Exeter's McGuinness, Somersworth/Coe-Brown's Keefe win Athletes of Week honors
The Seacoast high school Athletes of the Week winners for the week of Jan. 1-6 are Somersworth/Coe-Brown hockey player Tully Keefe and Exeter High School basketball player Anna McGuinness. The weekly vote highlighting outstanding high school athletes is presented by York County Community College.
Keefe joins previous winter boys winners: Oyster River basketball players Ethan Brewer and Matthew Jernigan, while McGuinness joins Spaulding wrestler Sadie Nadeau and Dover basketball player Avery Littlefield as this winter season's girls winners so far.
The weekly poll runs each Monday through midnight Thursday, and can be found at seacoastonline.com/sports and fosters.com/sports.
More on girls winner Anna McGuinness of Exeter High School
McGuinness received more than 31% of online votes, for a total of 189 to earn the weekly honors. Oyster River/Portsmouth hockey player Kira Jakobs finished second with 138.
St. Thomas Aquinas basketball player Emilie von der Linden had 104 votes, Marshwood track and field athlete Riley Smith had 97 votes and St. Thomas/Winnacunnet/Dover hockey player Julianna Grella had 78 votes, for third through fifth, respectively.
McGuinness scored a team-high 17 points in the Blue Hawks' Division I win over Manchester Central, 55-50 on Friday.
"Congrats to Anna for this recognition, she has put in a lot of time year round to become the all-around skilled playmaker that she is for our team," Exeter head coach Kaylene Rogers said. "As a sophomore, she confidently stepped into her varsity role and not only contributes as a scorer, but consistently contributes in assists, steals and rebounds. We have faced some very tough opponents thus far and she stays focused, positive and driven until the end of every game. Anna makes everyone around her better and is the spark for our team every time she is on the court."
More on boys winner Tully Keefe of Somersworth/Coe-Brown
Keefe secured more than 35% of online voting, as his total of 296 votes earned him boys athlete of the week. Spaulding basketball player Paul Butler finished second with 205 votes.
Portsmouth swimmer Kian Chan had 193 votes, York basketball player Lukas Bouchard had 88 votes and Portsmouth Christian Academy track and field athlete Ivan Sturgis had 55 votes, for third through fifth, respectively.
Keefe had three goals and one assist for Somersworth/Coe-Brown in a 9-1 win over Monadnock/ConVal on Saturday.
"Tully has proven to be a tremendous leader on our team," Somersworth/Coe-Brown head coach Fred Strum said. "He has been working extremely hard lately to be a better player and student. His hard work is paying off, and we are very proud to have him represent the Bearcats as the Athlete of the Week."
How you can make Athletes of the Week nominations
While winners cannot be repeated in the same season, nominees can be in the poll as many times until the season is over. Coaches can nominate players by emailing sports editor Jay Pinsonnault at jpinsonnault@seacoastonline.com or staff writer Brandon Brown at BEBrown@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Anna McGuinness, Tully Keefe are winners of Athletes of the Week
