Who had Ohio's best individual performances?
You vote, you decide. MaxPreps is proud to again sponsor the Ohio Athlete of the Week awards during the 2020-21 school year.
Each week during the season (regular and post), there will be a fan-generated contest to tab weekly winners. Each winner receives a letter and award patch for their varsity jacket.
How does it work? Nominees are selected from statistics submitted on MaxPreps. Coaches who do not have current access may request their free account here. Weekly finalists are released on MaxPreps every Tuesday and voting is conducted in a special poll. Voting ceases at noon on Mondays. The winners (2-3 per week) are announced the next day along with the next week's nominees.
Participants may vote as many times as they want. It's a competition. So far this school year, over 7-million votes have been cast, including 475,000 last week.
Week 11 Ohio High School Athletes of the Week
* Kylie Clifton, Milford Girls SoccerSenior
goalie had 16 saves in a 2-1 D-I sectional final win over Seton and 10
saves in a 3-2 sectional semifinal win over St. Ursula.
* Taylor West, Tuscarawas Valley (Zoarville) VolleyballJunior
middle hitter had 15 blocks (13 solo) and 12 kills in a D-IV district
semifinal win over Hiland. Had 11 kills and five blocks in a district
final win over Union Local.
Here is the school year's latest round of nominees...
Week 12 Ohio High School Athlete of the Week Nominees
* Nathan Moore, Lake (Uniontown) Boys Cross CountrySenior became Stark County’s first big school cross country state champion since 1983 with a time of 14:59.5 to win the Division I state meet. He finished 27 seconds ahead of the second-place runner.
* Grace Hartman, Oakwood (Dayton) Girls Cross CountryJunior avenged two previous second place state meet finishes to Hawken’s Ella Gilson by edging the two-time defending state champion by 0.1 seconds to win the D-II state title. Hartman ran 18:04.1.
* Thomas Caputo, Fredericktown Boys Cross CountrySenior became the first cross country state champion in Knox County history when he won the D-III race at the state meet with a time of 15:31.5 (which also broke his own school record).
* Katie Scott, Olentangy (Lewis CenteR) Girls SoccerSenior goalie had 10 saves in a 1-0 D-I regional final win over Watterson. Had nine saves in a 3-1 regional semifinal win over Upper Arlington.
2020 Ohio High School Volleyball Statewide Stat Leaders
* Ryan Champa, Woodridge (Peninsula) Boys Cross CountrySenior became the first individual cross country state champion in program history by capturing the D-II won the D-II sate title with a time of 15:42.9. That helped the Bulldogs claim a state-record 10th team title.
* Clayton Nezbeth, Springfield (New Middletown) FootballSenior outside linebacker had 18 tackles in a 52-48 D-VI regional final win over Norwayne.
2020 Ohio High School Boys Soccer Statewide Stat Leaders
* Caleigh Richards, Maplewood (Cortland) Girls Cross CountryFreshman won her seventh race of the season and its was the big one. Ran 18:22.3 to finish first at the D-III state meet.
* Mia Robillard and Emma Bucher, Centerville Girls Cross CountryTeammates finished first and second, respectively, at the D-I state meet to help the Elks claim the team title. Robillard, a sophomore, ran 17:58.5, while Bucher, a senior, ran 17:59.8.
* Allie Dunlap, Heath Girls SoccerSophomore had a hat trick (three goals) in a 3-0 season-opening win over West Muskingum.
Week 2
* Austin Sees, Brookfield Boys SoccerSenior goalie made 15 saves in a 2-1 win over LaBrae and 14 saves in a 3-2 win over St. John (Ashtabula). Two of the three goals he allowed were penalty kicks.
* Katie Hooley, Jonathan Alder (Plain City) Girls SoccerJunior captain had four goals and two assists in a 10-0 win over Highland and three goals and three assists in a 13-1 win over Franklin Heights.
* Kylee Kosek, Springfield (New Middletown) Girls SoccerSenior had three goals and two assists in an 11-0 win over Girard and four goals and an assist in a 14-0 win over Newton Falls.
Week 3
* Shaden Malone, Clay (Portsmouth) Boys SoccerSenior goalkeeper and striker played large part in a 2-0-1 week. Had 16 saves in a 1-0 win over Glenwood and 12 saves in a 1-1 tie with South Webster. Also netted three goals and an assist in a 5-3 win over Belpre.
* Jordan Briggs, Grand Valley (Orwell) Boys SoccerSophomore had back-to-back hat tricks (six goals total) in wins over Geneva and Pymatuning Valley. Added an assist against PV for 13 points on the week.
Week 7
Had 57, 48 and 27 assists, respectively, in wins over Normandy, Brush and Laurel. Added 20 in a loss to Riverside.
* Emily Baker, Troy Christian VolleyballJunior captain had over 20 kills (102 total) in four straight matches as the Eagles beat Newton, Legacy Christian, Brookville and Ansonia.
* Xavier Puryear, Heath FootballSenior running back scored six touchdowns and rushed for 68 yards on 16 carries in a 56-20 win over Lakewood.
Week 8
* Eric Babinchak, Howland (Warren) FootballSenior running back rushed for 290 yards and four touchdowns on 39 carries in a 27-0 win over Buchtel.
* Hannah Golden, Centerville VolleyballJunior setter had 45 and 41 assists in wins over Northmont and Fairmont and 42 assists in a loss to Springboro.
* Bryce Schondelmyer and Brennen Troutwine, Arcanum FootballTande posted huge numbers in a 57-39 win over Dixie. Schondelmyer, a sophomore quarterback, completed 21-of-31 passes for 425 yards and seven touchdowns and also carried the ball 15 times for 75 yards and a touchdown. Troutwine, a junior split end, had 10 receptions for 276 yards and four touchdowns.
Week 9
* Cidny Long, Madison Plains (London) VolleyballSenior middle hitter had 55 kills and 11 blocks in 3-0 wins over Springfield Catholic Central, Greeneview and Greenon.
* Lauren Tuttle, Northeastern (Springfield) VolleyballSenior outside hitter had a career-high 38 kills in a 3-2 win over Fairbanks. Also had 29 kills in a 3-1 win over West Liberty-Salem and 23 kills in a 3-0 win over Mechanicsburg.
* Nathan Hawks, Greenon (Springfield) FootballSenior kicker connected on three second half field goals (47, 43 and 32 yards) as the Knights beat Taft 30-28.
Week 10
* Doug Rakes, Fairview (Sherwood) FootballSenior
quarterback threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 131
yards and three touchdowns in a 38-36 win over Northwood. Has thrown for
37 touchdowns and rushed for 11 more this season.
* Tyler Welsh, Genoa Area Boys SoccerSenior goalie recorded back-to-back games with 10 saves in wins over Delta (5-2) and Pettisville (3-2).
* Janessa Koffer, Franklin Monroe (Pitsburg) VolleyballSenior had back-to-back games of 35 digs in wins over Lehman Catholic (3-2) and Ansonia (3-0).
CLICK HERE to see the winners for the 2017-18 school year.
CLICK HERE to see the winners for the 2018-19 school year.