The San Joaquin County has spoken: St. Mary’s girls water polo Katherine O’Connor is Martin Dentistry’s Athlete of the Week for Nov. 3-8.
In an online poll that closed Thursday, O’Connor earned just under 97% of the votes with 1,086 ballots cast. Ripon girls volleyball Adriana Dorn placed second with 40 votes.
O’Connor isn’t the type of player who waits for the postseason to raise her level — she plays at that level year-round. But when the playoffs arrive and every possession carries weight, her impact becomes impossible to miss.
As a senior leader for St. Mary’s, O’Connor anchors both ends of the pool. She attacks with pace, defends with instinct and moves with a confidence that settles the Rams when games start to tighten. Everything she does — scoring, passing, pressing, reading the game — comes with purpose.
Her style is built on work rate as much as talent. O’Connor never drifts out of a match. She swims hard into counterattacks, tracks back without hesitation and sets the tone physically. Teammates lean on her consistency, and coaches lean on her ability to do multiple things well on a single possession.
That versatility has defined her senior season. Some games she becomes the scoring engine. Others she creates chances for teammates or controls the tempo with smart decisions. No matter the role, O’Connor finds a way to influence the match.
So when St. Mary’s entered the Division II playoffs as the No. 2 seed, pressure didn’t shrink her game — it sharpened it. The brighter the spotlight, the more complete her performance became.
In the Nov. 4 first-round matchup with No. 15 Buhach Colony, she delivered five goals, three assists and two steals in a 22-2 win. Her decisions were crisp, her movement decisive and her presence steady throughout the blowout.
Two days later in the quarterfinals, she followed it with six goals, five assists, five steals and a drawn exclusion against No. 7 Ponderosa — leading the Rams in scoring for the second straight postseason match.
But those numbers only reinforce what her teammates already know: O’Connor plays the game with a blend of skill, leadership and urgency that shows up in every quarter, not just the ones with elimination attached.
Here’s a look at the past winners:
Original story: The Record will nominate several high school athletes in San Joaquin County for the Martin Dentistry Athlete of the Week award.
It’s up to you, the readers, to choose the winner.
The Martin Dentistry Award highlights top performances from 209-area schools — excluding boys football, which has its own poll. This week’s ballot features six nominees from Stockton, Tracy, Ripon, Manteca, Mountain House and Lodi.
Anyone can nominate an athlete of the week for every sport. Readers can email nominations to sports reporter Dylan Ackermann at dackermann@gannett.com. Please include the player’s stats and a photo if possible.
The poll at the bottom of this page closes at noon on Thursday, Nov. 13. There are no voting restrictions, so vote now and vote often.
Here are the Nov. 3-8 nominees (Athletes listed in alphabetical order by last name):
Anna Dittman, Girls Cross Country, Sierra
If there’s a picture for what it means to carry a team, it’s Anna Dittman crossing the finish line at Frogtown.
At the Sac-Joaquin Sub-Section Meet on Nov. 8 at Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, the Sierra sophomore finished third in Division III with a 19:07.7 — the fastest time of any girl from San Joaquin County and seventeenth overall across all divisions.
Her run didn’t just shine individually — it saved her team’s season. Sierra clinched one of the final qualifying spots for the Section Finals, finishing eighth when only 10 teams advanced. The Timberwolves’ average time edged the next two teams by six seconds, thanks in large part to Dittman’s performance.
She would’ve advanced on her time alone, but instead she carried her team with her — a sophomore leading like a senior, stride for stride.
Usually, the conversation turns to what might come next. But Dittman’s already proving what’s possible now — and for her age, that’s rare.
Adriana Dorn, Girls Volleyball, Ripon
At Ripon, the heartbeat of a dynasty wears the No. 5.
Two section titles. Two league MVPs. Four years of dominance defined by consistency, composure and pure power.
