Vote: New Lenox Athlete of the Year

The nominations are in, and it's up to your vote now to name the 2011 New Lenox Patch athlete of the year.

With three high schools and fantastic youth sports in New Lenox, there's no shortage of athletic talent here. After a week of nominations, we got seven names for you to consider. Read below for a short description of the athletes, with words provided by the people who nominated them, and then vote in the poll.

Want to state your case to other readers? Then talk up your favorite in the comments. Voting ends at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12.

Kylie Bennett, softball, : Bennett raked in the honors this year, making All-Conference, All-Area and All-State teams, as well being named Central's MVP. She hit 11 Homeruns and had a .597 batting average and .978 slugging percentage. She also made high honor roll and was a member of the National Honor Society. Next year, she's headed to Eastern Illinois on scholarship.

Bryant Bolden, golf, Lincoln-Way Central: Bolden made All-Conference for the third straight year in 2011 after a season average of 76.8, helping the Knights boys golf team win its third consecutive conference title. Finishing sixth out of 132 golfers at the LaSalle Peru Invite in October, Bolden led his team to their second consecutive LP Championship shooting a two over par 74. He made the trip to state and finished 64th out of 120 golfers.

Brett Dawson, baseball/basketball/cross country/track, : Dawson made the 11-year-old Team Illinois this year for baseball and helped his team to a 65-10 baseball record. He also made it to state cross country finals and played point guard on the seventh-grade basketball team. He's a straight-A student, too.

Danijela Jackovich, swimming/water polo, Lincoln-Way Central: Jackovich was selected to First Team All-Conference for Water Polo for the second year in a row (as a sophomore) and also made the All-State team for the second year.  She holds our school record for goals (154 in 2011) and her defensive stats are impressive, too. As of spring 2011, she was ranked No. 1 in her class academically and participates in the Mathletes, National Honor Society and Peer Helpers. During the summer, she played for the Olympic Development Water Polo team, scoring two goals against Hungary.

Kaitlyn Neiheisel, diving/gymnastics, : In 2011 Neiheisel qualified for the state competition in all the sports that she participates in. She placed second at the 2011 State Diving Compeition and set pool records at Stagg, Lincoln-Way North, Andrew and West. She was All-Conference in multiple sports. She was accepted into the nursing program at Illinois State, where she'll be on both the diving and gymnastics teams.

Rachel Post, basketball/soccer, Lincoln-Way Central: She was the leading scorer and made All-Conference...for two teams. She also led the Knights to a regional soccer championship (while making All-Sectional and All-Area) and made the All-Tournament Team in this year's Thanksgiving basketball tournament. Off the field, she's a state qualifier for the Mathletes, top 15 in her class and was a class leader at Vacation Bible School.

Michael Togher, wrestling, : Togher etched his name into the storied Providence wrestling history with a state championship. He defeated Lincoln-Way East senior Kyle Langenderfer 3-1 in the 135-pound class.