Vote for Rockford high school athlete of the week: Nominees from Boylan, 'Bago, Hono

Jay Taft, Rockford Register Star
·4 min read
Winnebago's Grace Erb celebrates after crossing the finish line in first place as the anchor leg of their 4X800-meter relay during the Class 1A State Track and Field Championships on Saturday, May 21, 2022 at Eastern Illinois University.
Winnebago's Grace Erb celebrates after crossing the finish line in first place as the anchor leg of their 4X800-meter relay during the Class 1A State Track and Field Championships on Saturday, May 21, 2022 at Eastern Illinois University.

As the 2021-22 school year, and the final sports season of the year, winds down, there is still chance for you to help select the Rockford Register Star high school sports athlete of the week.

You can now vote for the top athlete for the week from May 14-21 at rrstar.com or at the poll below. Voting ends Friday at noon.

Last week's winner was Auburn softball player Ally Lowery, who earned 42 percent of the 14,678 votes, beating out Rochelle tennis players David Wanner and Owen Haas (35 percent).

More sports stories at rrstar.com

Girls track and field: Sparked by throwers and deep Winnebago, IHSA track titles pour in for Rockford girls

Boys tennis: Rockford's 16 boys tennis state qualifiers, and what they had to say after sectionals

Baseball: Hit in the toe? Wild ending gives Lena-Winslow baseball first regional title since 2014

Boys track and field: Who's going to state? Rockford-area throwers lead the way in boys track and field

Softball: How 3 conference champs hope to stay hot for the IHSA softball playoffs

Nico Bertolino, Belvidere North track and field

The Belvidere North sophomore won the 100-meter dash in 10.96 and took second in the 200 dash in 22.43 during last week's Class 3A Huntley Sectional, advancing to next week's IHSA boys state track and field meet in Charleston in the two sprints.

Madelyn Bishop, Boylan track and field

Bishop was the only Rockford-area athlete to earn a state championship at Saturday's IHSA girls state track and field finals in Charleston outside the Class 1A. Bishop, the Boylan senior, won the 2A shot put title, and took sixth in the 2A discus.

Finley Buelte, Rockford Christian tennis

Rockford Christian's Finley Buelte helped his Rockford Christian boys tennis team back to state last weekend.
Rockford Christian's Finley Buelte helped his Rockford Christian boys tennis team back to state last weekend.

The undefeated senior lost only two games in eight sets to win the singles title at the Class 1A Belvidere North Sectional. He led Rockford Christian to only its second tennis team sectional title in school history.

Peyton Debruyne, Belvidere North girls soccer

The goaltender shut out the potent Freeport attack to help the Blue Thunder claim a 1-0 win and a Class 3A regional championship. Cortlyn Hefty, who has 37 goals on the season, had the lone goal of the game as Belvidere North bounced back from a 1-0 setback to Freeport just a week before in the NIC-10 regular-season finale.

Grace Erb, Winnebago track and field

Erb helped Winnebago to a third-place finish as a team at the IHSA girls state track and field meet in Class 1A on Saturday, anchoring the state-champion 4x800-meter relay crew, and taking second in the 800 open and third as the anchor of the 4x400 relay.

Dani Franz, Hononegah softball

Franz hit her seventh home run of the season, blasting one out in the second inning of Hononegah's 15-0 regular-season-ending victory over Jefferson last Thursday. The catcher and third baseman helped Hononegah (23-3, 17-1 NIC-10) close out the NIC-10 championship season in style as they head into this week's postseason opener in style. Hononegah was scheduled to take on East in the opener on Tuesday.

Ethan Fye, Lena-Winslow baseball

Fye went 4-for-7 with five RBIs in two regional games and pitched 9 ⅔ innings with eight strikeouts and only two walks (both intentional) in Lena-Winslow’s 3-2 win in 11 innings over Galena in the Class 1A Freeport Aquin Regional final. He is 7-0 with a 1.84 ERA and 74 strikeouts on the season for Le-Win (20-5).

Riley Lundgren, Harlem track and field

Harlem's Riley Lundgren lets loose on a discus throw during a recent meet at Harlem High School in Machesney Park.
Harlem's Riley Lundgren lets loose on a discus throw during a recent meet at Harlem High School in Machesney Park.

Lundgren advanced to state in both the discus and the shot put out of the Class 3A Huntley Sectional on Wednesday. He's seeded fifth in the discus and 18th in the shot put headed into Friday's 3A preliminaries.

Caleb Mammoser, Warren/Stockton baseball

Mammoser pitched Warren/Stockton to an 8-3  victory over East Dubuque in the Class 1A East Dubuque Regional finals. In an 11-1 semifinal victory over Dakota, Mammoser pitched 1 ⅓ innings of perfect relief and hit an RBI triple and an RBI double. He is 7-1 on the season with a 1.87 ERA.

Braden Smith, Byron baseball

Smith threw a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts and one walk in Byron’s 6-0 Class 2A regional semifinal victory over Rock Falls and was 2-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored in two games as Byron won its own regional.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford athlete of the week: Nominees from Boylan, Winnebago, Hono