Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska High School Athlete of the Week (9/3/2024)

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Aug. 26-31.

SBLive Sports Athlete of the Week /

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for August 26-31. 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 are 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.

NEBRASKA ATHLETE OF THE WEEK NOMINEES

Allison Brandt – Centura Softball, Sr.

Through the first week of the season, no player in Nebraska has more base hits than the Centura senior. Brandt has played in six games, has a hit in all of them and already has two four-hit performances. The pitcher/outfielder had four on Aug. 24 against Pierce, including a double and two RBIs then repeated that effort with four Aug. 27 against Kearney Catholic while driving in four and notching another double.

Maren Chapin – Broken Bow Volleyball, Sr.

Chapin has guided the Broken Bow offense for the better part of the last two seasons. She had over 700 assists as a junior while leading Broken Bow to 20 wins and orchestrating an attack that featured three hitters with more than 100 kills. She’s well on her way to being even more productive in 2024 following a season-opening match that included 51 assists.

Illa Gosnell – Maxwell Cross Country, Fr.

So far, so good. Well, in Gosnell’s case, it’s a little more like so far, so great. The freshman runner started her varsity career last week at the Medicine Valley Invite and helped deliver the Wildcats a meet championship over five other teams thanks to a win by more than 20 seconds. Gosnell paced the field and a teammate as the only girls runner to break 23 minutes.

Addison Gregg – Wahoo Softball, Fr.

The Wahoo freshman catcher announced her arrival to varsity softball with a bang. Gregg and the Warriors opened up the new schedule with a 3-1 start and run totals of 10 or more in each of those three wins. Gregg was a big reason why. The rookie totaled seven hits in those three games, two doubles and three home runs. She’s already piled up nine RBIs and is boasting a paltry 2.454 OPS.

Shay Heaney – Elkhorn North Volleyball, Sr.

Heaney has already had quite the varsity career. Before the opening match of the season last week, the Wolves’ senior had piled up 750 career kills and 22 matches with double-digit kill totals. As consistent as she has been, her performance in a win over rival Elkhorn was an all-timer. Heaney stacked up a career-high 21 kills.

Mabel Henningsen – Omaha Marian Cross Country, Fr.

Henningsen didn’t need any time to acclimate herself to varsity competition. The Marian freshman ran the fastest ninth-grade girls time and claimed the gold medal over a field of 38 other rookies. She was the best of five Crusader freshman girls who all finished in the top 10. Among 163 total runners split into four races by grade level, Henningsen had the top time as the only girl to break 20 minutes with a mark of 19:36.50.

Bridget Marotz – Winside Volleyball, Fr.

Marotz didn’t need any time to adjust to the varsity level of competition. The Winside rookie controlled last week’s five-set win over Creighton with 21 kills and a .543 hitting percentage. And it wasn’t just attacking in which Marotz showed her talent. She also dug up eight shots from the back row, blocked four at the net and served up an ace from the back line.

Adryana Rodriguez – Scottsbluff Softball, Sr.

When last weekend ended, the season was only a few days old and Rodriguez had already reached double digits in hits. The Scottsbluff senior played four games over the course of two days and had three-hit games in three of those. Overall, in her first 16 plate appearances, Rodriguez had 11 hits, 10 runs, three RBIs and a double. She also walked twice and stole a base while leading the Bearcats to a 4-0 opening.

Avery Stevens – Wausa Volleyball, Jr.

Don’t be confused by Stevens’ relatively short stature. While she doesn’t necessarily have the profile of an effective shot blocker, Stevens has allowed her defensive capabilities to shine through the first two games on the schedule. The Wausa junior totaled 16 blocks during a dual Aug. 29 against Bloomfield and O’Neill St. Mary’s. Stevens blocked six against St. Mary’s and 10 in a win over Bloomfield.

Kendall Zavala – Norris Cross Country, Sr.

The reigning Class B state cross country champion sent an early message to her fellow competitors at Saturday’s John Votta Invite on her home course. Zavala went under 19 minutes with a time of 18:19.26 and took the top spot in a field of 137 other competitors. That mark is more than a minute and a half ahead of her pace last season when she also won her home meet in her first run of the season.

