Each week during the school year, The News-Press will select a player who stood out from the previous week based on coaches’ reports and school nominations sent to sports@news-press.com, as well as our own reporting. These players will be voted on every Monday on news-press.com, where readers can vote on who they think performed best.
The winner of The News-Press Athlete of the Week Poll, sponsored by Elevate Home Services, will receive a T-shirt provided by BSN Sports and a tote bag provided by USA Today High School Sports Awards. Voting closes every Thursday at 10 a.m. Winners will be announced on the @newspresssports Instagram page and @nphssports Twitter.
Previously: Voting: News-Press Athlete of the Week, sponsored by Elevate Home Services, September 9-14
The News-Press Player of the Week, sponsored by Elevate Home Services, for Sept. 9-14, was Riverdale volleyball player Olivia Znotens. She received 1,841 of 4,066 votes, or 45.28 percent. She was selected for the vote after recording 18 kills, two aces and 22 digs in the Raiders’ 3-1 win over North Fort Myers.
To vote in this week’s poll, scroll to the bottom of this article.
The nominees for September 16-21 are:
Football attack
Cole Hayes, Riverdale
Hayes ran 28 times for a career-high 336 yards and five touchdowns in Friday’s 43-27 win over Cypress Lake.
Football Defense
Jayden Reyes, Cape Coral
Reyes had two interceptions (including six interceptions) in Friday’s 39-7 win over Estero and also recorded a game-winning 79-yard touchdown reception.
Men’s Cross Country
Nazayer Franco, Cape Coral
Franco placed second at the SFCA Kings Invitational on Saturday with a time of 17:16.30.
Women’s Cross Country
Maggie Pocklington, Fort Myers
Pocklington won the SFCA Kings Invitational on Saturday in a time of 21 minutes, 10 seconds.
volleyball
Bailey Smallwood, Lovell
Smallwood scored 12 points in a 3-1 Cowgirls win over DeSoto County on Thursday, then had six aces and five points in a straight-set win over ECS on Tuesday.
Boys swimming
Geo Medina, Estero
Medina led the Wildcats to victory on Tuesday against Riverdale by winning the 200 and 500 freestyle races and also helped the Wildcats win the relays.
Swimming Girl
Ashley Villaflor, ECS
Vilaflor was the Private Eight champion in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke, breaking the meet record in the latter, and helped the Sentinel girls take first place as a team on Wednesday. She also contributed to the relay victory.
Men’s Bowling
Nolan Wagner, Bishop Vero
Wagner posted 242 points and helped the Vikings beat Island Coast 3-2 to maintain the team’s unbeaten record on Thursday.
Women’s Bowling
Mackenzie Stauffer, Cypress Lake
Stouffer scored a 180 on Thursday against Lehigh, helping the Panthers to a victory.
Men’s Golf
Gabe Gale, Oasis
Gale placed second overall at the SSAA Golf Championship and led the Sharks boys team to a second-place team finish on Saturday. Gale also shot 1-under 35 to help the Sharks win Thursday against the SFCA.
Women’s Golf
Zoe O’Nan, Riverdale
O’Nan scored a team-high 56 points to help the Raiders beat Cypress Lake on Tuesday to improve to 6-1.
