So how does WyoPreps Athlete of the Week work? Generally, the votes from fans determine the winners of athlete of the week.
Anyone can nominate an athlete, and then WyoPreps whittles it down to around four athletes. Then voting opens to the public. When voting, everyone observes a sentence that describes why the athlete got nominated, and you can vote based on that.
Starting on Sept. 18, two of PHS’s talented athletes were seemingly defrauded according to the student body.
Kinley Cooley, a PHS junior, runs cross country. She won the Buffalo meet with a time of 20:28.22 against 44 other runners, leading our team to that victory. She also won the poll by 41.52 percent. A girl from Central was named athlete of the week for her endeavors in tennis, while only earning 37.05 percent of the vote.
Of course, as Kinley’s coach, I thought she should have won that award because I know that she put in the miles this summer to prepare for our Cross Country season and I see how hard she works in practice every day. She is a great teammate, leader, and competitor. I think that we should focus on the fact that Kinley and Cody won the poll that week because that speaks to the fact that they are being noticed by sports fans and they should be proud because their work ethic and talent are paying off in how they compete each week and the success that they are having.
— XC head coach Mrs. Ashley Hildebrand
“Of course, as Kinley’s coach, I thought she should have won that award because I know that she put in the miles this summer to prepare for our Cross Country season and I see how hard she works in practice every day,” XC head coach Mrs. Ashley Hildebrand said. “She is a great teammate, leader, and competitor. I think that we should focus on the fact that Kinley and Cody won the poll that week because that speaks to the fact that they are being noticed by sports fans and they should be proud because their work ethic and talent are paying off in how they compete each week and the success that they are having.”
For the male athlete of the week, another PHS junior had the majority percentage of the vote, 42.61 percent. Cody Seifert has had an impressive football season thus far.
As running back for the Panthers, in the Powell-Worland game, he had 111 rush yds, four TDs; one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one INT according to WyoPreps.com. Bridger Brokaw, another athlete from Central only had 12.61 percent of the vote but was somehow named Athlete of the week.
Although he won the Wyoming Invitational cross country meet against 212 other runners, he obviously did not have a majority vote.
“Cody would have been deserving of the award, he had a great game,” football head coach, Mr. Chase Kistler said. “The number he put up is not easy to accomplish in a high school football game, Cody has tremendous speed and so far, has had great vision of the field which makes him a good running back.”
Cody would have been deserving of the award, he had a great game. The number he put up is not easy to accomplish in a high school football game, Cody has tremendous speed and so far, has had great vision of the field which makes him a good running back.
— football head coach Mr. Chase Kistler
Meanwhile WyoPreps writes on its website “As promised, fans can vote to help us decide the winner. Your vote will be counted as part of the deliberation for each week’s Athlete of the Week winners.” Really? Is this still true? In weeks to come, Powell athletes will see how the standard holds up.
Furthermore, anyone can see the live poll results on WyoPreps.
“Personally, I think that they slay for days,” sophomore Melissa Merritt said. “And no insignificant article can diminish their insurmountable accomplishments.”
