Here are this week’s candidates for the Welcome Home Realty Prime Time Performer.
You can vote once every 12 hours until the polls close on Friday at 5 p.m.
The winner will receive a $20 gift card to Mariah’s.
Joel Niermann (Pleasant Plains Forward) After missing the start of the season due to surgery, Joel Niermann appears to be in perfect shape to carry the Cardinals on their postseason run. Pleasant Plains’ junior forward put up 15 points against PORTA and 12 points against Rushville in their two regional games. The birds didn’t hit a three in the regional title game, so the post presence was a key success in the victory.
Travis Hogan (Riverton Forward) How about these Hawks? Two Sangamo foes faced off against Riverton and the blue and orange are still flying. Travis Hogan came up huge in both games last week, putting up 20 points against North Mac in the semifinal and then 14 points, including eight in the second half against Williamsville. Hogan also grabbed ten rebounds against the Bullets, a big reason they won was their dominance on the glass.
Abdulaziz Said (Glenwood Swimmer) The only champion from the state swim meet comes from Glenwood’s Abdulaziz Said, who won the 100 yard breatstroke (1:30.80) in the athletes with disabilities category and finished second in the 200 freestyle (2:58.42) to help Glenwood as a team finish runner up for combined schools.
Victoria Zeigler (SHG Forward) For the first time in history, the SHG Cyclones are sectional champions! SHG had a tall task slowing down Anna Hall in the title game and Victoria Zeigler dominated that matchup on both ends, scoring 11 points against the Eagles. The SHG senior forward wasn’t ready for her high school basketball career to end, scoring 12 points and grabbing seven boards in the upset of Charleston earlier in the week.
Damon Davis (Southeast Guard) Everyone south of I-80 knows how good this Southeast basketball team is and a big reason why is the depth at every position. As we saw this week, just about everyone on this team is capable of scoring 20 points a night. This week it was Damon Davis’ turn. The senior guard put up 21 against SHG and chipped in ten on senior night against U-High.
Nic Laird (Athens Guard) We don’t typically put up a Prime Time Performer nominee on a losing team, but go watch these highlights from Williamsville vs Athens in the 2A regional and tell us Nic Laird doesn’t deserve it. Laird put up 20 points against the Bullets and nearly powered the Warriors to the win, forcing overtime. Laird also surpassed 1,000 career points as a junior in that game, thanks to his 41 points scored in his two regional games.
Luke Lehnen (Glenwood Guard) Glenwood completed their season sweep of Lanphier to lock up a tie for third place in the CS8 conference. Luke Lehnen was almost unstoppable against the Lions shooting an incredible 7 of 9 from the floor, including 6 of 8 from three point range and grabbing six rebounds. Lehnen’s 23 points helped the Titans take down Lanphier at Lober-Nika.
Serena Bolden (Southeast Track) It may be cold outside, but inside, the track season is heating up. Southeast girls have a preseason ranking of #1 in the state in 2A and Serena Bolden is a big reason why. At the Homewood-Flossmoor meet on Saturday, just a few hours after cheering at her senior night basketball game, Bolden won the triple jump (38’1”), finished second in the long jump (18’8”) and third in the 60 meter (7.79).
