This past week was the first full week of spring sports for high school male athletes and teams from the Des Moines metro area.
In boys track and field, Dowling Catholic and Southeast Polk both hosted Invitationals. Southeast Polk edged Ankeny Centennial, 6-5, in an area boys tennis match, and there were multiple boys soccer games pitting metro-area teams against each other.
Several individual male high school athletes stood out during the week.
Here are the Des Moines Register's male Athlete of the Week candidates from the Des Moines metro area for the week of March 30-April 5. DesMoinesRegister.com readers vote to determine the winners, who will be announced at the end of the week.
Elias Arbuckle, DCG
Arbuckle won a fantastic race in the boys 1,600-meter run at the Indian Relays in Indianola on April 3.
Arbuckle ran a 4:15.41 to edge the 4:15.57 effort by Norwalk's Tony Anania for first place.
Jonathan Mendez, Dowling Catholic
Mendez came up big for the Dowling Catholic boys soccer team during a 4-3 victory over Ankeny on April 4 at Ankeny and a 3-2 win over Des Moines Roosevelt on April 1 at home.
Mendez scored two goals and dished out one assist against Ankeny. He finished with one goal and assist apiece in the win over Roosevelt.
Zach Malone, Ankeny Centennial
Malone won a thrilling No. 1 singles match over Southeast Polk's Micah Christiansen during the Jaguars' 6-5 loss to the Rams in boys tennis on April 3 at Ankeny.
Malone defeated Christiansen in three sets.
He rallied from a 7-6 (10-8) loss in the first set to take the second by a 6-4 score. Malone then won the ultimate tiebreaker, 1-0 (10-4).
Kaiden Kunze, Norwalk
Kunze ran the fastest boys 100-meter dash time in the state thus far according to Varsity Bound at the Winterset Invitational on April 4.
Kunze crossed the finish line in 21.82 seconds. That was just fast enough to edge Nevada's Connor Kunze (21.83) for first in the race.
Grant Dunn, Des Moines Christian
Dunn had a huge night on offense for the Des Moines Christian boys soccer team during a 7-0 victory over Prairie City-Monroe on March 31 at Des Moines.
Dunn went off for six goals on the night. He also assisted on the Lions' other goal in the game.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Vote: Des Moines Register male Athlete of the Week for March 30-April 15
