Athletes of the Week for the week ending April 17th
Boys’ MS Track Athlete of the Week
Bronson Owen, Lone Oak MS
Owen had an extremely impressive showing last week and will be an athlete to watch the rest of the way after the Heath Pirate MS Invitational. His win in the 100 meters was hand-timed at 10.99 and will be rounded to 11.24, but even with that change, the performance is ridiculously quick for this young man. He wasn’t done there, though, as he launched to an 18-7 performance to win the long jump as well. With both of those performances putting him at the top of the MS leaderboards, Owen is clearly an athlete to watch the rest of the year.
Boys’ MS Field Athlete of the Week
Julius Allen, South Warren MS
Allen had an amazing day in the throws at the Great Gator Invitational and claimed himself a new state leader in the discus in the process. His 130-11 performance was very impressive and now puts him more than 20 feet ahead of the next best in the state at this point in the year. He followed in the shot put with a 40-11.5 performance in the shot put to claim the win, but that wasn’t all that Allen did last week. In the Warren East MS Meet earlier in the week, he showed his skill in the discus throwing 123-5 to prep him for the big toss on Saturday, but his 43-11 shot put performance makes him the state leader in that event as well.
Girls’ MS Track Athlete of the Week
Brittany Hansen, Bowling Green Junior High School
Hansen took the opportunity to claim the MS lead in her second event at the Warren East MS Meet. Having already posted a 5:39 previously to lead the state in the 1600, Hansen posted a 5:40 to win the 1600 meters, then came back to claim the state lead in the 800 meters as well, running 2:34 for the win. Hansen, who is another young distance standout at BG, will be a big piece of the puzzle for an XC team that is looking to continue to pressure the main powers that dominate the fall.
Girls’ MS Field Athlete of the Week
Hannah Ashley, Grayson County MS
Ashley had a strong week in the throws, competing at both the Elizabethtown MS Meet and the Larue County MS Meet. At E-town, Ashley claimed a discus victory posting the 2nd best performance in the state thus far (79-10) and followed with a solid throw of 28-8 in the shot put. At Larue, though, she improved upon the shot put performance, to 30-5 to claim 3rd place and she now sits among the top 10 in that event as well. As we reach the halfway point in the season, Ashley is now right in the middle of the discussion in both of the throws and will look to continue to improve upon her recent performances in the coming weeks.
Boys’ HS Track Athlete of the Week
Jared Skrabacz, South Warren
We considered Sean Hurd of Christian County and really tried to go with Zach Evans of North Oldham, who dominated the 100m, 200m, and 300 meter hurdles at the Harry Greschel Invitational Saturday, after also throwing the shot put 41-11 on Thursday evening, but Skrabacz was pretty ridiculous Friday night at CAL. Running the 5000 meters, Skrabacz took a field with several strong entrants and made almost the entire field look silly, lapping most of the field and beating 9:43 3200 meter man Dominic Perronie by 24 seconds. Skrabacz doesn’t get as much of the distance spotlight with the likes of Stewart and Thomson shining so brightly in the Louisville area, but he might just be the best man in the state at the 3200 meter distance and up.
Boys’ HS Field Athlete of the Week
Mike Patterson, Male
While we could put Isaac Bowling in this spot each week with the way he is dominating the throws right now, Patterson took care of some business in the jumps this week, extending his state lead in the triple jump with a 46-02.25 effort in the Male/North Hardin dual while also posting a 20-08.75 leap in the long jump to claim the win in that event as well. Patterson has been a huge part of the machine that is Male and appears ready to do his part for the team this year.
Girls’ HS Track Athlete of the Week
Emma Brink, Sacred Heart Academy
Brink came out this week on a cold and wet day and did nothing more than dominate some of the best talent in the state, making it look easy along the way. In the 1600, Brink took it out early and extended away from Kaitlin Snapp and the rest of the field, running to a 5:11.68 time in the process. In the 800 meters, Snapp took out the first 400, before Brink took over and ended up winning by six seconds (2:22) when the dust settled. In between, she won the 400 meters out of the slowest heat, positing a solo 1:04.83 in the process. Brink will have more impressive performances the rest of the year, but this was one that not many would have expected to be so dominant.
Girls’ HS Field Athlete of the Week
Alexandra Grant, Fern Creek
Grant was incredibly impressive at the Oldham County All-Comers nailing down wins in both the shot and discus. The discus performance was a new state leader (118-7), while the shot put was a little short of her current state leader of 37-7. Grant, who wasn’t really a factor at last year’s Class AAA state championships, has shown great improvement this year and appears to be a frontrunner to claim both events in this year’s state championships.
