Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Below are the nominees for the Army National Guard Athlete of the Week for the week of March 19th through the 25th.  Voting is below and will be open until Thursday at 4:00pm with the winner announced Friday morning.

Moriah Begin, Heritage Christian girls basketball – The Patriots won their first ever state championship this past weekend when they defeated Owen-Withee, 79-51, in the Division 5 state finals.  Heritage struggled to pull away in its 50-41 semi-finals win over Seneca last Thursday but had no problems jumping on the Blackhawks, using a 20-8 run at the end of the first half to go up by 15.  Begin, a junior, combined for 30 points, 8 assists and 11 steals in the two games, while going 6-of-12 from beyond the arc.  Her 12 points in the first two quarters of the championship game put the Patriots ahead 40-25, a lead they did not come close to relinquishing.

Cami Gilson, Arrowhead girls track and field – Gilson recorded her second-consecutive runner-up performance at the state meet last year, finishing four inches lower than Ashwaubenon's Alexis Flucke's 12'-0.  She got the 2012 season off to a great start in Watertown over the weekend, taking first in the pole vault at the Watertown High School Relays.  Competing with teammates Taylor Amann and Bailey Shamion , the  senior posted a 11'-0 mark, tops in the state behind her 11'-6 vault from last week's Nelson Daniels meet in Whitewater.

Jill Kleiman, Kewaunee girls basketball – The Storm put their No.2-ranked defense on display this weekend when they took out Barron and Oostburg to win the Division 3 state crown.  Kewaunee, who allowed less than 32 points per game this season, gave up a playoff-low 18 points to the Golden Bears and outscored the Flying Dutchmen 20-to-11 in the fourth quarter.  Kleiman averaged 14.5 points through the two games, but was more instrumental on the defensive end.  Her seven steals led a 38-turnover weekend for the  co-Packerland champions.

Tyler Parker, Verona boys track and field–  In just two weeks of competition, Parker finds himself at the top of the rankings for the 55 meter dash.  At the Tri-State Large School Invitational on Saturday the senior posted a 6.59 time in prelims, good for fourth in the state.  In the finals he lowered his time by nine-hundredths of a second to win the event with a 6.50.  Illustrating the athletic display he put on for the 12-1 football team this year, Parker recorded an 18th-place finish in the shot put as well, throwing the apparatus 40'-11.
Bridget Pethke, New London girls basketball – The Bulldogs completed an undefeated campaign by knocking off the other undefeated team in the division, New Berlin Eisenhower.  The Lions scored a season-low 39 points and Miss Basketball, and Wisconsin recruit, Nicole Bauman was limited to 14 points and committed 10 turnovers.  Pethke, one of the Bulldogs top defenders, was instrumental in both games this weekend, breaking the state-record with 9 steals in the title game.  The senior had an assist, a steal and a made free throw late in the fourth to solidify the win.