Clovis North senior Conor Lott wins Fresno B'nai B'rith honor

Clovis North senior Conor Lott gave the Broncos another place in one of Fresno’s most enduring student-athlete traditions, winning the 2026 B’nai B’rith award and becoming the second straight Clovis North athlete to claim the honor after McKay Madsen in 2025.

The announcement came Monday night, fitting into the 75th annual Student Athlete Award Dinner and Presentation that has become a fixture of Fresno County sports and school life. For families across Fresno and Clovis, the award has long meant more than a postseason trophy. It recognizes the kind of student-athlete who pairs performance in competition with academic strength, leadership and service.

That standard traces back to 1951, when a small group of Fresno Chapter B’nai B’rith members conceived the idea and discussed it with local school officials and clergy. The goal was to promote brotherhood among religious groups in the community while highlighting the importance of combining athletic skills with academic excellence. The first program included four high schools and a $100 scholarship for the winner.

Seventy-five years later, the event has grown into a much larger local institution. The dinner now involves 19 area high schools after Justin Garza High School and Sanger West High School were added for the 2023-24 school year. Before COVID-19 interrupted the tradition, the dinner typically drew about 500 people, underscoring how much community weight the recognition carried even before it shifted to smaller meetings during the pandemic.

Lott’s selection also fits the profile that has made Clovis North a regular presence in the award conversation. He became the school’s first individual state cross-country champion in 2024 and defended that title in 2025, putting him among the Central Valley’s most accomplished student-athletes. That level of achievement helps explain why he landed at the center of an honor that has always been as much about classroom and character as it is about results on the field or course.

The back-to-back Clovis North winners stand out in another way, too. Madsen’s 2025 victory was notable because he was the first son or daughter of a past winner in the award’s nearly 75-year history, with his father, Josh Madsen, having won in 1991. Lott’s win extends that Bronco run and keeps a Fresno tradition alive that still offers local schools a measure of excellence beyond wins and losses.