Vote now: Who should be SBLive's Indiana High School Athlete of the Week (Oct. 10-15)?
By Kevin Messenger
Here are the candidates for SBLive's Indiana High School Athlete of the Week for Oct. 10-15 as nominated by fans, readers and SBLive’s staff.
Read through the nominees and cast your vote at the bottom of the page. Voting will conclude on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be announced the following week. If you would like to nominate an athlete in the future, please email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com.
THIS WEEK’S SBLIVE INDIANA ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NOMINEES:
Editor’s Note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes that receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.
Alex Antonopoulos, North Central boys tennis
The North Central junior beat Harrison senior Isaac Flanery in the No. 2 singles position (6-0, 7-5) on Saturday to lead the Panthers to the team championship at the IHSAA boys tennis state championships.
Alexis Baney, Madison-Grant girls volleyball
Baney sparked the 2A Argylls to a four-set sectional championship victory over Eastern, tallying 18 kills with eight blocks and a pair of serving aces.
Stefan Boes, Brebeuf Jesuit boys soccer
The Braves’ senior striker scored three goals in an eight-minute span to lead Brebeuf Jesuit past Speedway, 4-0, in a regional final last week.
Eli Bridenthal, Mt. Vernon football
Scoring on both sides of the ball, Bridenthal opened the scoring in a 108-point shootout with a 55-yard interception return. He tacked on a 34-yard TD catch before halftime and his 18-yard TD reception gave Mt. Vernon a 63-38 lead. Mt. Vernon beat Yorktown 63-45.
Macy Bruton, Crawfordsville girls volleyball
The state’s leader in kills this season, Bruton posted a season-high 31 kills during a five-set sectional win against Danville last Thursday. In a sectional final against Western Boone, however, Crawfordsville lost 3-0 with Bruton recording just 11.
Chloe Chicoine, McCutcheon girls volleyball
The McCutcheon senior is No. 2 in the state in attack percentage, and for good reason. Chicoine paced the No. 4-ranked Mavericks to three straight 3-0 shutouts in sectional play last week, with but one attack error over three matches. She produced 41 kills over three matches (13-12-16), with her lone attack error coming in a 16-kill win over Harrison in Saturday’s sectional final. She hit .754 for the week, lifting her season percentage to .490.
Lily Cridge, Bishop Chatard girls cross country
One week after recording what is believed to be the fastest girls 5K ever run in Indiana prep history, the Chatard senior shaved three-tenths of a second off that time while winning the Noblesville Regional last Saturday with a time of 16:46.0. Partnered with freshman teammate Julia Score (17:44.7) who finished 5th, Chatard finished fourth in team scoring behind big-school powers Noblesville, North Central and Carmel.
Trey Ehman, Hamilton Heights football
Ehman carried the ball 27 times for 225 yards while leading Hamilton Heights to a 41-21 win. His lone score came on a 2-yard run in the third quarter, breaking a 21-21 tie and putting the Huskies into the lead for good.
Aaron Gu, Harrison (West Lafayette) boys tennis
Gu continued an unbeaten varsity campaign (20-0) while winning Saturday’s No. 1 singles match at the IHSAA boys tennis team state championship. Gu downed North Central’s Marquis Willingham (6-4, 6-3) in the No. 1 singles position and also was named the Mental Attitude Award winner.
Megan Hamm, Carmel girls soccer
Hamm scored twice and added an assist to lead Carmel past Cathedral, 4-2, in a 3A regional championship game.
Luke Haupert, Fort Wayne Snider football
Haupert threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns on 12 completions as the Panthers got past Bishop Luers 52-7.
Jontae Lambert, Fort Wayne North football
Lambert’s 265 rushing yards and three touchdowns lifted the Legends to a 48-21 win over Concordia. He finished the season with a school-record 1,822 rushing yards.
Max Loeffler, Leo football
Loeffler broke the school’s single-game rushing record with 301 rushing yards in a 41-17 win over DeKalb.
Khobie Martin, Fishers football
Fishers routed Zionsville behind 202 rushing yards and three touchdowns by Martin. He scored on second-half TD runs of 2, 29 and 27 yards to put the game out of reach.
Nolan McCullough, Penn football
McCullough accounted for all five Kingsmen touchdowns, pacing Penn to a 35-7 win over South Bend Adams. He scored on short runs of 1 and 2 yards and sandwiched three passing TDs in between as Penn raced to a 35-0 lead by halftime.
