Voting is now open to see who is this week's Top Performers in Branch County
Each week The Daily Reporter presents its Top Performers, those local student-athletes that had big weeks in their chosen sports.
We here at The Daily Reporter are attempting a new format for our Athlete of the Week award, and it all begins right here with our Top Performers.
Included in this article will be the best of the best from the past week, some that have caught our eye and some still who were nominated by coaches or parents. Attached to this article will be a poll allowing you, the readers, to vote for who you think was this week’s Top Performer. This poll is unlike the Athlete of the Week poll, this one is of the style where anyone can vote as many times as they want. The top four vote getters after the weekend will move on to Breathe Free Duct Cleaning Athlete of the Week vote, which is announced every Friday. It is a new format and we here at the newspaper are testing to see how it may work, so if it does not work, our apologies.
There will not be a set number of players chosen in each sport in each week, just including performances which stood out and deserve recognition.
This means there might be more or less than the week previous, and some sports will get more love than others based on the week.
To submit nominations for an athlete you feel deserves recognition, please email sports editor Troy Tennyson at ttennyson@thedailyreporter.com by Sunday evening.
So, without any further ado, here are this week’s Top Performers in Branch County.
Girl’s Track
Brookelyn Parker, Quincy Orioles- Parker continues to put together a solid sophomore campaign, starting with two runner-up finishes at the Union City Invite, taking second in both the 100 hurdles and in the 300 hurdles. Parker was also a part of the second place 1600 relay team. Parker also took wins in both hurdle events in dual meet action, while also taking second place in the 200 and first place as part of the winning 1600 relay team.
Elli Foley, Coldwater Cardinals – Foley continues her big season down in the pits, beginning with a first-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 3 inches and a third-place finish in the discus at the Loy Norrix Invite. Foley went on to sweep the dual meet wins versus Harper Creek, winning both the shot put and the discus.
Itzel Albarran, Bronson Vikings- Albarran had a bit of a coming out party starting with her efforts at the Schoolcraft Invite, beginning with a seventh-place finish in the 100 and a third-place finish in the 200. Albarran was also a part of the winning 400 relay team and took fifth in the long jump. In dual meet action on Wednesday Albarran took first in the 100 in a time of 13.95 seconds, first in the 200 in a time of 29.43 seconds, first place as part of the 400 relay and second place in the long jump.
Lita Fulton, Quincy Orioles- Fulton swept the pole vault on the week, winning first place at the Union City Invite while taking the win at the Big 8 dual meet on Wednesday. Fulton was also a part of the winning 1600 relay team and second place as part of the 1600 relay team at the Union City Invite.
Nevada Gillons, Union City Chargers- Gillons swept the hurdle races for the week, taking a pair of wins in the 100-meter hurdles and a pair of wins in the 300 hurdles. Gillons also went unbeaten in the long jump, winning gold at the Union City Invite and winning in dual meet action.
Boy’s Track
Boston Bucklin, Bronson Vikings- At the Schoolcraft Invite it was Bucklin putting together a solid day, beginning with a win in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 10 inches. Bucklin went on to take third in the 800 and second as part of the 3200-relay team. In dual meet action Bucklin took first place in the 400 with a time of 55.29 seconds, first place in the high jump with a jump of 5 feet, 8 inches and first place as part of the 800-relay team versus Maple Valley.
Jackson Reilly, Coldwater Cardinals- Reilly had a solid week down in the throwing pits, winning the shot put with a throw of 50 feet, 6 inches at the Don Ludkens Invite while also taking fifth place in the discus. In dual meet action Reilly finished in first place in the shot put and added a second-place finish in the discus to pace the Cardinal effort.
Logan Cole, Union City Chargers- Cole continues to dominant down in the throwing pits, making it a sweep on the week. Cole swept gold at the Union City Invitational, winning the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, 7.5 inches and the discus with a throw of 145 feet, 4.5 inches. Cole also swept the throws in dual meet action, winning the shot put with a throw of 46 feet, 4 inches and the discus with a throw of 155 feet, 6 inches.
Baseball
Bo Veenkant, Tekonsha Indians- Veenkant had a huge day versus Waldron, finishing 3-for-4 with two inside-the-park home runs, five RBIs, and three runs scored
Ryan Zweng, Union City Chargers- Zweng finished a busy week of baseball recording a 10-for-16 effort at the plate with two home runs, one double and one triple. Zweng also added five RBIs, eight walks, and 11 runs scored
More: Bronson's Hayes named Breathe Free Duct Cleaning Athlete of the Week
Softball
Mya Porter, Coldwater Cardinals- Porter had a huge week on the softball diamond, finishing 11-for-14 with a double, four RBIs and six runs scored
Mya Webb, Bronson Vikings- Webb threw a no-hitter in Big 8 conference play this week as the Vikings defeated Union City. Webb also added five hits and three RBIs in a successful week for the Vikings.
Golf
Landyn Crance, Union City- Crance finished in a tie for medalist honors at this week’s Big 8 Jamboree, firing a 45 at Bronson’s Bella Vista Golf Course, helping the Chargers keep pace for a possible Big 8 conference title.
Tennis
Maddie Grife, Coldwater Cardinals- Grife only dropped a single match during a busy week of tennis, improving her record to 15-2 on the season.
To nominate an athlete for the Top Performers weekly article or to discuss the poll, email sports editor Troy Tennyson at ttennyson@thedailyreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Vote no to determine this week's Top Performers in Branch County
