Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska High School Athlete of the Week (9/16/2024)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Sept. 9-15

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Sept. 9-15. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. Voting will conclude Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com. 

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 who receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.

Sidney Frear – Wood River Volleyball Senior

Frear is one of Nebraska’s best defenders. The Wood River senior dug up more than 14 shots a year ago, averaged more than six digs per set and had over 400 in her first season as a starter. Fast forward a year and she’s even more effective in the Eagles’ back row. Through the first third of the season, Frear is leading the state with 217 digs, double-digit dig totals in all but two matches and three matches with more than 20. Frear had 97 in six matches last week including two with 19.

Brooklyn Gillen – McCook Softball Senior

Gillen is nine runs away from scoring 100 for her McCook career while also nearing her 100th career game. The senior already has a career-best season total for that category thanks to scoring 32 in 21 games so far this fall. Last week she crossed the plate 10 times in six games, had three runs in three of those while also collecting 10 total hits and seven RBIs.

Lyrik Harris – Lincoln Northwest Softball Senior

One of the best hitters in the state, Harris leads all players in Nebraska with 30 or more plate appearances. The senior is hitting .660, has a hit in all but two of 19 games and, thanks to six walks, five hits-by-pitch and one reached-on-error, has an on-base percentage north of .720. There has simply been no way to keep Harris off base. Last week she had 13 hits in 17 at-bats, scored nine runs and drove in 10.

Reagan Meyers – Superior Volleyball Sophomore

Varsity volleyball hasn’t been much of a challenge for this relative newcomer. Her rookie campaign saw Meyers stack up 314 kills in 80 sets. In her second season, there’s been no let-up. Meyers leads Nebraska with 235 total kills and has four matches with more than 20 kills – two with more than 30. One of those was a win over Bruning-Davenport/Shickley when Meyers totaled 38 kills on 74 swings.

Brylee Nelsen – Millard North Volleyball Senior

Nelsen set up more than 40 assists for a second time this season when she helped lead Millard North to a win over Bellevue West. The Mustang senior had 44 in a loss against Lincoln Southwest earlier this year, but that match took five sets. Despite playing two fewer sets, Nelsen had 41 in the win over the T-Birds. She has 348 on the season – second-best so far in the entire state.

Rylee Selby – O’Neill Softball Junior

Selby has been the workhorse of Eagles softball, tossing more than 78 innings in 17 appearances. That workload plus a power arm has Selby tops for Nebraska in the circle at 140 strikeouts. Selby has struck out at least four hitters in every appearance and has fanned 10 or more three times. Last week in six appearances she set down 54 hitters via strikeout including 17 in a complete-game win over Boone Central.

Lydia Stewart – Platteview Country Senior

Stewart has quite a run of consistency as she leads off her senior season. The Trojans runner was inside the top five at all 10 of her races last year including fourth at the state championship. Four times she came within one spot of earning gold. Stewart had a win from her sophomore year at Wahoo, took runner-up there last year then returned to the top of the podium last week while making it two wins in a row to go with one Sept. 6 at the Johnson County Central Invite.

Payton Sullivan – Hastings St. Cecilia Volleyball Junior

Sullivan piled up 43 kills in five matches last season and was again the picture of efficiency. There are players in the state that have already reached more than 200 kills, but there are none that convert chances at a better rate than Sullivan. The St. Cecilia junior is hitting .471 and has five performances in which she’s hit better than .500. She had two of those last week when she hit 9 for 10 with one error against Gibbon and was 10 for 14 against Ainsworth.

Grace Volzke – Elkhorn South Cross Country Sophomore

Volzke has been on the edge of winning her first meet ever since she was fifth in Fremont last fall as a freshman. It was her best time of the year and matched her top finish from later in the season when she was fifth at the district meet. The sophomore started a new season by running  PR at Burke then rolled that momentum into another trip to Fremont. Volzke dropped more than 20 seconds from that PR, hit the tape at 19:13 and edged out a state medalist at runner-up by more than three seconds.

