As the winter seasons wind down, the action continues to heat up, and several Rockford-area athletes once again had strong performances over the past week.
It’s time for you to vote on who you believe deserves the Rockford Register Star high school athlete of the week. Go to rrstar.com to vote, or click on the poll below. Voting ends at noon Friday.
Last week’s winner was Lena-Winslow/Stockton wrestler Griffin Luke, who earned 44 percent of the 11,831 votes, beating out Hononegah bowler Kyley Olson (39 percent).
More sports stories at rrstar.com
Girls wrestling: 6 girls wrestlers from the Rockford area headed to first IHSA state finals
Boys wrestling: Find out which Rockford-area wrestlers advanced to the IHSA boys finals
Girls basketball: 10 Rockford-area players in the IHSA girls basketball postseason
Boys swimming: Rockford East’s ‘freak’ of a swimmer leads record day at NIC-10 boys championships
Joe Appino, Boylan basketball
The senior forward scored 23 points to lead Boylan to a 64-50 victory at Auburn. That was the first conference loss of the season for Auburn (22-5, 15-1). Boylan (20-9, 12-5) moved into a three-way tie for second with one game to play. The Titans have never finished lower than third in the conference in the last 38 years.
Donald Cannon, East wrestling
The freshman got pinned by eventual sectional champion Markel Baker of Freeport in his second match at last weekend’s sectionals, but then battled all the way back to finish third and advance to state. Cannon (25-5) won four straight matches to close out the tourney and to earn his trip to state. “That freshman just keeps impressing me,” East coach Gene Lee said.
Madison Davenport, Hononegah bowling
The junior captured the individual bowling title at the Belvidere Sectional on Saturday at Don Carter Lanes with a six-game total of 1,328 for a 221.3 average. She helped her team qualify for the Friday and Saturday state tournament at the Cherry Bowl in Rockford for the first time since 1999.
Camden Taylor, East swimming
The junior, who stands 6-foot-9, broke two more NIC-10 boys swimming records at Saturday’s conference meet, and he now holds conference records in six of the eight individual events.
Netavia Wickson, Boylan wrestling
Wickson was one of four girls to roll to a sectional title over the weekend and earn a berth to the first IHSA girls state wrestling tournament on Feb. 25-26. Wickson clearly understood what kind of history was being made, as well. “My goal for today was to make history for my school by becoming the first girl,” she said after winning it all, fighting back tears, “and the first black girl, to qualify for state in wrestling.”
Ava Wight, Oregon bowling
Wight rolled a 1,297 series and finished in fifth place in Saturday’s sectional bowling tourney, qualifying for next weekend’s IHSA state finals in Rockford. Wight’s 258 that she rolled in her fourth game was the highest game of the tourney. Oregon finished in sixth place as a team. Harlem won the team title, followed by Freeport and Hononegah.
Mary Zettle, Dakota basketball
Zettle, who’s averaging 10.1 points per game this season, went 6-for-8 from the free-throw line and had 21 points to lift Dakota to a 38-36 win last week over Durand to snap a three-game losing skid and head into the postseason on a high. Zettle followed that up by scoring 10 points as Dakota (7-23) knocked off Forreston (7-22) in Saturday’s regional opener.
Jay Taft: jtaft@rrstar.com; @JayTaft