Danny O’Neil, Cathedral (Indianapolis) football
Statistics aside, O’Neil’s late theatrics earned the Irish a 40-29 upset over No. 2 Center Grove. O’Neil threw three fourth-quarter TD passes, including a go-ahead 35-yarder to David Ayers and a clinching 60-yarder to Brennan Wooten in the game’s final minute. In all, O’Neil’s arm accounted for 410 yards and five touchdowns among 25 of 43 passing.
Emery Porter, NorthWood volleyball
In sectional semifinal and championship matches last week, Porter tallied 98 total assists. The NorthWood junior helped the Panthers to a fourth straight sectional championship with a whopping 52 assists in just four sets against Wawasee, then 46 in a four-set win over Fairfield. She is fifth in the state with 954 total assists this season.
Seth Pruitt, West Noble football
The West Noble sophomore rushed 14 times for 215 yards and four TDs in a 51-13 win over Prairie Heights.
Ali Richardson, Lawrence North football
Richardson’s three-touchdown night helped the Wildcats cruise past Pike, 65-34. Richardson had 191 yards on 33 carries, and scored on runs of 27 yards and 5 yards, twice.
Devan Roberts, Gibson Southern football
Roberts helped Gibson Southern stay unbeaten by rushing for 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His 35 totes and 6.3 yards per carry helped the Titans amass 551 yards in total offense and possess the ball more than 31 minutes.
Sydney Robinson, Brebeuf Jesuit volleyball
Battling through a bout of shoulder soreness, Robinson led the No. 4-ranked Braves to a sectional championship over the weekend. She turned in 18 kills against Perry Meridian, then 16 against conference rival and No. 10 Roncalli in a four-set win that sends Brebeuf advance into this week’s regionals.
Owen Roeder, NorthWood football
The junior quarterback started 7 of 17 passing against Goshen but completed 11 of his last 13 throws to finish with four touchdowns, 289 yards and 19-of-30 passing overall. He engineered scoring drives on all four possessions in the second quarter as the Panthers coasted to a 42-6 win and their first conference title since 2018.
Logan Shoffner, Noblesville football
Shoffner rambled for 212 yards on just 18 carries as part of a 43-41 shootout win over Avon. His 79-yard scamper put the Millers on top 14-7 in the first quarter and his 5-yard run and 2-point conversion run put the game out of reach, 43-34, in the fourth quarter.
Grayson Thomas, New Palestine football
Thomas led the unbeaten Dragons' rout of Delta with 173 rushing yards and a career-high five TDs on just 17 carries.
Jaron Tibbs, Cathedral (Indianapolis) football
Tibbs corralled 11 passes for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Cathedral’s exhilarating win over Center Grove.
Jeff Wallmeier, Cathedral (Indianapolis) boys soccer
The sophomore keeper was instrumental in allowing Cathedral to oust top-ranked Carmel in a regional soccer matchup last week. Through regulation and overtime, Wallmeier recorded a total of nine saves while the Irish defense withstood 35 shots on goal, allowing just one Carmel score on a free kick in the game’s 63rd minute. Cathedral got past the Greyhounds on penalty kicks, 4-2, as Wallmeier and Cathedral advanced on PKs for the third straight game.
Isaac Wilson, Pendleton Heights football
Wilson accounted for four out of five touchdowns as Pendleton Heights got past Shelbyville 35-7. An 82-yard pass put the Arabians ahead 14-0 and preceded three straight rushing scores for a 35-0 lead. His final TD run covered 56 yards.
Congratulations to Franklin's John Shepard for being voted the SBLive Indiana High School Athlete of the Week for Oct. 3-8 after receiving more than 55 percent of the votes.
Shepard piled up 215 scrimmage yards with four touchdowns in the Grizzly Cubs’ 41-6 spanking of Greenwood. He carried 14 times for 147 yards, including touchdowns of 28 and 74 yards. He caught another pass for 68 yards.
Pike soccer's Jean Azard was second in the voting with more than 20 percent of the votes cast.
Previous winners: Carmel golfer Claire Swathwood (Sept. 26-Oct. 1), Greenfield-Central golfer Sydney Wherry (Sept. 19-24), East Central (St. Leon) running back Josh Ringer (Sept. 12-17), North Putnam running back Noah Claycomb (Sept. 4-10), Chatard soccer goalkeeper Olivia Hill, (Aug. 29-Sept. 3) and Terre Haute South Vigo outside hitter Lilly Merk (Aug. 22-28).
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