Adriana Dorn’s chase for back-to-back section crowns ended against Christian Brothers on Nov. 8, but her brilliance never wavered. She torched Roseville in the Division III section semifinal on Nov. 4 — 19 kills, two aces, nearly 50% kill rate and eight digs. Then, in the finals, she was at it again: 20-plus kills, more digs and an unshakable presence that dragged Ripon from two sets down to force a fifth.
Headed to the University of the Pacific, Dorn plays the game with poise and command that can’t be taught — a mix of instinct, confidence and drive that only years of stacking days create.
Power when Ripon needed a spark. Calm when the moment tightened. For four years, she’s been the pulse of a program that refuses to stop believing.
Katherine O’Connor, Girls Water Polo, St. Mary’s
It’s one thing to perform in the regular season. It’s another to do it when every game is do-or-die.
The senior two-way attacking force does it all: scoring, assisting, stealing, leading. Her energy never fades — and neither does her will to win.
St. Mary’s rolled into the Division II playoffs as the No. 2 seed, carrying the weight of expectation. But for O’Connor, that spotlight only made her sharper.
In the first round on Nov. 4, she dominated No. 15 Buhach Colony with three assists, five goals and two steals in a 22-2 rout. Then, in the Nov. 6 quarterfinal against No. 7 Ponderosa, she followed it with five assists, six goals, five steals and a drawn exclusion — leading the team in goals both games.
When it’s win or go home, O’Connor brings the fire. Relentless, fearless and flat-out clutch.
Jack Riggins, Boys Water Polo, Lodi
He wasn’t supposed to be the story — but Jack Riggins made sure he was.
Ten goals on the season. Not in Lodi’s top six scorers. Then came the Division II section opener against No. 15 Sierra, a matchup the No. 2-seeded Flames were expected to control. They rolled to a 22-5 win on Nov. 5, and Riggins lit it up: five goals, six assists, four steals.
It’s efforts like that that push good teams toward greatness. Riggins may not have been the go-to scorer all season, but when it mattered most, he answered. In the second-to-last regular-season game, he poured in six goals — meaning outside those two breakout games, he’d scored just four all year.
Now he’s saving his best for the stretch run, giving Lodi another weapon in an already deep lineup.
And when the Flames eked out a one-goal win over No. 7 Whitney two days later, Riggins once again came through — proving timing, not totals, defines the difference-makers.
Nayomi Shih, Girls Tennis, Tracy
Rival after rival tried. None found a way through Nayomi Shih.
The Tracy senior didn’t lose a single regular-season match, claimed the TCAL championship and reached the section semifinals, where she placed third.
Her success didn’t happen overnight. Over the past three years, Shih had become one of Tracy’s cornerstones — a composed competitor with a growing presence on and off the court. “Her athletic ability has always been impressive,” coach Mischelle Fielsch said. “But this season her leadership and mentorship really stood out.”
Academically, she matched that same drive. Shih carried a 4.7 GPA and maintained above a 4.0 each year of high school.
By the end, her dominance felt inevitable — not because of power alone, but because of the poise and precision that turned potential into results.
Vivian Zhang, Girls Tennis, Mountain House
Nineteen and oh. Top of the lineup. Only a sophomore. That’s Vivian Zhang — and she’s already delivering like a veteran.
Mountain House’s No. 1 player holds an 11-5 singles record and has now beaten Woodcreek’s top seed twice this season. The latest came when it mattered most — in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Zhang came out firing, grinding through a three-set battle to beat Maddie Yu 6-2, 4-6, 10-5, setting the tone for the Mustangs’ victory.
The win kept Mountain House perfect at 19-0, following an 11-0 Valley Oak League title campaign.
In their first-ever Division I playoff appearance under head coach Andy Su, the Mustangs didn’t flinch — and Zhang was the catalyst that led the way.
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This article originally appeared on The Record: Meet the Martin Dentistry Athlete of the Week for November 3-8
Reporting by Dylan Ackermann, The Stockton Record / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
