Vote now for the Daily Leader Athlete of the Week from April 8-13

Mother Nature certainly cooperated well enough to provide opportunities for area athletes to excel, and quite a few did so on the diamond, track and in the field.

This has provided a strong list of candidates for the Daily Leader Athlete of the Week honor for the week of April 8-13.

Each week, the Daily Leader nominates a group of stars and you get to go and vote in our poll. This week you will choose the winner for the week from April 8-13. The voting at pontiacdailyleader.com ends at noon on Friday.

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.

Mikayla Chambers, Dwight

Chambers won the 400-meter dash in 58.96 seconds and took the 800 run in 2:26.37 at the Seneca Invitational. Both performances were personal bests.

Taylor Heath, Dwight

Heath had a good week at the plate and in the circle. Offensively, Heath chalked up 12 hits, including a homer, triple and three doubles. In the circle, Heath struck out 38 batters in three outings.

Dominic Martin, Ridgeview-Lexington

Martin claimed victories in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300 intermediate hurdles while anchoring the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams to victory at the Tri-Valley Invitational, where he was named MVP. At Fairbury, Martin claimed the 110 high hurdles, the 200 dash and anchored the winning 4x200 relay.

Bailey Masching, Pontiac

Masching had a big week at the plate for Pontiac with 11 base hits, including a home run, two triples and two doubles. She drove in 10 runs and scored seven times.

Jeremy Melton, Pontiac

Vertically, Melton won the high jump after clearing 6-4¾. Horizontally, Melton won the long jump after going 20-8.8.

Pontiac Relays Quartet

At the Seneca Invitational, Jake Dewald, Cam Fenton, Fernando Daily and Aidan Lee combined to win the 4x400 relay in 3:37.79. The quartet also won the 4x800 in 8:37.66.

Jaida Reed, EPG

Reed won the 100-meter dash in 13.17 seconds and the 200 in 27.56. She was also part of two winning relays with Keyli Cogdal, Kiera Stoller and Aubrey Phillips as the quartet took the 4x100 in 51.59 seconds and the 4x200 in 1:48.53 at Seneca Invitational.

Dominic Ricconi, EPG

Ricconi collected five doubles for the week and drove in eight runs for the Titans baseball team.

Sam Slagel, Prairie Central

Slagel flexed some muscle with two home runs for the Hawks. She also smacked four doubles among her 10 base hits, driving in eight runs.

Gavin Tredennick, Prairie Central

Tredennick had a solid week at the plate for the Hawks with seven hits, including a triple, and five runs batted in from the leadoff spot.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Time for readers to vote for Daily Leader Athlete of the Week