Vote: CSM Spring Athletes of the Week, May 19-24, 2025

Central Illinois saw its first state champions of the spring sports season at the IHSA girls track and field state meet last week, highlighting an expanded group of nominees for CSM Spring Athletes of the Week.

Along with state champions from girls track and field, this week’s nominees include key standouts behind underdog softball teams winning regional titles, sectional champions in boys tennis and track and field, plus more stars in baseball and girls soccer.

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UPDATE: Dunlap's Samantha Yeh (40% of vote) and PND's Thomas Mickels (69%) won CSM Spring Athletes of the Week. Voting closed at 11:59 PM on Thursday.

Girls Athlete of the Week nominees

Kierra Stoller, El Paso-Gridley girls track and field

Stoller was a key cog for El Paso-Gridley’s first Class 1A girls track state championship over the weekend in Charleston. She was the common denominator on three Titans relay teams that either won a state title or finished as the runner-up. She ran the anchor leg on EPG’s 4x100 that won a state title in 48.90 and was part of a 4x200 relay that put up a blazing-fast time of 1:41.96 to finish atop the podium. She ran the leadoff leg of the Titans’ 4x400 relay that placed second with a time of 3:59.63, 0.57 seconds behind winner Pleasant Plains.

Isabella Thurston, Normal U-High girls track and field

Thurston earned Class 2A state titles as an individual and with her Normal U-High team at the IHSA State Finals. The Pioneers sophomore threw a personal best 144 feet, 9 inches to win the state championship in the discus, which boosted Normal U-High to its second consecutive Class 2A team title.

Lainey Klokkenga, Delavan softball

Klokkenga was the driving force behind Delavan doing the unthinkable, upsetting Illini Bluffs in the Class 1A Illini Bluffs Regional title game. She threw a complete game shutout in the 1-0 victory, giving up five hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Klokkenga went 2-for-4 with an RBI and threw another complete game with seven strikeouts in a 5-3 regional semifinal win over Rushville-Industry on May 22. 

Samantha Yeh, Dunlap girls track and field

Yeh closed her junior year with a state championship in the Class 3A high jump at the IHSA State Meet after finishing fifth as a sophomore and fourth as a freshman. She cleared a personal-best 5 feet, 8.75 inches on her first attempt, one less attempt than it took Rockford Auburn’s Jaeda Benford to do so, in order to win.

Ava LaFollette, Peoria Notre Dame girls soccer

LaFollette continued to score at a torrid pace, highlighted by four goals in an 8-2 win over Geneseo in PND’s Class 2A regional championship game on May 23. The Irish junior added a hat trick in a 9-0 win versus East Peoria in the regional semifinals on May 21. She’s scored 53 goals this season, which ranks just outside the top 20 in IHSA history for goals in a season. 

Marco Reynolds, Normal Community girls track and field

Reynolds saved her best for last, winning the Class 3A girls shot put state title at the IHSA State meet. The Iron senior threw 42 feet, 9.5 inches on her second-to-last throw to become Normal Community’s first state champion shot putter since Leann Powers did so in 1984, as well as extend the school’s streak of having a state track and field champion to five years.

Ryan Coombs, Normal U-High softball

Coombs’ contributions were critical for Normal U-High in going on a Cinderella run to win the Class 2A St. Joseph-Ogden Regional title as a No. 7 seed. She went 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a double to power a 6-2 win over Fithian Oakwood on May 19 in the regional quarterfinals. In the Pioneers’ regional semifinal game against host SJO, Coombs hit the go-ahead home run in the fourth inning of a 2-1 victory over the No. 2-seeded Spartans. 

Boys Athlete of the Week nominees

Thomas Mickels, Peoria Notre Dame baseball

Mickels has a strong case for being the hypothetical MVP of the Class 2A Fieldcrest Regional as he helped the Irish take home the hardware. Mickels started his week off with two RBIs in an 8-4 win over El Paso-Gridley in the regional quarterfinals. He highlighted his stretch by driving in four runs on three hits, including a home run and two doubles, in a 7-3 win over a powerful Brimfield/Elmwood team in the regional semis on May 22. Mickels threw just over half of a complete game, 1-0 shutout of Farmington in the regional championship game, striking out four in 3.2 innings. 

Aiden Duhs, IVC boys track and field

Duhs was a two-time sectional champion at the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional, qualifying for the IHSA State meet in both events. The Grey Ghosts’ sophomore ran a winning 2:00.03 time in the 800 meters and anchored IVC’s 4x800 relay that won in 8:24.50.

Daniel Nathan, Richwoods boys tennis

Nathan earned the singles title in a loaded Class 1A Dunlap Sectional to advance to state as a freshman. Nathan beat Morton’s Tanner Cantwell and Limestone’s Ryan Norwood both by 6-0, 6-0 scores to advance to the semifinals, where he overcame Dunlap’s Harmin Patel 6-1, 6-3. In the championship match against Dunlap’s Andrew Choy, Nathan prevailed 6-4, 6-0. 

Logan Smallwood, Limestone boys track and field

Smallwood and the Rockets had a strong showing at the Class 2A Metamora Sectional and the Rockets’ junior won the crown in the 400 meters, running a 50.09. Smallwood also qualified for state in the 100 meters, where he ran a 10.90 to finish third, and as part of Limestone’s 4x100 relay, which finished in 42.80 to also take bronze.

Tyler Humphrey, Washington baseball

Humphrey put up a pair of big performances in the final two conference games for Washington, who won an outright Mid-Illini Conference title. The Panthers catcher drove in one of his team’s two runs in a 2-0 win over Morton on May 19 that clinched the conference title. He added three hits, four RBIs and a home run in a 9-4 win over the Potters on May 22.