ESPN RISE

Jordan Hasay, a well-known girls distance runner from Mission Prep High (San Luis Obispo, Calif.), and Tyler Pollock, a boys soccer player from Beavercreek High (Ohio), have been named the most recent ESPN RISE National Boys and Girls Athletes of the Week for the 2008-09 school year.

To say big things come in small packages would be an understatement when it comes to our girls' National Athlete of the Week.

Even before the 5-foot-2 senior phenom's first-place finish at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut, Calif., last weekend -- her first race of the season -- Hasay has won just about every race she's competed in. She was also one of the few high school athletes to compete in last summer's Olympic Trials.

Hasay is likely to receive so many honors this school year that her head might spin, so we decided to get her National Athlete of the Week honor out of the way early.

At Mt. SAC, Hasay's winning time of 16 minutes, 27 seconds was 21 seconds faster than her nearest competitor.

In July, Hasay attended the Olympic Trials at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field basically as a spectator with her family. After an athlete withdrew from the 1500, USA Track & Field invited her to compete.

Not only did Hasay compete; she finished fifth in her semi and set a national high school record of 4 minutes, 14.50 seconds to qualify for the final. Already scheduled to compete in the World Juniors in Poland, the folks at USA Track & Field had to assist in rearranging her schedule to run in the July 6 final.

Hasay went on to a fourth-place finish in Poland, the first top-8 finish for an American girl.

Our boys winner doesn't have Hasay's international or national résumé, but he's well-known in the Buckeye State and hopes to lead his team to a state soccer title.

Last week, Pollock factored in seven goals with five that he pushed into the net plus two assists. This helped Beavercreek to advance to the regional tournament with wins over Tecumseh (7-0) and Sycamore (2-0). Pollock, who scored 35 goals to lead the Dayton area last year, demonstrated his scoring touch with a hat trick against Tecumseh before netting both goals against Sycamore.

Pollock, who was just named player of the year in the Greater Western Ohio Conference, led Beavercreek to a spot in the Division I state semifinals last year. He and his team could take that extra step this season.

For more coverage of Jordan Hasay and cross country, go to DyeStat.com.

Athletes of the Week Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |

The full list of this week's ESPN RISE regional boys and girls athletes of the week follows:

East Region Athletes of the Week

Nick Masotto (St. Anthony, Huntington, N.Y.): Masotto netted six goals last week, starting with one in a 3-1 victory over Kellenberg, three in an 8-0 thrashing of Holy Trinity and two in a comfortable 7-0 win over St. Dominic's. The victories ran St. Anthony's record to 17-0-1 and keeps the squad in the national title chase.

Melanie Thompson (Voorhees, N.J.): Less than two weeks after taking a tight Eastern States cross country race at the prestigious Manhattan Invitational, Thompson again made headlines with a crushing course-record 17:28 5K at the Hunterdon-Warren Championships in New Jersey. What made the solo effort even more impressive is that the previous mark of 18:22 was set by Foot Locker Finalist Jodie Bilotta in 1987. Thompson was also less than a minute behind the boys' winner at the meet.

Southeast Region Athletes of the Week

Taylor Lord (Chapel Hill, Ga.): Lord had already established himself as the top cross country runner in Georgia and a solid contender to make the Foot Locker finals, but a nation-leading 14:44 for 5K puts him in a position to shoot for more. The clocking was good for a victory by 1:06 at the Douglas County championships. Lord is looking to defend his Georgia 4A state title in November.

Joanivette Negron (Tavares, Fla.): The 5-10 junior outside hitter racked up 19 kills and 18 kills for her team in easy victories against Wekiva and Umatilla. More significantly, those kills put Negron's season total at more than 400. She has had a season high of 32 kills for one match, which has occurred twice, both coming in five-game 3-2 losses by her team.

Midwest Region Athletes of the Week

Tyler Pollock (Beavercreek, Ohio): Also named ESPN RISE National Boys Athlete of the Week.

Megan Goethals (Rochester, Mich.): Michigan's top-ranked cross country runner prepared for a state-championship bid this coming Saturday with an outstanding victory at her D1 region meet at Algonac, Mich. Her winning 17:10 was 33 seconds ahead of Callie Macumber -- one of three top-8 finishers from last fall's D1 state meet that she beat in the race. Goethals herself was just 22nd at last year's state meet, as she had been coming off an injury, but has proved to be a different runner when completely healthy.

Southwest Region Athletes of the Week

Tim O'Connor (St. Louis University, St. Louis): With two goals and one assist in the last 14 minutes, O'Connor was the star of the match when SLU High beat Christian Brothers 3-0, in a battle between the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the powerful St. Louis area. O'Connor's late heroics also helped the Junior Billikens move up from No. 7 to No. 6 in this week's ESPN RISE FAB 50 national rankings. "Tim didn't start well tonight, but after getting an earful from me and [assistant coach Charlie Clark], he really stepped it up,'' head coach Charlie Martel told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Kelly Kolich (St. James Academy, Lenexa, Kan.): The 5-10 outside hitter has been outstanding all season. Last week she had 23 kills as St. James won its sub-state tournament and will be headed to the state championships for the second time in school history. Along with teammate Rachael Gray, Kolich led St. James to a second-place finish earlier this month at the prestigious Nike Challenge in Chicago. She also was MVP of the Hayden Invitational. Kolich also stood out earlier this season when St. James topped traditional Kansas powers Bishop Miege and St. Thomas Aquinas.

West Region Athletes of the Week

Stephen Siri (Miramonte, Orinda, Calif.): It's been 15 years since a school from Northern California has been the best in the state in water polo, but this season, thanks to Siri and several of his teammates, the Matadors are just a few matches short of finishing unbeaten and No. 1. Siri scored two goals for Miramonte last weekend in the championship match of the North-South Challenge in Southern California as the Matadors topped SoCal power Newport Harbor of Newport Beach 10-9. Last year, Siri was a second-team All-American when Miramonte won its third straight CIF North Coast Section title.

Jordan Hasay (Mission Prep, San Luis Obispo, Calif.): Also named ESPN RISE National Girls Athlete of the Week.

Nominations can be sent in each week for consideration. Include brief reasons why the athlete should be chosen and what he or she did in the previous week, and send the nomination to mark@studentsports.com.