Time for another CatchMark SportsNet West Michigan Conference Player of the Week fan poll.
Nominees have been selected and the fan poll created for Player of the Week, which is title sponsored by Complete Restoration & Cleaning Services, Inc.
We need your votes.
Six winter sports athletes from the conference who stood out in competitions March 4-9, 2024, have been nominated by CatchMark SportsNet. Student-athletes who have already won Player of the Week honors this season are not eligible to be in the fan poll.
Time for you to vote, over and over. The poll can be found at the bottom of this story after brief capsules on the nominees. You may vote once per hour. The poll closes at noon Friday, March 15.
Athletes are listed alphabetically:
JESSICA BENNETT, Fremont basketball
The 6-foot senior wing came up big for Fremont in a couple of Division 2 district victories last week at Newaygo. In Fremont’s 49-40 comeback win over Grant in the district finals on Friday, Bennett proved clutch and posted a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 blocks. She made three 3-pointers and went 5-for-6 at the free-throw line. In Wednesday’s 45-32 district semifinal win over Sparta Wednesday, Bennett had 14 points, seven rebounds, and seven blocks.
WILL DEBLAKE, Fremont basketball
The 6-foot-3 senior wing scored 14 points to pace Fremont in a 56-42 loss to Spring Lake in a Division 2 regional semifinal matchup last Tuesday at Allendale High School. DeBlake and his teammates trailed 46-23 through three quarters but showed a lot of grit in rallying within 10 points in the fourth quarter.
ADAM DUGENER, North Muskegon basketball
The 6-foot sophomore guard was the leading scorer for a North Muskegon basketball team that went unbeaten in the regular season for the first time in program history. Dugener scored a team-high 15 points in a heartbreaking 43-40 overtime loss to host Pewamo-Westphalia in a Division 3 regional semifinal last Tuesday. P-W hit an off-balance 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to end North Muskegon’s season at 24-1.
RYANN ROBINS, Holton basketball
The 6-foot senior center posted a pair of double-doubles in powering Holton during last week’s Division 3 district at Shelby. In Friday’s 41-39 double-overtime win over Shelby in the district finals, Robins scored 15 points and grabbed a Red Devils single-game record 24 rebounds. In Wednesday’s 49-24 district semifinal victory over Hesperia, Robins posted 17 points and 10 rebounds.
DAVID SHILLINGER, Ludington basketball
The 5-foot-9 senior guard closed his record-setting career last week with a couple of solid performances in Division 2 regional action. In Ludington’s 46-25 regional semifinal win over Clare last Tuesday at Big Rapids, Shillinger scored 14 of his game-high 17 points in the second half. In Ludington’s tough 37-34 regional finals loss to Kingsford Thursday at Gaylord, Shillinger scored a team-high 12 points. He closed his career with 1,776 points, good for Ludington High School and Mason County records for boys.
PEYTON WELCH, Ludington basketball
The junior wing delivered three strong performances for Ludington in a Division 2 district last week at Big Rapids. In Ludington’s 36-23 victory over Reed City during Friday’s district final, Welch scored a team-high 10 points. In the Orioles’ 42-37 district semifinals win over Hart, which felt fitting for a district final, Welch scored a co-team-high 13 points. In Ludington’s 62-26 district-opening win over Remus Chippewa Hills last Monday, Welch scored nine points.
Lead writer for CatchMark SportsNet and Web Services leader for CatchMark Technologies.
2 Comments
2 Comments
Kevin Crisman
March 13, 2024 at 9:30 am
Mr. Decamp, I feel that the process to see who the athlete of the week is flawed and does a disservice to the best actual athlete. This doesn’t determine who is most athletic but who is the most popular or who has the most relatives. The person who receives the few votes may well be the best but has his or hers self esteem crushed by the way it is determined. One vote per person per week is equitable.
Thanks for giving us your input, Kevin. It’s much appreciated. While it does make sense, I’m going to be completely transparent with you: We allow voting once per hour because we are looking for more engagement. More engagement means more page views to our website and social-media accounts, which means potentially more sponsors, which means we can continue producing all of our forms of content via CatchMark SportsNet.
Kevin Crisman
March 13, 2024 at 9:30 am
Mr. Decamp, I feel that the process to see who the athlete of the week is flawed and does a disservice to the best actual athlete. This doesn’t determine who is most athletic but who is the most popular or who has the most relatives. The person who receives the few votes may well be the best but has his or hers self esteem crushed by the way it is determined. One vote per person per week is equitable.
Scott DeCamp
March 14, 2024 at 10:29 am
Thanks for giving us your input, Kevin. It’s much appreciated. While it does make sense, I’m going to be completely transparent with you: We allow voting once per hour because we are looking for more engagement. More engagement means more page views to our website and social-media accounts, which means potentially more sponsors, which means we can continue producing all of our forms of content via CatchMark SportsNet.