Help us select our high school Athletes of the Week

Welcome to the Bay Area News Group (Mercury News & East Bay Times) boys and 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 March 20-25.

Polls close at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Vote as many times as you’d like until then without using bots or any other artificial methods of voting. Votes by email are not counted.

Winners are announced each Friday. Candidates for future Athlete of the Week polls can be nominated at highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com. We accept nominations until 11 a.m. each Monday.

Here are the nominees:

GIRLS

Sami Bianchi, Wilcox softball: The Chargers’ slugger made the most of her one hit against Mountain View on Thursday afternoon, sending the ball over the wall for her first home run of the season. The two-run blast helped Wilcox secure a 10-6 victory.

Bella Bliss, The King’s Academy softball: Bliss, a junior, went 2 for 3 with two RBIs in a 7-5 victory over Gunn on Monday. She followed that up with another hit in a 14-0 victory over Fremont-Sunnyvale. Bliss also scored three runs and pitched 3.1 scoreless innings last week.

Xochitl Garcia, Gilroy softball: Garcia, a sophomore, threw a five-inning no-hitter as Gilroy defeated rival Christopher 10-0. She struck out nine and walked only one batter. Garcia also went 2 for 3 at the plate with a double and an RBI.

Cora Haggarty, Burlingame track and field: The junior finished first in the 400 meters event at the Lynbrook Invitational, completing the race in 1.00.17, over three seconds faster than second place. Haggarty also finished fifth in the 200-meter race.

Brianna Meredith, Carondelet track and field: Meredith, a senior, placed first in the long jump at the Bay Area Relays by jumping a 16-10.25”. Meredith also finished first and set a personal record with a 36’ 5.5” in the triple jump at the same meet.

Haley Richards, Campolindo lacrosse: The junior goalkeeper had six saves on nine shots on goal during an 18-3 victory over Clayton Valley Charter. The previous week, Richards saved five shots in a 16-2 win over Ygnacio Valley.

Olivia Ripple, St. Ignatius lacrosse: The Denver University commit scored eight goals in a 13-8 victory over Sacred Heart Prep on Friday. Ripple and the Wildcats rallied from down 7-6 with 13:30 left to play.

Isabelle Reyes, Arroyo softball: The senior leadoff hitter could not be stopped on the basepaths, stealing four bases in a 12-2 victory over Berkeley. Reyes also had two hits, and an RBI, along with two assists and one putout in the field.

Haley Solis, Hercules softball: The senior pitcher threw five innings and struck out nine in a 6-1 victory during the first game of a doubleheader against Vallejo. Solis stole a base and scored a run during the game too.

Jasmine Villanueva, Newark Memorial softball: Villanueva, a senior, went 7 for 10 in victories against American, Mission San Jose and Moreau Catholic. Villanueva also had seven RBIs and zero strikeouts.

BOYS

Cyrus Ahmad, Washington-Fremont tennis: The senior is undefeated on the season, with his biggest victory coming against the top-ranked under-16 player nationally, Krish Gupta of Mission San Jose, 6-3, 6-0. Washington coach Carl Bullard described Ahmad as a hard worker who is reaching the “pinnacle of success for high school boys tennis.”

Aidan Cuppett, Los Altos volleyball: The junior finished with 17 kills, seven digs and a block to propel Los Altos to a 25-16, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22 victory over Palo Alto in a SCVAL El Camino Division match. Last week, he had 27 kills in a win over Los Gatos.

Carson Fialho, De La Salle lacrosse: The senior scored three goals and assisted on another in a 14-2 victory over Bellarmine. Also had three goals and five assists in a win over Dougherty Valley and three goals and three assists in a victory over San Ramon Valley as the Spartans ended the week 8-1 overall.

Ronan Gilmore, Archbishop Mitty baseball: Had two hits and scored a run in the top-ranked Monarchs’ 3-2 non-league victory in eight innings at Los Gatos. A day earlier, he had two hits in an eight-inning, 3-2 win at home over Bellarmine in West Catholic Athletic League play.

Alex Gomez, Arroyo baseball: Pitched a complete-game five-hitter with 10 strikeouts as Arroyo edged Bishop O’Dowd 1-0 in West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division play. Also had two of his team’s four hits.

Keneti Liaina, Pittsburg volleyball: The senior led the way with 19 kills and five blocks as the Pirates defeated El Cerrito in a marathon match, prevailing 25-17, 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14. Liaina entered this week with double-digit kills in seven matches this season.

Ryan Mendez, Sequoia baseball: The junior caught all 19 innings on Saturday in the Ravens’ 7-4, six-hour, non-league victory at Palo Alto. Also had a hit to drive in a run, walked and was hit by a pitch.

Charles Reiland, San Ramon Valley baseball: Pitches six scoreless innings, scattering four hits and four walks to help the Wolves defeat Granada — ranked seventh by the Bay Area News Group — 7-0 in East Bay Athletic League play. Ended the day with a 0.50 ERA in 14 innings this season.

Miles Roberts, Leland track and field: Had himself a day at the Firebird Relays at Fremont-Sunnyvale, finishing first in the 110-meter high hurdlers (14.56 seconds), high jump (6-0) and long jump (20-5) and second in the 4x100 relay (44.06). The hurdles time ranks No. 1 in the Central Coast Section this season.

George Zaharias, Menlo-Atherton baseball: Struck out 16 of the 18 batters he faced in six shutout innings as M-A defeated Half Moon Bay 2-0 in a Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division game. The Bears improved to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the league.