Vote for your Daily News Athlete of the Week from Dec. 20-Jan. 1!
Who here is a fan of New Years resolutions?
Us Americans, we're huge on goals. Just like Valentine's Day brings out romance, Halloween brings out horror, Thanksgiving brings out gluttony and Easter brings out egg hunts, Jan. 1 brings out resolutions.
Professionally, one of my resolutions is to hit 1,000,000 million votes for our Athlete of the Week poll. Just 17 weeks in, we're 41% there and lead all Florida newspapers in AOTW voter turnout.
Let that sink in. ALL OF FLORIDA GANNETT PROPERTIES.
Since the first poll in late August, we've witnessed two wrestlers, five cross country runners, three football stars, two swimmers, a volleyball standout, a golfer, a futballer and two basketball players snag top honors and with it a feature and All Sports Association T-Shirt.
All in all, it's added up to over 410,000 votes with visits to Baker, Choctaw, Fort Walton Beach, Freeport, Niceville and South Walton.
Who will join Sam Sherer, Zak Vosburgh, Spencer Mackenzie, Donovan Campbell, Will Jetton, Kemper Hodges, Ashton Nunes, Kayleb Wagner, Belicia O'Grady, Luke Larkin, Bailey Gable, Parker Nunley, Landon Campbell, Page Dolloff, Kaleb Hollins, Mariane Johnson and Sophia Edwards this week?
The poll is up and running at nwfdailynews.com through noon Thursday. The winner (the same Athlete can't win AOTW twice in a season) will be awarded a one-of-a-kind NWF Daily News Athlete of the Week T-shirt sponsored by All Sports Association at their school and a feature.
For future purposes, nominees are accepted via email or phone at sstringer@nwfdailynews.com or 252-414-4239. Coaches, fans, parents and grandparents, athletes ... any and all submissions are welcomed.
Is your team or sport missing from Athlete of the Week? Be sure to file statistics with sports editor Seth Stringer or keep your MaxPreps page up to date.
Now get to voting.
Week 18 AOTW Nominees
Wrestling Layne Franks, Crestview — A week after placing first at 170 pounds in the Ryan Blackwell Invitational, Franks went 6-0 in the lauded Beast of the Beach showcase.
Wrestling: Deagan Kilpatrick, Choctaw — A week after placing first at 113 pounds in the Ryan Blackwell Invitational, Kilpatrick went 9-0 in the ultra-competitive Beast of the Beach tourney.
Boys Basketball: Donald Pollard III, FWB — Leading the Vikings to a 4-2 run over holiday break, including an overtime win over rival Crestview, the big man averaged 13.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Girls Basketball: Rachel Leggett, Navarre — The inside-out playmaker scored her 1,000th career point over the break and led the Raiders to a 3-1 record. She's averaging 20 points, eight rebounds and four steals per game.
Follow sports editor Seth Stringer on twitter at @SethSnwfdn.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Vote for your Daily News Athlete of the Week from Dec. 20-Jan. 1
