Basketball, bowling, competitive cheer and wrestling are in the spotlight for the CatchMark SportsNet West Michigan Conference Player of the Week fan poll.
Six winter sports athletes from the conference who stood out in competitions Feb. 20-25, 2023, have been nominated. Now it’s time for you to vote for Player of the Week.
The poll can be found at the bottom of this story after brief capsules on the nominees. Voting is open and will continue until noon on Friday, March 3.
If an athlete has already won Player of the Week honors this season — Whitehall’s Camden Thompson and Hart’s Hovey siblings come to mind — then he or she is not eligible to be nominated.
Athletes are listed alphabetically:
ISAIAH ATCHISON, Montague basketball
The 6-foot-8 junior is coming off a big week for the Wildcats. It started in a major way in a 78-68 home win over Grant Tuesday, when Atchison scored a career-high 30 points to go with 14 rebounds, four assists, six steals and four blocks. In Thursday’s 68-44 home victory over Western Michigan Christian, he finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
JAYNA EDMONDSON, Manistee basketball
The 5-foot-7 junior powered Manistee to a pair of victories last week. In Tuesday’s 67-43 home win over Holton, Edmondson scored a game-high 21 points. She followed up with another big game in Manistee’s 58-45 home victory over Fremont Friday, scoring a game-high 20 points. Manistee won three of its final four regular-season games.
BLAKE ENGLISH, Whitehall wrestling
The Vikings sophomore came up with perhaps his team’s biggest win of the semifinals Saturday at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo. In a 144-pound match, English pinned his ranked Algonac opponent, David Clemons, in 1 minute, 3 seconds, to take a 24-21 lead en route to a 40-27 victory. Whitehall finished as state runner-up in Division 3.
EMMA GILLARD, Ravenna basketball
The 5-foot-10 senior guard finished her week strong, scoring a game-high 20 points (7-of-8 from the free-throw line) in the Bulldogs’ 50-28 home victory over North Muskegon Friday. In Tuesday’s 44-32 home loss to Oakridge on Tuesday, Gillard finished with a co-team-high nine points. Ravenna has won four of its last six games entering this week’s district play.
LEXIBETH NIENHUIS, Hart competitive cheer
The sophomore three-sport athlete has provided a boost for the Pirates’ competitive cheer team, which has won West Michigan Conference and Division 4 district and regional titles this season. Nienhuis competes in all three rounds for the Pirates and she’s the flyer for Round 3. Hart coach Jen Hlady said Nienhuis is a standout athlete, who gets the Pirates a lot of points within the execution category of Round 3.
KORBIN TENBRINK, Orchard View bowling
The senior has been solid all season and he’s bowling well at the right time for the Cardinals, who finished second in their Division 3 regional at Sherman Bowling Center last Thursday to earn a spot in this weekend’s state finals at JAX-60 in Jackson. TenBrink shot 1207, seven pins off the lead, to finish runner-up in the Division 3 individual regional Friday at Sherman.