GLADEWATER’S HUNTER, KILGORE’S NELSON | They’re the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week!

Gladewater's Peyton Hunter (above) is shown here in mid flight at the UIL Area Meet last week at West Rusk High School. Hunter qualified for five events at this week's regional meet. Below, inset: Kilgore's Braydon Nelson, who won both the shot put and the discus at the UIL Area Meet at Spring Hill High in Longview. Hunter and Nelson are last week's Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week. (Photo of Hunter by MITCH LUCAS - ETBLITZ.COM; Photo of Nelson courtesy of KILGORE HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD) — Gladewater’s Peyton Hunter (above) is shown here in mid flight at the UIL Area Meet last week at West Rusk High School. Hunter qualified for five events at this week’s regional meet. Below, inset: Kilgore’s Braydon Nelson, who won both the shot put and the discus at the UIL Area Meet at Spring Hill High in Longview. Hunter and Nelson are last week’s Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week. (Photo of Hunter by MITCH LUCAS – ETBLITZ.COM; Photo of Nelson courtesy of KILGORE HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD)

This time of year, it’s baseball, softball, track and field, golf, tennis, and soccer, and there were plenty of nominees for our player of the week honors from those sports from last week – particularly from track and from baseball, and especially in the boys category.

One female athlete blew all of our voters away, however, and it was Gladewater’s Peyton Hunter.

Hunter went to the University Interscholastic League Class 3A Area Meet at West Rusk High School and helped the Lady Bears capture the team title there, although at this point, athletes advance to regionals on individual merits and entries (except in the case of relays).

To say Hunter impressed would be a gross understatement.

Hunter won the girls 100 meter dash at West Rusk with a time of 11.99 seconds; she finished second in the long jump, and third in the triple jump, qualifying for all three at regionals, of course; and then she helped her teammates win both the 400 meter relay and the 800 meter relay.

Hunter will represent Gladewater in five – 5! – events at regionals.

And for that, Peyton Hunter is the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Girls Player of the Week for the week of April 8-13. And her selection as last week’s honoree was unanimous.

Now, the boys honoree this week was just as deserving, although there was some debate, simply because there were several deserving candidates. Kilgore baseball’s Tate Truman went 3-for 4 with 6 RBI in a game the Diamond ‘Dogs just about had to have to keep their spot in District 17-4A play. West Rusk’s Cole Jackson had a huge night at the plate and on the mound in a 2-1 win over Jefferson.

Dustin Henigan almost hit for the cycle for Tatum in a shutout win over Waskom, and there were a host of track standouts that are headed to regionals.

But Kilgore’s Braydon Nelson just did what he does, and that’s win.

He was the player of the week two weeks ago for taking second place in the discus at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, and this week, he won both the shot (a best of 55 feet, 1 inch) and the discus (not only a personal record, but a school record of 192 feet, even) at the UIL Districts 17-18 Area meet at Spring Hill High School in Longview.

Nelson will represent Kilgore this coming Friday-Saturday at regionals in Bullard, trying to qualify for the UIL State Track & Field Championships, and if he does so, he’s going back to the University of Texas in Austin to track’s biggest stage. A 192-feet performance there just might win him the gold medal in discus.

At any rate, it did win him the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Boys Player of the Week for the week of April 8-13, his second honor, as mentioned.

We’re on the road all the time, covering everything imaginable. And when we are, we always make it a point to find the orange-and-white colors of Whataburger. They’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and of course, check out their menu ahead of time before you arrive right here: Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery.

There’s the breakfast menu from 11 p.m. until 11 a.m. (Mitch’s favorite is just the plain-and-simple sausage biscuit), the Dr. Pepper shake, back for a limited time, and what’s hot right now is the bacon steakhouse double: two all-beef hamburger patties, crispy fried onions, bacon, of course, with sliced aged cheddar, and a tangy steak sauce on two of Whataburger’s fresh buns. Sign me up!

Here’s a complete list of our past Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week winners:

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