Six athletes of the week for ESU

This week six different Hornet athletes picked up MIAA athlete of the week honors.

Senior catcher Keith Hernandez was baseball hitter of the week, sophomore Miranda Campbell got softball hitter of the week, senior Samantha Sheeley picked up softball pitcher of the week, senior Jonel Rossbach got women's track athlete of the week, as senior Julian Rios got men's tennis player of the week, and senior Natalie Villaflor won the honors of women's tennis player of the week.

Hernandez hit 12 for 22 or .545 average and helped extend the ESU baseball team's winning streak to 35 games as he hit a walk-off homerun in the 10th inning against Northwest Missouri in the last game of the four game series. With his hits in the final game against the Bearcats, Hernandez extended his hit streak to 10 game. Against NWMSU alone Hernandez hit seven for 16 or .438 with eight RBI and three homeruns. This is the second time Hernandez has picked up the honor of MIAA hitter of the week and it is the third consecutive week a Hornet has received the honors.

Campbell has a current hitting streak of 13 games and hit eight for 18 or .488 and racked up an on base percentage of .524 over the week for the Hornets. The Lady Hornets softball team leads the MIAA and won six conference games over the week to help secure a berth in post-season play. This is Campbell's second week of picking up the honors of hitters of the week.

Sheeley went 4-0 in four appearances over the week with a 0.27 ERA over the past week. She pitched a no-hitter against Missouri Southern and struck out 10 in the game. Sheeley gave up one run against Truman which snapped her 25 innings of scoreless work, but still struck out 43 batters over the course of the week. This is the first week Sheeley has been given the honors of pitcher of the week.

Rossbach picked up automatic qualifiers in two separate events this past weekend. She got fourth in the 10,000m with a time of 35:24.81. The time gave her the new ESU record as she beat the old record by just over a minute. Rossbach then won the 5,000m with a time of 16:56.21, which was good enough to break another ESU record and she also won the race by nearly a minute ahead of the second place finisher. Rossbach has now automatically qualified for nationals in the 10,000m, the 5,000m, and the 1500m. This is the third week Rossbach has picked up the honors during outdoor season and has received the honors a total of 10 times this school year.

Rios, who is ranked 12th, picked up wins in #1 singles against higher ranked opponents this week. Rios had a hand in two of the three team points for ESU against NWMSU over the weekend. Rios was part of the #1 doubles team to win and also came from behind to beat #11 Vigit Sehgal. This is the first week Rios has been given the honors of men's tennis player of the week.

Villaflor went undefeated in #2 singles and #1 doubles with partner Marcela Bayon this week. The Lady Hornets tennis team went 1-1 against MIAA opponents over the week. Villaflor and doubles partner Bayon are the #1 ranked doubles in the North Central region. Villaflor had part in both of the ESU points against NWMSU over the weekend as she won her singles match and doubles match. Villaflor is ranked #5 in singles for the North Central region. This is her first week receiving women's tennis player of the week honors.