STURGIS — The prep sports season has officially come to a close.
Baseball, soccer and softball finals for the MHSAA were hosted by Michigan State University this past weekend, and locally, Mendon’s softball team was able to repeat as the champions in Division 4.
This brings us to the final Athlete of the Week poll for the sports season. I’m going to be lumping the past few weeks together for more of a variety of nominees based on their performances.
Our good friends at Glen Oaks Community College are completing another year as the sponsor for Athlete of the Week, and there’s more good news: GOCC has once again agreed to continue its sponsorship for the next year, once sports officially return to the docket.
For what it’s worth, there will be a baseball and softball player of the year poll coming in each of the next two weeks as well. People love voting, so I’m going to help with that if I can.
The nominees for the week are listed below. Happy voting!
Rowan Allen, Mendon softball — Allen pitched the Mendon softball team to a state championship, the team’s second in a row, this past weekend. Allen picked up two wins while striking out 22 batters and not allowing an earned run in the process.
Cale Hackenberg, Marcellus baseball — Hackenberg propelled Marcellus baseball to a spot in the Division 4 state baseball finals on Saturday, where he collected the lone hit for the Wildcats. On Friday in the semifinals, Hackenberg struck out 15 batters from Painesdale Jeffers in a 4-0 victory for the Cats.
Vivian Massey, Sturgis track/field — Massey became a three-time state champion for Sturgis track and field at the end of this season. She earned a Division 2 state title for the Trojans in the adaptive shot put with a distance of 16-feet, 6.5-inches.
Diannah Schwartz, Centreville track/field — Diannah Schwartz had a huge day in the Division 3 state finals in Kent City earlier this year. Schwartz won all four of her adaptive events, claiming first in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter runs plus the shot put event.
Roni Bir, Bronson softball — Bir clubbed a grand slam against Kalamazoo Christian to give Bronson its first regional championship since 2015. She totaled three hits in the game and registered five RBIs as Bronson won twice in Centreville, one game ending in the dark.
Lydia Wells, Bronson softball — Wells, arguably the best overall player in the area and one of the state’s top catchers in any division, had seven hits in the regional and quarterfinals combined. She smacked three home runs on regional day and totaled six runs driven in during her final three games.
Brayden Fritz, Bronson track/field — Fritz had a strong showing at the Division 3 state finals. On the day, he won a state championship in the discus event, tossing a distance of 164-feet, 2-inches.
The polls for this week(s)’ nominees are open until noon Saturday, June 20.
You can vote for more than one student-athlete at a time and can vote as much as you’d like until the deadline as well. Please vote responsibly.
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Vote for your favorite athletes for the past few weeks right here