The Mount Vernon News sports department’s sixth group of ATHLETE OF THE WEEK nominations continues the established trend of spotlighting student-athletes’ skills and performances on the fields and courts of action.
Based on performances, we ask ADs, coaches and the community to nominate one boy and one girl from their athletic programs to compete against other schools’ nominations. We ask for a recap of their worthy performances and a picture. Please send your nominations to me, Mike Blake, MVN Sports Editor, at mike.blake@mountvernonnews.com. Make sure YOUR school is represented.
This week’s nominees come from three different sports and three different schools, and each athlete is a winner.
MALE ATHLETE
Sometimes last-minute heroics outshine game statistics. Shane Knepp, senior running back for the East Knox Bulldogs, earns a nomination for being “Mr. Clutch.” In the Bulldogs’ come-from-behind 27-20 victory over Highland, there was less than a minute left on the clock. The East Knox senior had just finished off a 49-yard catch and run inside the red zone. On the next play, he took a handoff and saw the end zone calling to him from behind a row of defensive linemen. On first down from the 1-yard line, with 14 seconds left on the clock, Knepp stepped to the left, ran past the would-be tacklers and jogged to pay dirt. His touchdown capped an electrifying 27-20 comeback victory over the favored Highland Scots.
“I was looking for a hole inside, but there wasn’t one,” Knepp said after the game. “Then I looked outside, and there was no one there, so I bounced it. It was wide open.” Knepp caught two passes for 63 yards and rushed 10 times for 34 yards and two TDs
Sometimes one performance carries a team. Highland Scots soccer co-captain Zane Sheets scored a hat trick, getting all three goals in a 3-2 victory over Beechcroft on Oct. 18.
In Highland’s first-ever home playoff contest, Sheets scored with less than 2 minutes gone on a cross from teammate Caleb Hunter. Down 2-1 in the second period, Sheets scored again on a header to tie the game. The game looked to be headed to overtime when another Hunter cross found Sheets, who drilled the ball into the corner of the net for his first-ever hat trick, with only 1:32 left in the game. “Zane is our leading scorer this year as a sophomore, with 11 goals and 5 assists," Highland soccer coach John Sachleben said. "He was named to the All-MOAC Second Team and played almost every minute of every game. He was subbed out maybe twice in 19 games. He has a 3.8 GPA and is an all-around good kid and hard-working athlete. He also has played basketball and runs track for the Scots.”
FEMALE ATHLETE
Mount Vernon junior cross country runner Sophie Zoldak has lofty goals. She won’t graduate until 2023, so she has even faster times ahead of her. Last Saturday, Zoldak had the fastest time in the girls division of the Ohio Cardinal Conference Cross Country Championships at Wooster High School to lead Mount Vernon to a fifth-place finish. The Yellow Jackets’ top runner all season, Zoldak won the race by 8.44 seconds over Lexington’s Emma Wise. Zoldak’s time of 18:25.56 was a personal best.
The OCC awards panel named Zoldak Girl Runner of the Year. She also runs various distances on the Jackets track team, and as an aside, her interest in space has led her to space camp, and her evenings spent star-gazing through her Bushnell telescope have put her sights on one day becoming Mount Vernon’s and Knox County’s first astronaut. She is already … a star.
Congratulations to all of the nominees … you all deserves top honors.
This week’s MOUNT VERNON NEWS ATHLETES of the week are Zane Sheets for his first-ever hat trick, and Sophie Zoldak, for her first-place finish in the OCC Championships:
Clarification: In last week’s ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, Centerburg Trojan head volleyball coach Abigail Boudinot, and Centerburg AD Rich Porter nominated a pair of volleyball players, Gwyn Sands and Stella Weisbrod. The quotes we ran about the two athletes were attributed to Porter, when, in fact, they came from Boudinot. We apologize for any confusion or miscredit .
