Vote for The Herald’s Prep Athlete of the Week for Sept. 12-18

Published 1:30 am Monday, September 19, 2022

The Athlete of the Week nominees for Sept. 12-18. Voting closes at midnight Sunday. The winner will be announced with next week’s poll and in Tuesday, Sept. 20’s paper.

Last week’s winners

Cole Balen and Sean Balen | Archbishop Murphy | Boys Tennis

Brothers Cole Balen, a junior, and Sean Balen, a senior, won all four of their matches on their way to winning the first annual Class 2A District 1 Doubles Invite held Sept. 9-10 at Sehome High School. The pair won their matches 6-0, 6-3; 6-2, 6-1; 6-1, 6-4; and 6-3, 6-4. Both also won all three of their singles matches during week to help the Wildcats to a 3-0 start. They won last week’s voting by claiming 378 (38.2%) of 990 votes.

This week’s nominees

Grace Andrews | Snohomish | Girls Swim & Dive

Andrews, a junior, won the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 26.34 seconds) and 100 butterfly (1:05.11) in the Panthers’ 95-75 win over Everett on Sept. 13. She also helped Snohomish’s 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams secure victories.

Ella Edens | Lake Stevens | Girls Cross Country

Edens, a senior, took first place in the Girls Varsity Division 1 race at the 43rd annual Carl Westling Invite at South Whidbey High School on Sept. 17. She finished the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 52.68 seconds.

Liam Fitting | Edmonds-Woodway | Football

Fitting, a senior, piled up 283 yards on three touchdowns on 26 touches in the Warriors’ 44-21 victory over Lynnwood. He had 231 yards and two scores on the ground and 52 yards and one TD receiving.

Trey Leckner | Glacier Peak | Football

Leckner, a senior, scored on all five of his touches as the Grizzlies thumped Ferndale 42-14 on Sept. 17 at Lumen Field. He scored on catches of 5, 70, 63, 13 and 59 yards. Leckner finished with 210 yards receiving.

Chloe Lewis | Arlington | Volleyball

Lewis, a senior, had a whopping 44 digs in the Eagles’ 3-1 loss to Snohomish on Sept. 15. The mark is believed to be a single-game program record.

Keiyu Mamiya | Shorewood | Boys Cross Country

Mamiya, a junior, took first place during a four-team meet on Sept. 14 at McCollum Park. He finished the 2.5-mile course in 13 minutes, 38.0 seconds.

Emma Orthel | Shorecrest | Girls Soccer

Orthel, a junior, scored the go-ahead goal in the 74th minute as Shorecrest topped Archbishop Murphy 2-1 on Sept. 15.

Zach Overbay | Monroe | Boys Tennis

Overbay, a sophomore, won all three of his No. 1 singles over a three-day stretch last week. Overbay earned victories of 6-2, 6-2; 6-3, 6-1; and 6-1, 6-1.

Note: The Herald’s Athlete of the Week nominees are chosen based off stats reported to the newspaper, recommendations from coaches and first-hand observations. Stats from games and recommendations for nominees can be sent to sports@heraldnet.com. Nominations for each week must be received by noon on Monday.