PNJ Athlete of the Week: Who should win the award for the week of March 17-22?
It's time for another round of the Pensacola News Journal Athlete of the Week.
Vote early and vote often! Every week until the end of the 2024-25 athletics season, the PNJ will release a list of area athletes from every sport in-season, and that's where you come in: vote who you think should win the award.
The polls will be open until each Saturday at 11 a.m. of that week. Each weekly winner will be awarded a one-of-a-kind PNJ Athlete of the Week shirt. Athlete of the Week is proudly sponsored by Florida Power and Light. The poll is exclusively on PNJ.com.
Winners will be contacted early next week after the poll closes.
Nominees are accepted via email or phone, but will be selected by staff in the absence of submissions. The poll is decided by the PNJ sports staff and finalized the Sunday before the poll opens.
Note: Is your team or sport missing from Athlete of the Week? Be sure to file statistics with PNJ staff or keep your MaxPreps page up to date.
Ben Grieco can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) or via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.
Baseball, Jake Hooten (Gulf Breeze): If you need an example of consistency at the plate, Jake Hooten provided that this week during a crazy, five-game week for the Dolphins between the Tate Aggie Classic and a game against Escambia at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Gulf Breeze finished the week with a 4-1 record. Jake Hooten had three home runs during the week, against Blanchard (Okla.), Yukon (Okla.) and Broken Arrow (Okla.), totaling 10 hits, five of which were extra-base hits. He also tallied a combined nine RBIs and 10 runs in those five games. Against Booker T. Washington (Okla.), where Gulf Breeze had a 10-0 shutout, Hooten pitched four scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
Baseball, Ben Bates (Pensacola Catholic): Also having a strong week at the plate during the Aggie Classic, with four games against Oklahoma-based teams, Ben Bates provided some big offense for the Crusaders, who went 3-1 during the stretch. Bates, with a single, knocked in Pensacola Catholic's lone run against Noble before adding a pair of home runs over the next three games. In total, Bates recorded six hits, eight RBIs and six runs over the three wins.
Softball, Mikayla McAnally (Northview): The Chiefs split a pair of games against two Alabama teams, falling to Elberta before responding with a victory over TR Miller. Mikayla McAnally recorded a hit in the first game on Friday before taking over the mound on Saturday. She threw 10 strikeouts in the complete-game effort over seven innings, allowing four runs, only one of them earned. Offensively during that game, McAnally also had a hit and two runs over the Tigers.
Boys track and field, Demarcus Boykins (Escambia): At the Paul W. Bryan Spring Break Battle by the Beach Invitational, hosted by Pine Forest, Demarcus Boykins picked up a pair of individual first-place finishes. Showing off some speed, Boykins won both the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.49 seconds, and the 400-meter dash clocking in at 49.43 seconds. As part of the 4x400-meter relay, Boykins was the first runner for the Gators, which finished second with a time of 3 minutes, 30.72 seconds.
Girls track and field, Ta'nae Henderson (Pine Forest): Ta'nae Henderson, literally, could not be beat on Friday at the Paul W. Bryan Spring Break Battle by the Beach Invitational. On the track, Henderson won the 100-meter hurdles (14.47 seconds) by nearly a whole second, before finishing first with the Pine Forest 4x100-meter relay (48.49 seconds), where she ran the third leg of the relay. Henderson also won the long jump with a distance of 4.98 meters, and the triple jump with a distance of 11.31 meters.
Girls tennis, Libby Krehely (Pensacola Catholic): At the McGill-Toolen Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Mobile (Ala.) Tennis Center, Libby Krehely picked up three individual victories. She won in third singles against Mt. Carme (La.), Sacred Heart (La.) and Gulfport (Miss.). She also won in second doubles, teaming up with Ella Cage, against Gulfport on Saturday.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: PNJ Athlete of the Week poll for March 17-22 now open
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