Since the advent of the Marion County Athlete of the Week poll in 2023, more than 1 million votes have been cast. Just less than 100 athletes have earned the title of Athlete of the Week — with a select bunch winning multiple times.
The search for Marion County Athlete of the Week ran 35 times in 2024-25. In those 35 editions of the poll, friends, fans, and family members fans of Marion County high school athletes casted 327,650 votes. That’s a smidge over 9,361 votes cast every week to decide the top athlete in the county.
Let’s see where your votes took us last season.
It took the average winner more than 4,500 votes to be crowned Athlete of the Week. Join us as we dive deeper into the metrics for the trends that defined the 2024-25 results.
Athlete of the Week winners by school
The Athlete of the Week polls seem to be a democratic process in terms of numbers as 10 schools in the area produced a winner.
Trinity Catholic and West Port, the largest private and public schools in the county, tied for seven winners apiece. Of the 14 combined Celtics and Wolf Pack winners, only Trinity Catholic’s Lyla Huggins won the award multiple times in the 2024-25 season.
Vanguard comes in third with six winners. Belleview trials with five winners, including Zachary Townsend who won twice in the spring. Redeemer Christian, Forest and St. John Lutheran rostered two Athlete of the Week winners apiece. North Marion, Lake Weir and Dunnellon each had one winner during the 2024-25 season.
Most individual wins: Jaelynne Whipple, Vanguard, Softball
Vanguard graduate Jaelynne Whipple used the softball season to break a school home run record. Her success led to three Athlete of the Week selections, supplanting a three-way tie for athletes who won the award twice last season. Whipple’s efforts also earned her a scholarship to Eastern Florida State College.
Whipple earned a combined 10,681 votes in those three wins. Only West Port’s Abby McClinton recorded more votes than Whipple with a grand total of 14,457 votes in two wins.
Most votes for a winner: Evelyn Milak, West Port, Swim
West Port swim team member Evelyn Milak won Athlete of the Week with 17,090 votes in October. That’s nearly twice as many votes on an average week of votes. Milak cleared the average winner mark three times over.
Milak and teammate Hannah Parkin’s voting race resulted in 48,012 votes, the most of any week of voting. Parkin’s 16,268 votes are the most votes of any non-winner last season.
While the Ocala Star-Banner’s hunt for Marion County’s Athlete of the Week is on pause during summer break, be on the lookout for it to pick back up come the fall.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Marion County’s Athlete of the Week polls garnered 300,000 votes in 2024-25. What do the trends tell us?
Reporting by Allen Pettigrew Jr., Ocala Star-Banner / Ocala Star-Banner
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
