Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week

Welcome to the Bay Area News Group (Mercury News & East Bay Times) girls athlete of the week poll.

For the entire academic year, we will provide a list of candidates who stood out over the previous week and allow you, the reader, to vote for the winner.

This week, we consider performances from August 22-27.

Polls close at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Vote as many times as you’d like until then.

Candidates for future Athlete of the Week polls can be nominated at highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com.

We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps by coaches/team statisticians.

On to the nominees:

(Scroll to the bottom for the poll)

McKenzie Anderson, James Logan volleyball: The Colts’ precocious freshman had herself quite a game against Burlingame on Tuesday. She had 12 kills and 23 digs as an outside hitter. 

Rayne Caragan, St. Patrick-St. Vincent water polo: The senior was a goal machine for St. Patrick-St. Vincent. She piled up seven goals and one assist and somehow nabbed six steals in the meantime. 

Brooklyn Gamez, Liberty volleyball: Gamez had a very productive first week of the season. The sophomore had 28 kills, nine serving aces, and 15 digs across four games. 

Cleo Hardin, Menlo School volleyball: The junior outside hitter had a great day against Aragon in Menlo’s 3-0 win. Hardin had 16 kills, 21 digs and hit 42.9 percent. 

Liliana Levin, Prospect water polo: Prospect’s freshman was the high scorer in their shutout against Evergreen Valley. She hit 50 percent of her shots and scored six goals in the 16-0 win. 

Gabriela Morales, Freedom water polo: Freedom’s senior scored five goals against Deer Valley and American Canyon on a .455 shooting percentage. Aside from nine points, she also had eight steals and two ejections drawn.