Tulare County athlete of the week: Redwood's Isaak Mendoza

Redwood High School wrestler Isaak Mendoza was voted by readers as the Visalia Times-Delta Tulare County prep athlete of the week.

In an online poll that closed on Feb. 24, Mendoza received 8,540 votes, or a 51.5% majority, of the 16,642 responses.

Mendoza was a 2023 CIF State Wrestling Championships qualifier.

Here's a look at past winners:

• Jan. 6: Cole Gilcrest, Redwood basketball

• Jan. 13: Janessa Garza, Farmersville basketball

• Jan. 20: Danae Banuelos, Golden West basketball

• Jan. 27: Ava Ayon, Lindsay basketball

• Feb. 3: Cooper Fish, Porterville basketball

• Feb. 10: Kiersten Shade, El Diamante basketball

• Feb. 17: Reagan Neese, Central Valley Christian soccer

Editor’s note: Anyone can nominate an athlete of the week for every sport. Nominate next week’s ballot through email. Readers can email nominations to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@visaliatimesdelta.com. Please include a player’s statistics and a photo if possible.

Original story: Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register readers can now vote for their favorite high school athletes at the newspaper's website, visaliatimesdelta.com. The poll closes on Friday.

Please do not email your votes.

Here are the choices for the week of Feb. 20-24:

• Sierra Calantas, girls basketball, Mission Oak: Calantas dropped 15 points in the playoff victory over Monache.

• Jayden Dillihunt, boys basketball, Mt. Whitney: Dillihunt canned 16 points in the Pioneers' postseason game.

• Carmine Ficher, boys basketball, Tulare Western: Ficher netted 16 points to help the Mustangs defeat Central Valley Christian in a quarterfinal playoff game.

• Jocelynn Melendez, girls basketball, Tulare Union: Melendez racked up 16 points to help the Tribe beat Garces-Bakersfield 66-63 in the Central Section Division IV quarterfinals.

• Isaak Mendoza, boys wrestling, Redwood: Mendoza placed seventh at the 2023 Central Section Masters to advance to this weekend's CIF State Wrestling Tournament.

• Erik Odsather, boys basketball, Porterville: Odsather erupted for 29 points as the Panthers knocked off Clovis in a playoff showdown.

• Nick Simon, baseball, Golden West: Simon hit a single and a double and knocked in a pair of runs to lead the Trailblazers to a win over Roosevelt. He also scored three runs and stole two bases.

• Justin Stroud, boys basketball, CVC: Stroud scored 60 points grabbed 23 rebounds and dished six assists in two playoff games.

Nominations are based on information available to the Times-Delta.

All high school varsity players from Tulare County are eligible to be on the ballot. Nominations must be received for consideration by Monday morning following that week's games.

Anyone can nominate an athlete of the week for every sport. Nominate next week’s ballot through email. Readers can email nominations to sports reporter Vongni Yang at vyang2@visaliatimesdelta.com. Please include a player’s statistics and a photo if possible.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Vote for the Tulare County athlete of the week (Feb. 20-24)