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The Michigan Water Polo Association named eight players week five district players of the week today following a thrilling week of action.
On the girls side, Zeeland's Katelyn Inman, Rockford's Josie Geers, Grand Blanc's Sarah Hartwell, and Saline-Milan's Adrienne Holloway earned player of the week honors, while Hudsonville's Ethan Holwerda, Mason Co-Op's (Lansing Catholic) Seb Shoaf, Birmingham Seaholm's Rourke Montgomery, and Ann Arbor Skyline's Ben Deininger earned the boys awards this week.
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District 1, Girls | Katelyn Inman - Zeeland Polo
A triple-double for Zeeland's Katelyn Inman is a good place to start! 15 steals, 12 goals, 10 assists and five drawn exclusions makes for a good one in a week where Zeeland picked up a district win over Grand Haven, dispatched West Ottawa and pesky Forest Hills on the weekend as well. Dave Vruggink's Zeeland squad always creates problems late in season, regardless of what their starts look like - Katelyn Inman is trying to carry that forward in a week they get West Ottawa and Grandville in District action.
District 1, Boys | Ethan Holwerda - #1 ranked Hudsonville Eagles
This from Josh Ahrendt: "Ethan patrolled the defensive end of the pool, doing myriad things that don't show up on a scoresheet." Give me 15 Ethan's and I'll give you a state champion. That's the bomb. His productivity on the stat sheet was also good - nine goals with eight steals and seven assists and four field blocks (an underrated stat, field blocks are hard!). Holwerda got a little screen time for the Eags this week in talking about the first time Hudsonville had been DOWN in a game over the few years as well - watch it here from Remi Monaghan of Fox17. Fortunately for Holwerda and the Eagles, they hung on for the W in a shootout over #2 Ann Arbor Pioneer.
District 2, Girls | Josie Geers - #3 ranked Rockford Rams
An insanity week for the Rams who went from seventh to third in the polls (and nearly moved up to #2) as they upset #1, #3, #5, and #6 in the state in what has to be one of the best weeks in state history for a team ranked outside the top five. Josie Geers played a big part of that on six goals and 13 assists in a lot of low-scoring games. Katie Clarin mirrored Josh Ahrendt's sentiment about Ethan Holwerda above - Josie did a lot of things that don't show up and cant be quantified statistically. They'll need that as District seed weekend looms.
District 2, Boys | Seb Shoaf - Mason Bulldogs
A part of the Co-Op from Lansing Catholic, Seb Shoaf had a very well-balanced week with 12 goals, 10 steals, eight drawn exclusions, four assists and three field blocks. The field blocks doesn't surprise us too much, look at the wingspan on this kid. How do you get around that? Shoaf helped Mason to a win over Lake Orion, despite an earlier loss in the week to mid-Michigan rival Co-Op #8 ELHL. Shoaf and the Dawgs have their work cut out down the stretch including a trip to Rockford next week.
District 3, Girls | Sarah Hartwell - Grand Blanc Bobcats
This is Hartwell's third player of the week in two years. You might think "Wow is she that good?" Well, look at the numbers. Can't argue anything else. 28 goals, 37 steals, nine assists and seven drawn exclusions in a week! Sheesh. Emily Overmyer has it pretty good in what has been District 3's most frustrating opponent to play against - it's Grand Blanc's second player with player of the week honors this year, and while Hartwell might be the HART-beat of the offense (HA!) it's a pretty balanced group.
District 3, Boys | Rourke Montgomery - #10 ranked Birmingham Seaholm Maples
All-MWPA Name Team First Teamer Rourke Montgomery (HOW FUN IS THAT TO SAY!?) helped the Maples swing their way to a perfect tournament after a tough start to the campaign. The cannon-armed goaltender SCORED a buzzer beater, stopped not one, not two, not three, BUT FOUR FIVE-METERS, made 78 stops (nbd) had 15 steals (okay Rourke we get it you're good) and tossed out three assists. In six games. That's a pretty full week if you ask me. Josh Stephens has his Mapes back in the top ten for the first time this season after Montgomery helped the Maples past former #10 Dexter.
District 4 Girls | Adrienne Holloway - Saline-Milan Water Polo
A lot of goaltender love this weekend, Adrienne Holloway knocked aside 45 shots, with a pair of steals and an assist in three games for Alli Littlejohn's Saline-Milan squad, who consequently, had their best week of the year so far. They defeated two teams that had previously been ranked or on the line (Birmingham Groves and Seaholm), and fell in one district game to Ann Arbor Pioneer. All-in-all, Holloway didn't allow more than seven tallies in any one game - a pretty good mark for a young Saline-Milan Group.
District 4, Boys | Ben Deininger - #2 ranked Ann Arbor Skyline Eagles
This is, without hyperbole, the most absurd stat line we have ever seen in a player of the week submission. In no game did Ben Deininger score less than four times. He scored 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in a game last week. Let's say Skyline plays 31 games - not out of the realm of possibility - at 6.5 goals per game (which is what he did last week), that's 201 goals. 200-goal scorers do not grow on trees. I have personally witnessed the season of one in the MWPA when I was 10 years old. It was bananas. Dude couldn't be stopped. Apparently, nor could Ben Deininger. I'd mention the other stats but you can look for yourself. This kid is an animal.
About District Players of the Week: District Players of the Week are nominated by head coaches weekly through a form including statistical and circumstantial information. The District Players of the Week are chosen by an impartial group if there are multiple entrants within each District.