Introducing: The BZM Athletes of the Week

Competitive Athletics: Find out who impressed the best and why we care

Nokona Nailon poses for a photo on Ted M. Natt Court while wearing a 2003 style Mark Morris football helmet. Nokona, 8, was imitating some of his favorite players from the BZM area who have recently been selected as the innagural Competitive Athletics Blast Zone Media Athletes of the Week. — Jordan Nailon / Blast Zone Media

Whitney Nailon for Blast Zone Media / blastzonenews@gmail.com

Just like we said from the beginning, Blast Zone Media wants to bring local sports coverage back to the way it was when we were growing up. We want to put you in a time machine back to when the local newspaper crew was pumping out special Prep Tuesday pages that highlighted athletes of the week and pound-for-pound power rankings for teams of every size. Those were the days!

And sometimes, they were even the “glory days.”

I’m now a washed up collegiate athlete who likes to reflect on my “glory days” on the court from time to time when I’m not coaching. Nowadays my husband (BZM publisher/editor Jordan Nailon) tells me my basketball scouting report reads like someone who's been practicing P-I-G in my parent’s driveway my whole life. I think he might be a bit —what do the kids say nowadays? — salty(!) that I continue to beat him at P-I-G on our living room basketball hoop.

(Another Editor’s Note: This is patently false. Mrs. Nailon’s husband is clearly an elite living room basketball player and a stickler for the stats!)

But I digress. Let’s go back to those good ol’ days…

Whitney (Nailon) Luchau takes a swing at the net while a pair of Mark Morris defenders attempt to set a block at the net in 2003. The Lumberjills won the Civil War match and Luchau was later named KLOG Athlete of the Week. — Courtesy of R.A. Long Volleyball

One of the highlights of my prep playing career was receiving my very own KLOG Athlete of the Week award during my senior volleyball season at R.A. Long. It was 2003 and I got to hop in my ‘93 Ford Ranger and drive to the radio station to be recognized by the dependable local media outlet. And best of all, I left with my very own gray hooded sweatshirt emblazoned with the Athlete of the Week and KLOG logos.

What I valued most about receiving that recognition was that it put me in competition with all of the other top athletes from Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and Columbia counties, along with top players from Clark, Lewis and Pacific counties, too. To be honest, it was at that moment when I finally thought I might actually be good enough to play college volleyball. I was honored to be chosen for that award alongside so many other talented athletes over the decades. I felt seen. And I felt valued.

R.A. Long volleyball coach, then known as Whitney Luchau, takes a swing at the net during her time playing for the Lower Columbia College volleyball team. — Courtesy of LCC Athletics

Another time I felt valued as a student-athlete in our community was when former TDN sports reporter/editor Ben Zimmerman visited our volleyball practice during my sophomore year at The Lumberdome. The man-myth-legend otherwise known as Zimmy interviewed me for an athlete spotlight column. I am able to look back at that story as an adult and laugh at everything I knew so certainly. And I will someday be able to show my children that I was, in fact, a cool kid who loved the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

When my husband started Blast Zone Media, we knew we had to help bring these types of experiences back to our area. And part of that mission statement includes recognizing the current crop of athletes from the coverage area for their hard work, while creating more opportunities for them to be celebrated in print and feel valued in their community.

Mark Morris High School athlete Jill Smith was an honorable mention selection to the 1985 USA Today All-USA high school girls’ track team. In this photo she sports her KLOG Athlete of the Week shirt while practicing her discus toss. / Oct. 18., 1985 /— Courtesy of Mark Morris Track & Field

Thankfully, our friends on the airwaves at KLOG are still handing out their classic swag and acknowledging standout athletes from our coverage area. But we’ve teamed up with Competitive Athletics to create our own line of big comfy hooded sweatshirts, and we’ve been busy handing them out (and snapping up commemorative photos) for that special group of top performers from our inaugural fall sports season.

It’s been a blast (all puns intended) so far, but we’re just getting started.

