Vote now for the Daily Leader Athlete of the Week from May 13-18
The state series has started. The girls had their state track meet while the boys competed in sectional meets. The small schools competed in regionals on the diamond while Pontiac saw its regular baseball and softball seasons end. This provided a plethora of events that led to the creation of a strong list of candidates for the Daily Leader Athlete of the Week honor for the week of May 13-18.
Each week, the Daily Leader nominates a group of stars and you get to go and vote in our poll. Coaches may email Erich Murphy at emurphy@gannett.com by 9 a.m. each Monday to submit a potential nominee who can be placed on the ballot.
The voting at pontiacdailyleader.com ends at noon on Friday.
Amare Curtiss, Pontiac
Curtiss won the shot put with a push of 56 feet, 5¼ inches and was second in the discus with a toss of 140-11 at the Class 2A track-and-field regional at PTHS to qualify for the state meet in both events.
Mady Ely, Dwight
Ely was dominant in the circle in leading the Trojans to the Class 1A Dwight Regional championship. She struck out 14 and allowed no hits against St. Anne and fanned 14 while giving up four hits and one earned run in the title game win over Gardner-South Wilmington.
EPG Girls Track
The Titans placed third in the team standings at the Class 1A state track meet with 38 points. Jaida Reed placed fourth in the 100-meter dash, and was part of 4x100 (third place, 4x200 (second place), 4x400 (third place) relay teams. Aubrey Phillips took second place in high jump as well as running legs on the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays. Also on the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams were Keyli Cogdal and Kiera Stoller. The 4x400 team included Stoller and Mady Harms. The 4x800 team of Caroline Wettstein, Elly Huette, Sophie Hinthorne and Haven Miller placed eighth.
Luke Gallet, Dwight
Gallet earned the win in the regional final over host Roanoke-Benson with six-strikeout, three-hit effort. He also homered and drove in two runs in the game. He had a double in the semifinal win over WFC. He also struck out two in relief.
Megan Livingston, Dwight
Livingston collected four base hits, scored five times, drove in two runs and stole two bases as Dwight won its own Class 1A regional championship with wins over St. Anne and Gardner-South Wilmington.
Graham Meister, Dwight
Meister advanced to the state track-and-field meet in his first year of high school after the freshman won the shot put with a push of 56-5¼ and placing second in the discus (138-2) at the Class 1A Seneca Regional.
Jeremy Melton, Pontiac
Melton won the high jump competition at the Class 2A boys track-and-field regional meet at PTHS. Melton cleared 6-4¾ to qualify for the state meet.
Sienna Metz, Pontiac
Metz was the only PTHS athlete to reach the state finals. She placed ninth in the Class 2A pole vault after clearing 10 feet, 2 inches.
Shae Simons, WFC
Simons tossed a shortened no-hitter while striking out 10 against regional host Walther Christian in semifinal play. She helped her cause with two hits, including a triple, four RBIs and two runs scored. She struck out 19 and allowed one earned run in a loss to Grant Park in the reginal final. She also had a base hit.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Time for readers to vote for Daily Leader Athlete of the Week
