La Quinta volleyball star wins Pocial Athlete of the Week. Vote now for the next honoree.
By now, it's no secret that each week we ask readers to vote on who should be recognized as our Athlete of the Week brought to you by Pocial. Last week, voters selected a worthy candidate in Clairie Thomas, a junior volleyball player at La Quinta High School.
Looking at the results, Thomas took more than 54 percent of the total vote, with more than 17,000 votes going her way.
Thomas garnered so many votes for good reason, too. She helped the Blackhawks secure the No. 3 spot in the Desert Empire League standings and played a key role in La Quinta's near upset of Palm Desert. Thomas had 15 kills, five aces and 27 digs in the 3-2 loss.
This week, we have five new candidates from last week's action. Read below what each of them accomplished and then vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom. We'll reveal the winner next week. You can vote until noon on Friday.
Maria Montes
Desert Hot Springs cross country
What she did: Montes, a junior distance runner, finished second out of 81 runners in the medium-sized schools race on Oct. 14 at the Inland Empire Challenge in Ontario, with a time of 19:50.3. Ten schools competed in the race, which was held at Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park. Montes finished just eight seconds behind the winner to lead the Golden Eagles in representing the Coachella Valley in the race.
Ivan Dorantes
Indio cross country
What he did: Also running in the Inland Empire Challenge was the Indio senior, who finished second out of a field of 103 (including 15 schools) in the medium-sized 3-mile race, with a personal record time of 15:51.8. His previous best time this season was 16:16.0, in his first-place finish at the Desert Valley League meet on Oct. 4.
Allie Urquidies
Indio volleyball
What she did: Urquidies has been the glue for a Rajahs team that completed a perfect 14-0 Desert Valley League championship season. Kills, digs, assists, you name it she comes through for Indio.
Faiyth Robinson
Desert Christian Academy volleyball
What she did: Robinson, a junior outside hitter, has been a consistent force for the Conquerors all year, helping them to a second-place finish in the South Valley League and another playoff appearance.
Nylah McClelland
Desert Hot Springs girls’ flag football
What she did: McClelland made history, scoring the first-ever flag football touchdown in Golden Eagles history. The senior scored in the team’s first-ever game against Palm Desert.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta volleyball star wins Pocial Athlete of the Week.