Atlee Wallman – Norris Cross Country Senior

Wallman had the sweet taste of victory as a sophomore when she took gold at Mount Michael and broke 20 minutes for the second time in her career. Since then, she keeps getting faster but hasn’t been rewarded with another gold medal. Wallman ran a PR at her home invite to start the season then went under 19 minutes again a week later in Beatrice. Regardless, she settled for silver. The waiting came to an end last week when she won at Mahoney State Park by more than 10 seconds.

Ethan Beachy – Elkhorn North Football Junior

Beachy has Elkhorn North firmly planted in the Class B top 10 and looking like one of the teams that could challenge Bennington’s dynasty. This past week his stat line was somewhat reduced but only because the Wolves didn’t need him after halftime. Beachy hit on 8 of 12 passing for 207 yards and three touchdowns, through just the first three quarters. The junior already has over 700 yards passing yards and nine touchdowns in just three games.

Josiah Bitker – Lincoln North Star Cross Country Junior

Bitker and the Navigators took the show on the road and took part in a regional event last weekend, challenging the best of Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa at a meet in Yankton. Bitker ran one of the best times of any boy in the state this season, coming across the line at 15:23.10 for silver. It’s the second time in his career he’s broke 16 minutes and sits as the third-best mark in Nebraska so far this season.

Kaden Boltz – Grand Island Cross Country Senior

Boltz has had quite the career running at the Kearney Invite in early September. As a freshman, it was his best performance of the year. His sophomore race in Kearney was his top time of the season. Last fall, Boltz took the varsity title and set his season record. That title was defended on Friday when Boltz hit the line first more than 20 seconds ahead of the runner-up and ran the third-fastest time of his career.

Cesar Cano – Lexington Football Senior

Cano has had quite the start to the season, averaging over seven yards per carry and over 300 total yards. He’s found the end zone twice including once last Friday when he gashed Grand Island Northwest with nearly 10 yards per touch. The Lexington senior turned 17 carries into 157 yards, also caught a pass for 29 yards and recorded 13 tackles.

Miles Clausen – Battle Creek Cross Country Sophomore

There may be a new face to look out for in Nebraska cross country. Clausen had a decent start to his varsity career a year ago when he finished inside the top 20 three times. In his second year, that experience plus hard work since then has propelled him to the front of the pack. The Brave senior won the Logan View Invite on Aug. 29 and most recently took gold at the Norfolk Catholic meet. The race before when he was fourth at Boone Central he broke 17 minutes for the first time.

Kyle Cox – Sandhills/Thedford Football Senior

Cox is one of those all-around guys that eight-man football teams must have in order to find high-level success. He helped lead the Panthers to a state title last fall and has them off to another impressive start thanks to games like Friday against Burwell. His stat line featured 329 total yards, seven touchdowns, 21.7 yards per carry, a 156.3 passer rating, 13 tackles, a kick return for a touchdown, a strip and score plus two tackles for loss.

Corbin Kyes – Central City Football Junior

Kyes averaged over 100 yards per game and came up just short of his first 1,000-yard season last fall. It doesn’t appear it will be a problem reaching that achievement in 2024. The Central City junior is averaging over 6 yards per touch through the first three games of the schedule, has a total of 439 rush yards and three games of 118 yards or more. Last week in a win over Minden he went over 200 yards for the second time in his career (201) and scored three times.

Tony Palmer – South Sioux City Football Senior

Palmer is among the state leaders in rushing yards and may well end up as the leader by the time the regular season closes in six weeks. Through three games he’s had at least 126 yards in each, is four yards away from 700 and is averaging more than 10 per carry. This past week he turned nine attempts into 180 yards a week after he carried the rock 28 times for 380 and scored seven touchdowns.

Brock Templar – Blair Football Senior

Templar and the Bears put together the best recent win for Blair last week during a 55-22 mauling of No. 2 Gretna. The senior rushed for 266 yards, was seven yards short of 100 yards receiving, scored six total touchdowns, made 14 stops on the defensive side of the ball and forced a fumble.

Jett Thomalla – Millard South Football Junior

Thomalla is one of the top reasons why the Patriots were given a No. 1 rating to start the season and remain there despite a road loss in Arizona. The junior is completing 67% of his passes and has already amassed more than 1,000 yards through the air to go with 11 touchdowns. This past week in a Thursday home win over Kearney, he blitzed the Bearcats for 374 yards, four scores, a long of 81 yards and a 75% completion rate.