It’s Week 5 of the CatchMark SportsNet West Michigan Conference Player of the Week fan poll for 2023 spring sports.
Six spring sports athletes from the conference who stood out in competitions May 1-6 have been nominated.
Time to get voting.
The poll can be found at the bottom of this story after brief capsules on the nominees. The poll closes at noon Friday, May 12.
Athletes are listed alphabetically:
MADDIE BALON, North Muskegon softball
The Norse junior did the job pitching and hitting in leading her team to the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association Tier 2 title on Saturday. Balon earned pitching wins over Montague in the semifinals (8-3) and Whitehall in the finals (10-0), striking out 16 in the two games combined. At the plate, she got the job done with a pair of doubles and a home run.
EMMA HERREMANS, Ravenna softball
The Bulldogs sophomore, who was a first-team all-stater last season, continues to hammer the softball. Herremans provided a big lift for Ravenna in defending its Greater Muskegon Athletic Association Tier 1 title Saturday. In a 19-0, four-inning win over Mona Shores, she hit for the cycle, drove in seven runs and scored three times. In a 13-2 finals win over Oakridge, Herremans went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. In a 15-2, five-inning victory over Holton, she went 2-for-3 with a double, triple, three RBIs and two runs scored.
MAELIE HOPE, Whitehall track and field
The senior phenom won four events and accounted for 40 of the Vikings’ 93 points en route to the team title of the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association meet Friday at Mona Shores’ Sailor Stadium. Hope broke a meet record in discus — a mark previously held by Orchard View alumna Ashley Swainston-Westerlund — with a toss of 141 feet, 1 inch. Hope also won shot put (41-4.5) as well as the 100-meter dash (12.81 seconds) and 200 dash (26.68).
JACK HOUTTEMAN, Whitehall track and field
The Vikings senior established a season-record time of 2:04.84 in winning the 800-meter run in the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association meet Friday at Mona Shores’ Sailor Stadium. He also ran a leg on Whitehall’s first-place 4×800 relay team (8:31.81) and finished third in the 1600 with a personal-record time of 4:43.37. The Vikings ran away with the team title, amassing a whopping 188 points.
TROY MCMANUS, North Muskegon baseball
The senior helped the Norsemen capture the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association baseball title Saturday, doing the job on the mound and at the plate. In a 12-2, six-inning win over Mona Shores in the finals at Marsh Field, the left-hander allowed two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts and four walks in 5 2/3 innings. McManus also doubled and drove in three runs. In a 6-0 GMAA semifinals win over Reeths-Puffer, he went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. In a 4-3 quarterfinals win over Whitehall, he scored the tying run.
BRADY TATE, Whitehall golf
The Vikings sophomore fired an 8-over 80 in placing third individually and leading his team to a runner-up finish in Wednesday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association tournament at Lincoln Golf Club. On Friday, Tate earned medalist honors with a 76 in powering Whitehall to first place in the Montague Invitational at Old Channel Trail.
