EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.

Emma Lawrence, Sr., Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg girls track and field

     Benton senior Emma Lawrence four individual conference titles and set four new conference meet records to lead the Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg girls to a sixth straight title at the Six Rivers Conference meet Monday at UW–Platteville. Lawrence broke her own mark in the girls’ 300-meter low hurdles with her winning time of 45.50 seconds and topping Benton alumnus Danielle Dixon’s 2009 record in the 100-meter high hurdles with her winning time of 15.43 seconds. She added titles and records in the triple jump (35’10”) and the 200-meter dash (26.22) to lead the Lady Zephyrs.

Brynlee Nelson, Fr., Fennimore girls track and field

     Fennimore freshman Brynlee Nelson had quite the week. Nelson was named the Female Athlete of the Meet at last Thursday’s Boscobel Sparky Reynolds Invitational, then scored a team-high 40 points and won four individual conference titles at Monday’s SWAL’s Championships at Darlington. Nelson won the girls’ 400 (1:01.21) and 800 (2:24.43), was on the winning 4x800 relay (10:14.08) and placed second in the triple jump (33’11”) Thursday at the 23-team Sparky Reynolds invite. Monday, she was even better, winning the 400 (59.92), 800 (2:28.53), 1,600 (5:31.86) and the triple jump (33’1”) to help the Fennimore girls finish second with 133 points at Monday’s conference meet.

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):

Carter Christianson, P/IF, Iowa–Grant baseball

     Christianson went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs, and picked up his fourth victory of the season on the mound in Iowa–Grant’s 6–2 victory at Boscobel Monday afternoon in the second game of a two-city, split doubleheader. Christianson (4–2) allowed two runs while striking out eight in 6 2/3 innings pitch. He also earned the victory in relief in I–G’s 10–3 victory at Cuba City last Tuesday. Christianson has been the winning pitcher in each of the Panthers’ (4–12, 4–7 SWAL) four wins this seson.

Maguire Fitzgerald, So., P, Fennimore baseball

     Fitzgerald earned a pair of victories in the past week over first-place Mineral Point to lift the Golden Eagles into sole possession of first-place in the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League. The junior right-hander struck out seven and allowed just three hits and two unearned run in Fennimore’s dominating 15–2 victory at Mineral Point last Thursday. Wednesday night, Fitzgerald battled into the fourth inning, picking up his sixth win of the season after allowing five runs on seven hits as the second-ranked Golden Eagles (15–4, 10–1 SWAL) held on for a 14–13 win after racing out to a 13–2 lead. Fitzgerald is now 6–0 with a 1.58 ERA, 44 strikeouts and four walks in 31 innings pitched. He is also batting .305 (18-for-59) with four doubles, seven RBIs and 14 runs scored on the season.

Ben Guerin, Jr., Cuba City track and field

     Guerin won three conference titles to help the Cuba City boys finish third at Monday’s SWAL conference meet. He broke his own conference record in the wheelchair shot put (20’11”) and won the wheelchair 400 (1:25.65) and the 800 (3:05.68) races. 

Liam Kenney, Sr., Fennimore boys track and field

     Kenney, who missed most of the season with a knee injury, won three individual conference titles and scored a team-high 30 points  to lead the Fennimore boys to a second-place finish at Monday’s SWAL Conference Meet at Darlington High School. He won conference titles in the high jump (5’8”), long jump (19’6.5”) and the triple jump (42’1”) for a second straight year. 

Aaron Pulvermacher, Sr., Benton/Scales Mound/Shullsburg boys track and field

     Pulvermacher won three golds and a silver medal to lead the Zephyrs to a sixth straight titles at Monday’s Six Rivers Conference meet at UW–Platteville. He won the 400 with a new conference record time of 50.97 and added firsts in the 200 (23.33) and long jump (18’11.75”) and finished second in the 100-meter-dash (11.69).

Cade Rohrbach and Ethan Suits, Platteville golf

     Rohrbach and Suits finished first and second to lead Platteville to the Southwest Wisconsin Conference title at Wednesday’s SWC Championships at the Reedsburg Country Club. Rohrbach shot a 3-over-par 75 to claim medalist honors and finish first in the SWC individual standings to earn the SWC Player of the Year. Suits carded a 76 to finish second in the final individual conference standings and earn first-team All-SWC honors. Platteville’s Andy Eggers and Zach White tied for fifth in the individual SWC standings to join their teammates and the All-SWC first team, while junior Isaiah Altfillisch finished seventh to earn second-team All-SWC honors. 

Sadie Willborn, Jr., P, Belmont softball

     Willborn pitched the Braves to three conference victories in as many days and allowed just one run to lift Belmont (18–5, 11–2 SRC) into sole possession in the Six Rivers West. Willborn (18–4) homered and and tossed a five-inning, one-hit shutout Monday to lead the Braves to a 12–0 win over Shullsburg/Benton. A day later, she struck out out eight without allowing a walk in a three-hit complete game 1–0 shutout at Potosi. Wednesday afternoon, Willborn struck out 11 and allowed just one run on two hits in a 4–1 win over second-place Highland (14–5, 9–2). Willborn, the reigning SRW Pitcher of the Year, is 18–4 with a 1.26 ERA, 175 strikeouts and 35 walks in 139 innings.