crutches to an All-American,” as well as coaches and teammates.
“I’d just love to emphasize overall that it’s 5 percent my work and 95 percent the people around me that have allowed me to be successful,” he said. “My mom has been my biggest financial and emotional anchor.”