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First chance to vote for Desert Sun Athlete of the Week for winter sports

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First chance to vote for Desert Sun Athlete of the Week for winter sports

Ah, the winter high school sports season is upon us, and that means a return to our High School Athlete of the Week.

An entertaining fall sports season — which included a desert CIF-SS championship from the Palm Desert boys’ water polo team — is over and new sports take the forefront.

Those sports are boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ wrestling and girls’ water polo. As always, we love to receive nominations. If you are a coach or parent or athlete and know someone in a winter sport that had a strong week, let us know about it by e-mailing us at sports@desertsun.com.

We’ve taken a few weeks off but still wanted to congratulate the final winner of the Fall sports season. You voted and you chose Johnathan Hernandez of Indio cross country as our weekly winner for his second-place finish and top DVL finish at the final joint DVL/DEL cross country meet.

So without further ado, here are the candidates for the first Athlete of the Week voting of the winter sports season. Read what they accomplished and vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of this article at desertsun.com. Whichever athlete has the most votes at noon on Saturday will be the weekly winner.

Andrew Castellanos, Indio soccer

What he did: Castellanos, a junior forward, got the Rajahs off on the right foot with two pitvotal goals in the early season. A Castellanos goal was the only tally in a 1-0 win over defending DEL champs Rancho Mirage, and then he had the only goal in a 1-1 tie against Palm Desert in the second game of the year.

Leahnette Castro-Galarza, La Quinta basketball

What she did: Castro-Galarza is a new name on the scene as a freshman for the Blackhawks, but she’s a name girls’ hoops fans need to learn. She is averaging 15.2 points per game and 2.4 assists for the Blackhawks, who are off to a solid 4-1 start to the season.

Katelyn Gallagher, Palm Desert basketball/soccer

What she did: The two-sport star is doing the basketball-soccer combo again this year, and she’s off to a good start on the hardwood. She had 19 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds in a 48-30 win over Fontana in the early season. She also had a goal in the Aztecs’ 2-1 win over Indio to start the season.

Cash Gervin, Rancho Mirage basketball

What he did: It didn’t take the freshman star with a notable last name long to make an impact at the varsity level. Through five games, Gervin, a guard who plays with a high basketball IQ, is averaging 17.2 points for a 5-0 Rattlers team.

Augustine Youssef, Desert Christian Academy basketball

What he did: Coming off a great junior season, Youssef picked up where he left off, stuffing the stat sheet in a lopsided win over Xavier Prep with 31 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, five steals and three blocks. The Conquerors are 3-0 in the early part of the season.

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