EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.
Skye Digman, Sr., Platteville girls track and field
Platteville senior Skye Digman had quite a few both on the athletic field and away from it to earn this week’s Mast Water Technology SWNews4U.com Athlete of the Week award. Last Thursday, Digman was announced as one of the 32 finalists (16 girls, 16 boys) for this year’s WIAA Scholar Athlete of the Year awards, based on both athletic and academic achievement. Digman was chosen from 881 seniors that were nominated state wide.
Later that day, Digman teamed up with sophomore Izzy Carroll to win both the shot put relay and the discus relay to help the Platteville girls win a fourth straight team title at last Thursday’s 52nd Platteville Relays. Digman had the top throw in both events 39’2.5” in the shot put and 120’2” in the discus. Two athletes teamed up for each field event and distances or heights were combined to determine place winners at the 13-team relay-only meet. This past Tuesday afternoon, Digman broke the school record in the shot put at Tuesday’s Lancaster SWC triangular with a winning throw of 41’9”.
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Brianna Leahy, Sr., Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg girls track and field
Brianna Leahy joined Platteville’s Skye Digman and Benton’s Emma Lawrence as one of the 16 female finalists for this year’s WIAA Scholar Athlete Award. She also had a standout week on the track for the B/SM/S girls track and field team. Leahy brought home a medal from last weekend’s 91st Kansas Relays with an eighth-place finish in the girls discus (123’7”). She then broke the school and program record in the same event at Monday’s Darlington Invitational with a winning throw of 126’11”.
Nathan Mowry, Jr., Benton/Shullsburg track and field
Mowry led the Zerphyr/Miners to sole possession of first place in the Six Rivers West with his bat and arm over the last week. Lowry went 8-for-12 with two homers and seven RBIs in four Benton/Shullsburg wins and picked up two wins and a save on the mound, while striking out 16 batters in 12 innings. He went 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI in last Tuesday’s 8–2 win at Cassville, then went 2-for-3 with a pair of homers and pitched five strong innings in Thursday’s 11–4 win over Highland. Friday, he had an RBI single and pitched two scoreless innings to record the save in a 2–0 win over Pecatonica, then had a perfect 3-for-3 day and allowed just one run on four hits in Monday’s 14–1 win over visiting Potosi. Benton/Shullsburg is currently 6–1 overall and 5–0 in the Six Rivers Conference.
Sadie Willborn, Jr., P, Belmont softball
Willborn picked up six wins in six days over the past week to lead Belmont (9–1, 3–0 SRC) to the top of the Six Rivers West. Willborn struck out 37 batters and allowed just four earned runs in 35.2 innings pitched from last Thursday to Tuesday, an ERA of 0.79. She struck out seven in a 5–0 shutout of Black Hawk last Thursday, then allowed just one hit in four shutout innings of a 10–0 win over Monticello on Friday, then pitched all 14 innings in a pair of non-conference victories over Marathon, 6–1, and Platteville, 4–2, Saturday at Belmont. Willborn then earned the win, allowing just one run in 4 2/3 innings in Monday’s 19–4 win over River Ridge and pitched six one-hit innings and drove in five runs in Tuesday’s 14–0 shutout at Iowa–Grant. She also went 7-for-19 at the plate with eight RBIs in those six wins to aid her own cause.
