EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.
By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial
Blake Thiry, Sr., Prairie du Chien boys track and field
Prairie du Chien senior Blake Thiry can do it all. The three-sport standout, who is headed to Division 1 Indiana on a football scholarship in the fall, is putting the finishing touches on his unprecedented prep career by tearing up the track this spring.
Thiry earned top-three finishes in all three events he entered at the Prairie Relays on Tuesday, April 22, winning the 110-meter hurdles with a new school record of time of 14.56 seconds, as well as the 300-meter hurdles, in another new school (and meet record) time of 39.02, and was a part of the second-place boys 4x200 relay team alongside Jackson Perkins, Hunter Straka and Garrett DeHart (1:34.11).
At the Boscobel Relays two nights later, he was a member of the Boys 4x100 Meter Relay team of DeHart, Straka and Perkins that finished second in a time of 45.53,
Finally, at last Saturday's Knights of Columbus Relays at Veterans Memorial Stadium in La Crosse, Thiry had a day for the program record books as he broke his own school record in all four events he entered, while also finishing in first place in three of them. The one race he didn’t finish in first place was the 110 Meter Hurdles, which was won by Holmen sophomore Jakai Ayed who set a Holmen school record with a 14.19 seconds, just ahead of Thiry’s new PdC school record of 14.41. Thiry went on to win the 300 hurdles (38.70), long jump (23'5.25") and triple jump (46'1").
Just for good measure, Thiry was also named a WIAA Division Scholar–Athlete last week, just the third Prairie du Chien student–athlete to earn the honor, and the first since Rhett Koenig in 2023.
HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Brielle Fishnick, So., Cassville/Potosi girls track and field
Fishnick raced to first-place finishes in the girls 100-meter-dash (12.84 seconds) and 200 (27.32), and placed second in both the long jump (16'4.5") and triple jump (32'9") to scored 36 team points for the Cassville/Potosi girls at last Friday's Platteville Invitational.
Payton Gile, Sr., P, Cuba City softball
Payton Gile threw back-to-back no-hitters last week and pitched four-straight shutouts to lead the WIAA Division 4 #2-ranked Cubans (14–2, 7–0) to another stellar week. Gile struck out seven and allowed just two hits and a walk in a 12–0 five-inning win over Riverdale last Thursday. She then struck out 16 and allowed just one walk in a 5–0 win over Platteville last Friday. Monday night, Gile stuck out 15 and was just one fielding error away from a perfect game in a 10–0 six-inning victory over Fennimore. She then blanked Mineral Point, 3–0, striking out eight and allowing just three hits and one walk against the second-place Pointers (10–5, 7–1 SWAL).
Miriam Goomey, Sr., F, Platteville/Lancaster girls soccer team
Goomey scored three goals and had an assist in last Thursday's 9–0 shutout at Galena/East Dubque. Goomey also had a goal and two assists to lead the Hillmen (6–2–1, 3–1 SWC) to a 3–1 victory over Prairie du Chien last Monday night at PHS.
Cael Koenig, P/3B, River Ridge baseball
Koenig had a quite a week for the surging and now first-place Timberwolves. Koenig struck out 12 and allowed one unearned run in a five-inning no-hitter over Argyle/Black Hawk Thursday, April 24. He also went 3-for-4 with four RBI in the 12–1 win. Koenig then went 2-for-2 with three RBI, a stolen base and a walk in Friday's 10–0 win over Monticello/Albany. He kept the momentum rolling Monday afternoon in an 11–1 win over Shullsburg, striking out eight, while allowing one run on two hits and five walks. He also wnt 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored in the victory. Koenig then drove in the game's only run with a first-inning RBI single in Monday's 1–0 win over Belmont (10–4, 8–1). River Ridge improved to 11–4 overall and 9–1 in the Six Rivers to moved a half-game ahead of the Braves. In four games last week, Koenig went a combined 9-of-12 with five runs scored and eight RBIs.
Peyton Hale, Sr., Lancaster boys track and field
Hale blazed to a first-place finish in the boys 100-meter dash with a winning time of 10.79 seconds and also won the 200 meters with a time of 22.05 to lead the Lancaster boys to the team title at last Friday's Platteville Invitational.