Braylon Anderson – Oakland-Craig Football, Sr.

Anderson’s no stranger to putting up eye-popping numbers in the passing game. He’s thrown for over 2,000 yards in each of the past two eight-man football seasons, completed better than 60% of his passes and threw for 30 touchdowns. Friday’s win over Yutan was another special one. Anderson hit on 70% of his passes, threw for 448 and completed three of his 17 completions for touchdowns.

Quinn Bailey – Chadron Football, Sr.

Bailey was three yards short of 2,000 last year while averaging over 7 yards per carry. He was a force once again for the Eagles during a Week 1 win over Broken Bow that included 38 carries by the 5-8, 165-pound halfback. Bailey’s workload generated 219 yards and a touchdown. He also caught two passes for 32 yards and put together the fifth 200-yard rushing performance of his career.

Jack Bullis – Hampton Football, Sr.

Six-man statistics can get a little out of control. And while that’s the case at some game every Friday, what Bullis did against Parkview Christian in the season-opener can’t simply be dismissed due to competitive setup. Bullis rushed for 152 yards on 12 carries with four touchdowns, caught three passes for 189 yards, all of which reached the end zone, returned a kick for a score, collected six tackles, 3.5 of those for loss, and recovered a fumble.

Michael Knudsen – Gretna Football, Jr.

Knudsen steps into a spot with high expectations for both his position and program. And he’s taking all of that on his shoulders after throwing just 11 passes last season as a backup. Clearly, he was also doing his part to prepare for his moment. The first of what could be many moments came in a Week 1 win over Elkhorn that saw him complete 24-of-31 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns.

Esten Kohl – Plattevie Cristian Cross Country, Soph.

Kohl had a really good debut season last fall when he notched seven top-five finishes and earned a spot in the state meet. He came up two places shy of a medal and no doubt used that close miss for motivation in the offseason. That motivation came to fruition at the Aug. 30 Auburn Invite, when Kohl was more than 20 seconds ahead of second place for his first career win. It was eight seconds faster than a year ago when Kohl was second at the same event.

Ryan Kugler – Omaha Westside Cross Country, Jr.

Hundreds of runners descended on Papillion-La Vista South for Saturday’s Class of the Metro cross country meet. Competitors were split into grade levels and included fields ranging from nearly 60 to over 80. Despite that format, Kugler was the best of them all in the boys senior race. The Westside runner was the only boy to break 17 minutes when he came in at 16:40.

Cinch Miller – Valentine Football, Sr.

I’ll spare you the pun using Miller’s first name to describe just how easy it was for him to make stops in a Week 1 defensive performance. The Valentine senior kept his team close and made several key stops during the third double-digit tackle total of his career. Miller made eight solo tackles and seven assisted for 15 total and sits near the top of the Nebraska list for all players after one week of football.

Logan Topp – Johnson County Central Cross Country, Sr.

Topp is looking for a big finish to a running career that continues to get better each year. As a freshman, he cracked the top 20 one time but hit his season best at the district meet. A year later, Topp earned his first top-10 and ran another personal best in the final meet of the year. Last fall, he was in the top 10 six times, including at the district race where he earned a spot to state. At the Weeping Water Invite on Aug. 29, he picked up his first win as the only boy to crack 19 minutes.

Trini Trejo – Alliance Football, Soph.

Trejo was one of the guys last year in the Alliance backfield, rushing for a solid 4.5 yards per carry on 85 total attempts. The new season has made Trejo no longer one of the guys but THE guy for the Bulldogs. Alliance turned him for 42 carries in a Week 1 win over Gordon-Rushville. He rewarded that confidence with 225 yards and three touchdowns.

Jalen Warren – Grand Island Football, Sr.

Warren was all over the field in the season-opening contest with Lincoln Southeast. Although the Knights won the game by two touchdowns, they could do little to slow down, let alone stop, the Islander senior. Warren caught 10 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown, had a long of 38 on one reception and even threw a pass for 38 yards.

- Nathan Charles | @SBLiveNE