HILLSDALE COUNTY — The Week 7 reader’s choice Athlete of the Week poll for Hillsdale County high school sports is now open.
Vote as many times as possible before Saturday at 11:59 p.m. for your favorite athlete of the week performance. Coaches and schools can nominate athletes for the weekly poll by every Sunday. In addition, the Hillsdale Daily News chooses its own weekly award winners.
Winners will be featured in a video spotlighting their performance and award honors. Nominations can be submitted by coaches and fans by every Sunday morning to be eligible for the next week’s poll.
Nominees
Gavin Gutting – Litchfield Football (8-player Football Athlete of the Week): Gutting earned the honor of 8-player football athlete of the week for Week 7 after helping his team win one of their most important games of the season, a 22-12 victory over Burr Oak. Gutting’s two interceptions, including a 39-yard pick six, were silencers to Bobcat drives. He returned the other interception 80 yards, flipping nearly a field-length advantage for his offense. Gutting led the defense with 11 1/2 tackles and led the offense with 60 receiving yards.
Evan Towne – Hillsdale Football (11-player Week 7 Football Athlete of the Week): Junior quarterback Evan Towne nearly led the Hornets on a comeback opportunity in a winnable game against Onsted. Towne did everything in his power to help lead his team to a chance to end their two-year losing streak when they played the Onsted Wildcats. The Wildcats would end up winning 26-12. Towne fought for every yard and gained crucial first downs that helped keep the Wildcats in the game late. Towne scored two touchdowns for Hillsdale, one on a pass to Thayden Welch and another on a run. He finished the game with 150 rushing yards on 15 carries. He also had 107 passing yards on nine completions. On defense, he had one interception and two tackles.
Aiden Jones – Pittsford Football: The junior had a breakout game for the Wildcats in their 44-0 win over Camden-Frontier in Week 7. Jones led the team with four catches 109 yards and three touchdowns.
Kaleb Hale – North Adams-Jerome Football: We had a feeling we’d be seeing the senior captain at some point on our list of AOTW nominations after he made his full return from injury. He helped the Rams beat Tekonsha 58-42 to end the team’s win drought in the second half of the season. Hale had 10 tackles on defense, two for a loss, and a fumble recovery. On offense, he contributed 12 carries for 150 yards and two touchdowns.
Ben Champion – Hillsdale Boys Tennis: The senior leader of the Hillsdale varsity boys tennis team led the Hornets out to Grosse Ile for regionals. The No. 1 singles player defeated Ben Fitzgerald of Monroe St. Mary Catholic 6-4, 6-0 to earn an opening round victory.
Jayda Rathbun – Jonesville Varsity Volleyball: Senior Jayden Rathbun had an all-around performance helping the team take down Grass Lake in set scores of 25-11, 25-10 and 25-5. In the tri-match, Rathbun had seven kills, 12 assist and eight digs.
Karmin Butler – Pittsford Volleyball: In a tri-match against Reading and Mendon, the Wildcats got 25-20 and 25-19 set wins against the Rangers. Karmin Butler finished the tri-match with six blocks and 16 assists.
Logan Youngman – Hillsdale Boys Cross Country: The junior Hornet was the overall champion across all divisions at the Sturgis Kiwanis Invitational. He took first overall with a time of 16:02.80.
Joleane Gulledge – Jonesville Girls Cross Country: The junior ran down a 10th overall finish at the Father Gabriel Richard Invitational, Gulledge’s best finish this season at an invitational. It was their first invitational win as a team since 1997. The junior had a final time of 21:34.3. Her teammates Brynleigh Griffiths (sixth) and Keira Knight (seventh) also finished in the top 10 to earn the win.
Drake Fenstermaker – Camden-Frontier Boys Cross Country: The junior runner had a PR time of 18:34.68 to take seventh overall and medal at the SCAA Championship meet.
Asher Church – Will Carleton Academy Boys Cross Country: The freshman set a new PR time of 19:50.03 at the SCAA championship to take 10th overall.
Grayson Rorick – Hillsdale Academy Boys Cross Country: The senior won his second SCAA individual title of his career, taking first at the SCAA Championship with a time of 17:30.1. The Colts won the team title.
Elevelyn Meyer – Hillsdale Academy Girls Cross Country: The junior won an individual SCAA championship at this year’s finale race, earning a time of 20:59.15. The Colts won the title.
Lillian Jagielski – Pittsford Girls Cross Country: The junior led the Wildcat runners with a ninth place finish and a time of 23:43.61 at this year’s SCAA championship.
Collin Fucile – Jonesville Boys Cross Country: The junior runner helped the Comets win the Gabriel Richard Invitational. Fucile had a new PR time of 16:27.31 and took fourth overall, his best invitational finish this season.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Vote for the Week 7 reader’s choice athlete of the week award
Reporting by Joseph Flaherty, Hillsdale Daily News / Hillsdale Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
