Vote: Who should be SBLive's Minnesota Athlete of the Week? (11/7/2023)

Read through the candidates and cast your vote!

Here are the candidates for SBLive's Minnesota High School Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 30-Nov 5.

Read through the nominees and cast your vote. Voting will conclude Sunday at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be announced Monday.

If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, please email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com with “MNHSAW Nomination” in the subject line.

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.

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Minnesota high school Athlete of the Week

Sawyer Bollinger Danielson, St. Paul Academy

The junior scored a pair of goals in a 3-0 win over St. Charles in the Class 1A Championship at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 3. The brace made her one of the top 25 goal scorers in the state this season.

Avery Lampe, Providence Academy

The senior committed to the University of Kentucky made the most of her last high school game, scoring a hat trick and assisting on two other goals in a 6-0 win over Southwest Christian, Nov. 1. She finished the season tied for tenth in Minnesota with 17 assists, and her Lions finished third in Class 1A.

Olivia Olson, Benilde-St. Margaret’s

The senior goalkeeper made nine saves in a shutout of Academy of Holy Angels for the Class 2A Championship, Nov. 3. She averaged just 0.36 goals allowed per game over 1,334 minutes played, logging an .889 save percentage.

Charlie Piller, Wayzata

The senior midfielder assisted on both goals scored in a shutout of Maple Grove in the Class 3A Championship game on Nov. 3. He scored a goal and assisted on another in a 3-2 win over Woodbury in the semifinal match two days prior. 

Lisle Cherwien, Orono

The senior played a part in three goals – scoring twice and assisting once – in a 4-3 win over DeLaSalle in the Class 2A semifinal match, Nov. 1. He finished tied for ninth in the state with 23 goals scored. 

Izzy Engle, Edina

Engle capped off a strong senior season with two goals in the 2-1 Class 3A championship games against Wayzata. She also had two goals in the 3-0 win over Andover in the semifinals.

Sam Perez, St. Charles

Perez scored both goals for St. Charles in the 2-1 Class 1A semifinal win over Southwest Christian.

Ava Ball, Nova Classical Academy

The junior committed to the University of South Dakota had 27 kills and 11 digs in a 3-1 win over Minnehaha Academy on Nov. 2. The performance put her atop the Minnesota leaderboard for kills with 604.

Anya Schmidt, Rogers

The junior had 15 kills and seven aces in a 3-0 victory over Moorhead in the Section 8AAAA semifinal, Oct. 31. Rogers went on to win the section championship over Bemidji, 3-0. Schmidt leads the state with 111 service aces.

Macy Grosz, West Central Area

The junior setter had 42 assists, 17 digs, a block and a kill in a 3-1 win at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in the Section 6A semifinal on Nov. 2. She’s third in Minnesota with 855 assists.

Annika Haak, New Life Academy

The senior had 41 assists and five digs in a 3-0 victory over PACT Charter, Nov. 2, following it up with 25 assists, six digs and an ace in a 3-0 win over West Lutheran in the Section 4A Championship two days later. She’s seventh in Minnesota with 765 assists.

Stella Swenson, Wayzata

The senior setter had 29 assists, 12 digs, six kills and two blocks in a 3-0 win over Champlin Park for the Section 5AAAA Championship on Nov. 1. She’s sixth in the state with 784 assists, top-25 in aces (57), and top-50 in total blocks (49).

Lauren Fjerstad, Byron

Fjerstad had 16 kills and 13 digs in a 3-1 win over Kasson-Mantorville in the Class 3A, Section 1 championship game.

Teagan Jaynes, Northfield

Jaynes had 52 assists in a 3-2 loss to Delano in the Class 3A, Section 6 championship. She also had five kills, three service aces, 16 digs and one block.

Morgan Turn, Kittson County Central

Turn had a great game in a 3-2 loss to Badger/Greenbush-Middle River in the Class 1A, Section 8 championship. She had 23 digs, 18 assists, one block and nine kills. 

Emilio Rosario Matias, Stillwater

The sophomore rushed 16 times for 193 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-31 win over Rochester Mayo, Nov. 3. He also had five catches for 54 yards. 

Kevon Johnson, Robbinsdale Armstrong

The junior running back averaged more than 10 yards per carry, rushing 17 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-13 win over Shakopee, Nov. 3. He also had a kick return of 58 yards.

Daylen Cummings, Centennial

After Prior Lake hit a field goal in overtime, the senior quarterback scored from one yard out to give Centennial the 26-23 win on Nov. 3. He scrambled nine times for 66 yards and completed eight of 14 pass attempts for 169 yards and a touchdown. 

Antonio Menard, Lakeville North

The senior defensive end had a sack, forced a fumble, and recorded nine tackles (seven solo) in a 42-21 victory over Forest Lake, Nov. 3. His six forced fumbles are third-most in Minnesota, and he’s tied for sixth in the state with nine sacks on the season.

Brady McPherson, Orono

The senior recorded three sacks for the second consecutive game in a 35-14 win over Delano on Nov. 3. He also had nine tackles (six solo). His six sacks over the last two weeks has him tied for sixth in the state with nine.

Luke Dobbs, St. Thomas Academy

The senior wideout scored touchdowns on all three of his catches and finished with 188 receiving yards in a 43-14 drubbing of Bloomington Jefferson, Nov. 3.

Jayce Kiehne, Fillmore Central

The senior scored all the Falcons’ points in a 14-0 shutout of Kenyon-Wanamingo on Nov. 3. He carried the ball five times for 109 yards and a touchdown, caught two passes for 20 yards and a touchdown, ran in a two-point conversion, and added four tackles (three solo) on defense. 

Luke Dingmann, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

The senior quarterback connected with seven different receivers en route to a 36-12 win over Upsala/Swanville, Nov. 3. He completed 14 of 18 pass attempts for 220 yards and three touchdowns to finish with a near-perfect passer rating of 157.2. He’s third in the state with 30 passing touchdowns.

Aaron Baisley, Rocori

Down 14-0 in the second quarter, the junior linebacker got the scoring started for Rocori with a safety, recording a tackle for loss in the end zone. He finished with 10 total tackles in a 30-21 win over Becker for the Section 8AAAA Championship.

Ryan Meagher, Minneota

Meagher led the Vikings on the ground with 170 rushing yards and one touchdown on 20 attempts. He also had one reception for 15 yards. He also had seven tackles on defense. 

Damian Tapio, Mountain Iron-Buhl

Tapio rushed 41 times for 305 yards and four touchdowns in the Section 7, 9-player championship. He also had two receptions for 20 yards while throwing four passes for 54 yards. He also had seven total tackles.

Dawson Franke, Robbinsdale Armstrong

Franke was on point for the Falcons in a win over Robbinsdale Cooper in the Class 5A, Section 5 championship. He was 12-for-15 passing for 261 yards and two touchdowns. 

Connor Cade, Lakeville South

Cade put the Cougars' rushing attack on his back with 174 yards and three touchdowns on 17 attempts in a win over Shakopee in the Class 6A second round. 

Michael Naber, Shakopee

Naber was everywhere for the Sabers on defense in a loss to Lakeville South. He finished with 17 total tackles and seven solo tackles. 

Mason West, Edina

West went for 15-for-19 passing for 252 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-24 win over Maple Grove in the Class 6A second round. 

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Jack Butler contributed to this article.