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

Maddy Klein, Jr., Dodgeville/Mineral Point/Iowa–Grant/Highland gymnastics
DODGEVILLE — Junior Maddy Klein won the all-around (35.225), the vault (9.275) and uneven bars, while placing fourth on the floor exercise (9.10) and tied for seventh on the balance beam (8.35) to lead the Dodgeville co-op to a first-place finish at last Saturday's Dodgeville Invitational.

Klein's Dodgeville/Mineral Point/Iowa–Grant/Highland co-op team won its own eight-team invitational Saturday with a team score of 138.75.

Two days later Klein, won the all-around (36.225), vault (9.1 tied for first), and bars (9.25), while placing second on the beam (8.975) while helping the Dodgers win their our Southwest Wisconsin Conference quadrangular Monday night with a combined score of 139.65.

Two weeks ago, Klein helped the Dodgers establish a new program record team score of 139.85 to win the Southwestern Southwest Wisconsin Conference quad Monday, Jan. 26.

Klein won a WIAA Division 2 individual state title on the uneven bars (9.383) as a sophomore, finished second in the all-around (37.067) and tied for seventh on the vault (9.167) at last year’s WIAA D2 state meet. She also helped the Dodgeville co-op finish third out of 10 teams at last year's WIAA D2 Team State Championships.

Alayna Hingtgen, Sr., Platteville dance team
LA CROSSE — At the Wisconsin Association of Cheer and Pom Coaches, Platteville senior Alaynah Hingten capped her high school solo dance career Friday night with a Division 5 All-State performance in the upstairs solo room at the La Crosse Center.

Hingtgen competed in the Division 5 Solo category with her self-choreographed routine titled “Where Are You Taking Me!?”, set to music by Travis Lake. 

This season marked the fourth consecutive year that Hingtgen has advanced to compete at the state level using the same central character concept. While the choreography itself changed each season, the character remained consistent — a choice that is uncommon in high school dance competition, where many soloists introduce entirely new concepts annually. 

The Division 5 solo field began earlier in the season with a video submission round that included 55 soloists statewide. From that initial round, the field was reduced by roughly half at each stage of the process, steadily narrowing the competition. By the time soloists reached the live state performance round, only a small number remained from the original group.

Hingtgen earned Division 5 All-State Solo honors, marking her fourth individual All-State award. With that accomplishment, she became only the 10th dancer across all divisions in state history to earn individual All-State honors four years in a row.

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Rohwen Aultman, Fr., 114 pounds, Iowa–Grant/Highland girls wrestling
The top-seeded Aultman went 3–0 to win the 114-pound conference title — one of 12 individual conference titles at last Friday's 20-team SWC/SWAL/Scenic Bluffs/Ridge & Valley Girls Conference Clash tournament. Aultman (35–6) advanced to the 114-pound championship match with a first-round bye in the seven-girl bracket, and a 1:32 pin of Richland Center junior Isabella Tracy. She then dominated Mineral Point sophomore Tatum James 11–0 in the finals and finished with a team-high 23 points.

Kenlinn Byl, Fr., 107 pounds, Lancaster girls wrestling
Byl won the 107-pound conference title with a first-round bye and back-to-back pins to help the Flying Arrows (130 points) finish second behind champion Mineral Point (178) at last Friday's 20-team SWC/SWAL/Scenic Bluffs/Ridge & Valley Girls Conference Clash tournament. Byl pinned Cuba City/Benton/Southwestern sophomore Destiny Crawley in the finals of her first high school conference meet. 

Deyla Collins, Sr., 132 pounds, Emily Heisner, Jr., 165, and Lillian Heiser, Sr., 185, Mineral Point girls wrestling
Mineral Point crowned three individual champions — senior Dealya Collins (132 pounds), junior Emily Heisner (165) and senior Lillian Heisner (235) — and scored 178 points to hold off runner-up Lancaster (130) for the team title at last Friday's 20-team SWC/SWAL/Scenic Bluffs/Ridge & Valley Girls Conference Clash tournament at Boscobel. Emily Heiser went 4–0 and scored a team-high 27.5 points with a bye, two pins and a 12–1 major decision over Prairie du Chien's Britney Petche in the 165-pound title match. L. Heiser went 3–0 and scored 24 points, while Collins also finished 3–0 and scored 23.5 team points for the champs.   

Brandon Davis, Sr., PG, River Ridge boys basketball
The Timberwolves took their only lead of the second half at 64–63 with 5.7 seconds to play on a runner in the lane by Davis and went on to upset #5-ranked Belmont last Tuesday night 65–63. Davis concluded the contest with a team-high 25 points on 10-of-23 shooting from the floor, netting 14 points in the second half. He also pulled down six rebounds to go along with a team-high four steals. Davis also posted 20 points, five rebounds and five steals in a 62–33 blowout win at Monticello last Friday night. The senior point guard then led the Timberwolves (13–6, 9–3 SRW) with 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in Monday's 86–55 win over Highland.

Ben Infield, Jr., G, Potosi/Cassville boys basketball
Infield led the charge,  scoring a team-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range and had six assists, five rebounds and three steals in last Friday's 68–55 Six Rivers Conference win at Juda. One night earlier, he posted a team-high 16 points, four rebounds and two steals in a 55–42 win over Albany. Infield tallied 14 points, six rebounds, six steals and three assists in a 59–43 win over Shullsburg last Tuesday, and most recently he led the first-place Chieftains (13–5, 11–1 SRW) to an 85–60 road win at Benton this past Monday night with 16 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two assists.

Madalyn Mueller, Sr., 120 pounds Richland Center girls wrestling
Mueller went 4–0 with a first-round, bye, an 8–0 major decision over Mineral Point's Abbey Finley in the semifinals, and two pins, the last of which was a 24-second victory over Lancaster senior Alyvia Bahl in the finals to win the 120-pound conference title at last Friday's 20-team SWC/SWAL/Scenic Bluffs/Ridge & Valley Girls Conference Clash tournament at Boscobel. 

Grady Poppy, Jr., SF, Platteville boys basketball
Poppy played the staring role in Platteville’s key SWC victory over Lancaster last Friday night, scoring a game-high 26 points (on 11 of 19 shooting), with 13 rebounds and  five steals to lead the Hillmen to an 83–59 win. Poppy scored 16 points in the first half to give the Hillmen a 36–31 advantage at intermission, then scored the first five points of the second half to ignite a second-half onslaught by the home team. Poppy then made a 3-pointer from the left wing with 12 minutes left to give Platteville a 50–40 lead and in the process became the eighth Platteville boy to score 1,000 career points. Poppy now has 1,044 points following Monday’s win at Cuba City — with the first 724 coming at Shullsburg the past two seasons.