Choosing who to pick for each Athlete of the Week award has been no easy task. Many of our internal conversations here at the BZM command center take place during my lunch breaks from teaching, in between practices, during messy family dinners with kids screaming in high chairs and many, many text messages. This was all fun and games until my husband decided that Aaliyah Yaple deserved Athlete of the Week after her performance in a win over my Lumberjills at the district tournament.

And here’s the real kicker — the match that locked down the award for Yaple was a loser-out/winner-to-State match. My Jills wound up losing by two points in the fifth set. The Monarchs screamed and celebrated. We simply cried. But the real salt in the wound arrived when my husband gave me the opportunity to drive over to Mark Morris High School before the first bell of the day to meet Yaple, congratulate her, take her picture and hand her a commemorative sweatshirt for her troubles.

Taking that picture and telling the athlete that helped elevate her team above my own for the final berth to State quickly reminded me of the inspiration behind what my husband is always busy doing at Blast Zone Media. It’s all for the student-athletes. It’s all for the kids. It’s all for the community that cared enough to recognize our greatest accomplishments way back when it was our turn to play.

Blast Zone Media was founded in order to provide local athletes with an opportunity to be recognized and valued for their hard work. Our Athlete of the Week program is just one way that we are able to help shine a spotlight on our community thanks to the generosity of our original sponsor, Competitive Athletics. And while I am still sad about losing to those Monarchs, I am happy to celebrate athletes like Yaple for competing hard and earning that recognition fair and square.

While you’ve most likely already seen a sneak peek at the fall athletes we selected to be honored on our assorted social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X), we’d like to take this opportunity to explain the reasons they were chosen. We’re sure you’ll be as impressed as we were.

Week 1

Casie Kleine, Castle Rock, Cross Country

The week when Kleine officially dedicated herself to mastering another realm in the runner's world. A well-decorated track star already, Klein wound up finishing Top-10 at the 1A State meet with the best finish for Castle Rock cross country in nearly five decades. Expect to read more about Kleine in the spring when she gets back to her short distance races.

Zaden Hoover, Kelso, Football

Hoover ran for three touchdowns and grabbed two interceptions in a season-opening 44-12 win over Mark Morris. Unfortunately, that contest wound up being the pinnacle of the season for Hoover who soon suffered an injury and had to work all season to get back on the gridiron in time for the playoffs.

Week 2

Bridgette Hollifield, Kalama, Girls Soccer

Hollifield scored two goals and notched an assist in a 4-3 win in the season-opener versus Elma (9/10), and a goal and an assist in a 3-2 loss to Kelso (9/12). She finished the season with 23 goals and 10 assists.

Aiden Brown, Kalama, Football

Brown scored an incredible six touchdowns in a win against Tenino. He threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns, and racked up an additional 209 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Brown recently signed on to play football for Idaho State University next fall.

Week 3

Alice Anderson, R. A. Long, Girls Soccer

Anderson netted a hat trick for the Lumberjills in a 5-2 victory against Woodland. Anderson also scored both goals in 2-0 win over Mark Morris, and she is signed on to play soccer for Seattle University beginning next fall.

Eli Weeks, Toledo, Football

Weeks tallied six touchdowns and nearly 300 total yards in a win over Pe Ell-Willapa Valley. Weeks led Toledo to a second place finish in the C2BL East and a spot in the State playoffs.

Week 4

Taylor Hoggatt, Kalama, Volleyball

Hoggatt posted a match-high 41 digs to help 1A Kalama get over Mark Morris. Hoggatt continued to get after it on the defensive side for the ‘Nooks with 26 digs and a 2.3 score on her serve-receive work against Seton Catholic, and then added 10 digs and six aces in win over Fort Vancouver. She capped a long and productive week by fortifying the Kalama defense with 55 total digs on the way to a third place finish in the Monarch Challenge.

Deker Bartell, Mark Morris, Football

Bartell hauled in a touchdown catch and tallied a tackle for a loss in a shutout win over Columbia River. Bartell was a constant threat on the outside for the Monarchs this season as they worked to figure out what throwing the football should look like under first-year coach Mike Peck.

---

Editor’s Note: Check back at www.blastzonemedia.com for the rest of our Athletes of the Week from the fall high school sports season.