POLL: April 14-20 athlete of the week poll
SAINT CLOUD – Vote below for your April 14-20 athlete of the week poll.
Featuring athletes from Albany, Becker, Foley, Holdingford, Kimball, ROCORI, Royalton, Sartell-St. Stephen, Sauk Rapids-Rice, St. Cloud Apollo, St. Cloud Cathedral, St. Cloud Tech, and St. John’s Prep competing in baseball, golf, lacrosse, softball, tennis and track and field, this weekly poll recognizes the top few high schoolers competing in spring sports. This week's poll contains 16 candidates.
Jenna Amundson
St. Cloud Crush girls lacrosse senior midfielder
In St. Cloud’s (3-1) first game of the year, senior Jenna Amundson set the pace. She scored five goals April 14 in a 8-6 win over Brainerd (4-2), then had three April 18 against ROCORI (1-3), when the Crush won 15-3.
Ella Duevel
Foley field senior
Senior thrower Ella Duevel was first in the shot put and second in the discus at Milaca. She heaved the shot 34 feet four and a half inches and spun the discus 113 feet 11 inches.
Riley Fischer
Kimball softball sophomore pitcher
Kimball (6-0) scored three conference points last week, holding the top spot in the Central Minnesota Conference. The Cubs 10-runned Royalton (4-5) on April 15 and Paynesville (3-7) on April 18, later beating the Bulldogs 11-9 in the second game of a doubleheader.
Pitcher Riley Fischer pitched in all three games for Kimball, completing the shortened games against Royalton and Paynesville with jaw-dropping strikeout totals. The Bulldogs had six hits on Fischer seeing her in relief in the second game. The number was double the total from Fischer's previous two games. The sophomore picked up three wins in 15 innings, giving up five unearned runs on nine hits. She shut out Royalton 10-0, K-ing all but two of the 16 batters she faced. In the early game against Paynesville, Fischer grinded out 15 strikeouts.
At the plate Fischer collected two hits in each game, going 6-11 with three RBI and zero strikeouts. She drew two walks and scored three runs.
Brock Herdina
Becker tennis eighth grader
The Becker (9-4) tennis squad lost its first two matches last week, first 4-3 to Chanhassen (8-1) on April 15 and 6-1 to Elk River (10-5) on April 20. The Bulldogs did defeat Buffalo (5-6) 6-1 and swept Harding (3-7) between their two losses.
Eighth grader Brock Herdina was the only Bulldog to go undefeated, winning all four of his individual matches from the four slot. Herdina lost just two sets in the week, going 56-33 in games.
Preston Holewa
Foley track sophomore
Foley competed April 15 in Milaca. Sophomore Preston Holewa won the 800-meter race with a time of 2:15.05 and was second in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:49.94.
Wesley Johnson
Sartell baseball senior infielder and pitcher
The Central Lakes Conference is shaping up to be a tough one as Sartell (4-3) split its two games last week between a 5-4 win April 1 against ROCORI (4-3) and an extra inning loss April 18 to St. Cloud (6-1) after a near-no hitter for both teams.
Wesley Johnson started on the mound for the 1-0 game against St. Cloud, going six innings and an out before the Crush got their first hit with a bloop single to shallow right. He retired the next two batters in just five pitches. Johnson struck out seven batters in the game and allowed three baserunners, including two walks before the Crush hit two singles and a sacrifice fly on his replacement in the eighth.
Johnson hit 3-7 at the plate and played both middle infield positions. He hit an RBI and scored a run while avoiding striking out.
Jonas Malmanger
St. Cloud Crush boys lacrosse senior goaltender
St. Cloud (4-1) had not broken 10 goals in a game two weeks into the season, but keeper Jonas Malmanger kept his team in games, not allowing an opponent to score more than Brainerd (2-3) on April 16 – a 10-6 loss. The Crush came back with a 9-6 win over ROCORI (1-3) on April 18.
Malmanger had eight saves on 18 shots against the Warriors and 10 saves on 16 shots against the Spartans. His save percentage of .529 for the week is down from a season average of .694.
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Evan Morris
Foley track junior
Senior Evan Morris won both events he entered last week in Milaca – the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.33 and the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.53.
Emily Novak
Foley track and field senior
Emily Novak competed in four individual events at Milaca’s quad meet, winning two. She placed first in the long jump by half an inch, clearing 15 feet seven and a half inches. In the triple jump, Novak won with a distance of 32 feet five and a half inches. Her pole vault height of eight and a half feet was third in the meet and she ran 10th in the 100-meter dash.
Clara Schad
Cathedral senior
Experienced runner Clara Schad won both of her events April 15 for the Crusaders. She was comfortably ahead of her opponents in both the 1,600 and 3,200, clocking a 5:18.96 and 11:50.26.
Ben Schefers
Foley field senior
For Foley, sophomore Ben Schefers won the triple jump by 10 inches at Milaca. He jumped 38 feet six and a half inches in the event and competed in the long jump, placing sixth.
Lauren Soltis
Holdingford softball junior third baseman
After a rough start to the season, Holdingford (4-5) won three games in a row last week. The Huskers beat Maple Lake (1-3) on April 15 by a score of 12.1 and took both games of an April 18 doubleheader versus Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (3-7), the first 5-4 and the second 12-5.
Going .500 in 12 at-bats, Lauren Soltis continued to stay hot at the top of Holdingford’s lineup. She had three RBI and five runs scored with zero strikeouts and a walk. Soltis had just two hits prior to the week and now leads the team in singles with seven. She’s only struck out once this year.
Claire Staudinger
St. Cloud Crush girls lacrosse junior attacker
On the week junior Claire Staudinger had nine goals and two assists in two wins.
Eaen Sticha
Foley field senior
Eaen Sitcha won the pole vault April 15 in Milaca. He cleared 12 feet, a PR.
Julia Vega
Cathedral track sophomore
Julia Vega won the 400-meter dash in Milaca, the sophomore running a 1:03.33. She also placed third in the 200 with a 27.91.
Connor Wavrin
St. Cloud Crush boys lacrosse senior attacker
In the Crush’s win over ROCORI in Cold Spring, Wavrin had eight points, scoring four goals and assisting four teammates – his best game in both stats this season. Wavrin also had a goal against Brainerd.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud Times April 14-20 athlete of the week poll
