Vote for the News & Observer high school athlete of the week (4.23.21)
Meet the nominees for the News & Observer high school athlete of the week.
Readers may vote as often as they like until Friday, around noon, will the poll closes.
Hannah Francis, Wakefield Soccer: The Wolverines’ junior midfielder has six goals and five assists to lead Wakefield to win over Corinth Holders, Knightdale and Rolesville.
Francis had three goals and three assists to lead Wakefield to a 9-0 win at Knightdale April 12.
The next day, she had one goal and two assists in a 3-0 victory over Corinth Holders.
Francis finished off the week with two goals in a 3-1 win at Rolesville April 15.
Francis has nine goals and seven assists for Wakefield (6-2, through Sunday).
Misty Houston, Millbrook Softball: The Wildcats’ junior went 7-for-10 at the plate with six runs scored and five RBI as Millbrook beat Enloe, Leesville Road and Sanderson. She also earned the victory on the mound in each of the same, three games.
Houston went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while striking out nine batters in a complete-game, seven-inning effort on the mound in an 8-2 win over Sanderson, April 12.
She also went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and tossed a complete-game (seven innings) with five strikeouts on the mound in a 6-1 victory over Enloe, April 13.
Houston finished off the week by going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, while allowing only three hits and striking out four batters in five innings of work on the mound in a 12-0 win at Leesville Road, April 15.
Houston is batting .548 with two home runs, four doubles and 18 RBI, while also going 7-1 on the mound with 38 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work while boasting a 2.24 earned-run average (ERA) for Millbrook (7-2) this season.
Isabella Logan, Apex Friendship Soccer: The Patriots’ sophomore led Apex Friendship to shutouts of both Fuquay Varina and Holly Springs this week to help improve her team to 8-1 this season.
Logan contained Fuquay Varina standout, Mackenzie Harris, in a 2-0 win over the Bengals, April 13.
The next day, Logan marked Holly Springs’ star, Olivia Womack, in a 1-0 victory over the Golden Hawks.
Logan is a key part of a Apex Friendship defense that has allowed just three goals in nine games this season.
Kathryn Mohler, Cary Softball: The Imps’ sophomore shortstop went 4-for-8 with two doubles and four RBI to lead Cary to a two-game sweep of Riverside after losing to Green Hope this week.
Mohler was 1-for-4 with two runs scored in a 7-6 loss at Green Hope, April 12.
She was also 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI in 15-0 win over Riverside, April 14.
The next day, Mohler went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI in a 12-1 victory at Riverside.
Mohler is batting .455 with three doubles, six RBI and 13 runs scored for Cary (6-3) this season.
William Moon, Holly Springs Tennis: The Golden Hawks’ freshman went 2-0 in both singles and doubles’ play this week to lead Holly Springs to win over Apex and Apex Friendship.
Moon won his singles’ match 6-0, 6-0 while winning 8-2 in doubles’ play in a 9-0 victory over Apex, April 12.
Moon also won 6-1, 4-0 in singles, and 8-0 in doubles in a 6-3 victory at Apex Friendship, April 15.
Holly Springs also won 5-0 at South Garner, April 14.
Moon is a perfect 14-0 this season (7-0 singles, 7-0 in doubles), while losing only one game in singles’ play for a Holly Springs’ team that is still a perfect 9-0.
Holly Springs already clinched their first South Wake Athletic Conference title since 2009.
Arial Pearce, North Johnston Softball: The Panthers’ senior went 4-for-6 at the plate with a double, triple and grand slam home run, while also collecting two wins on the mound in a two-game sweep of Farmville Central this week.
Pearce was 2-for-3 at the plate with a single and a grand slam home run with five RBI in a 15-0 win over Farmville Central, April 13. She also got the win on the mound in the same game, going all four innings while striking out six batters.
Pearce, a UNC Wilmington commit, was 2-for-3 with a double and a triple in a 19-3 win at Farmville Central, April 15. She also pitched all four innings on the mound, earning the victory while striking out six hitters in the same game.
North Johnston is 7-2 this season.
Alex Richmond, Ravenscroft Track: The Ravens’ sophomore won both the 100-meter dash (13.05) and 200-meter dash (27.02) to lead the Ravenscroft girls’ track team to victory over Trinity Academy and St. David’s, April 15.
Richmond’s 100 and 200-meter times were personal bests and the fastest times run in the Triangle Independent Schools’ Athletic Conference (TISAC) this season.
Richmond also finished as runner-up in both the high jump (4-8) and long jump (14-8) at the same meet.
Mia Scherber, Clayton Soccer: The Comets’ junior scored five goals and had four assists as Clayton beat both South and West Johnston while losing to Apex this week.
Scherber had one goal in a 4-3 loss at Apex, April 12.
The next day, she had two goals and three assists in a 7-0 win at West Johnston.
Scherber had two goals and one assist in a 9-0 win over South Johnston, April 15.
Scherber had 13 goals and eight assists for Clayton (5-4) this season.
Will Sword, Thales Academy Apex Baseball: The Titans’ junior tossed a complete-game, four-hit, shutout to lead Thales Academy Apex to their first win of the season in a 13-0 win at archrival, Thales Academy Rolesville, April 14. He was also 2-for-3 with a double, triple, two stolen bases, two runs and two RBI in the same game.
Sword followed that up by going 3-for-5 at the plate with four RBI in a 21-16 win at Friendship Christian, April 16.
Sword is batting .630 with five doubles and 12 RBI for Thales Academy Apex (2-9) this season.
Will Wakefield, Cary Christian Lacrosse: The Knights’ sophomore faceoff specialist and midfielder led Cary Christian to wins over Arendell Parrott Academy and Wesleyan Christian this week.
Wakefield won 12 of 16 faceoffs to go with five groundballs in a 7-5 win at Wesleyan Christian, April 13.
Two days later, Wakefield won 14 of 17 faceoffs, while recording three groundballs in a 9-8 overtime win over Arendell Parrott Academy.
Wakefield was ruled out for the season after suffering a concussion in the Arendell Parrott win, according to Cary Christian coach, Tom Kinney.
Cary Christian is 3-4 overall this season.
Brooklyn Whitehead, Holly Springs Soccer: The Golden Hawks’ junior midfielder scored five goals and had two assists as Holly Springs beat Apex and South Garner, while losing to Apex Friendship this week.
Whitehead had three goals and two assists in a 7-0 win over Apex, April 13.
Holly Springs lost 1-0 at Apex Friendship the next day.
Whitehead came back with four goals in a 9-0 win at South Garner, April 15.
Whitehead, a University of Toledo commit, has 10 goals and four assists for Holly Springs (5-2-3) this season.
** Information published today includes statistics through April 17.
Want to nominate an athlete?: Athletes of the week highlights high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes in all sports, both the most accomplished and the underrated or underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the Athletes of the week column, send email to Jay Edwards at edwardsraleighnewsobserver@gmail.com.
