Donnail Escudero, Leah Pacheco voted El Paso Children's Hospital Athletes of the Week for May 4-9

Organ Mountain boys track and field's Donnail Escudero and Las Cruces softball's Leah Pacheco have been voted as the Las Cruces Sun-News El Paso Children's Hospital Athletes of the Week for the week of May 4-9.

The honor for the week of May 4-9 was split into separate boys and girls categories due to the number of worthy contenders. There were nine nominees for each that hailed from Las Cruces, Mayfield, Organ Mountain, Centennial and Santa Teresa.

Escudero won the boys Athlete of the Week honor with 84.24% of the vote. Fellow nominees included:

• Armando Gonzalez, Las Cruces baseball
• Isaac Seldner, Mayfield baseball  
• Daxton Coombs, Organ Mountain track and field  
• Gunnar Guardiola, Las Cruces baseball  
• Carter Follin, Centennial tennis 
• Asa Laws, Organ Mountain track and field  
• Jayce Hooten, Centennial tennis  
• Omar Saucedo Jr., Santa Teresa baseball

Escudero won district championships in the 100, 200 and 400 meters at the District 3-5A meet in Alamogordo. He was one of three Knights to win three individual district titles, which bolstered Organ Mountain to a second-place finish as a team.

Pacheco won the girls Athlete of the Week honor with 51.77% of the vote. Fellow nominees included:

• Kian Almanza, Las Cruces track and field 
• Ashley Galaz, Organ Mountain track and field  
• Kendra Martinez, Centennial softball 
• Dallas Bencomo, Mayfield softball 
• Payton Oliver, Mayfield softball  
• Savannah Reiman, Organ Mountain tennis  
• Paige Jorge, Centennial track and field  
• Audrina Guillen, Mayfield softball

Pacheco struck out 25 total batters across 5A playoff games against Albuquerque High and Alamogordo, and also recorded three RBIs against the former team. That fueled the Bulldawgs' run to the 5A state championship round in the following week.

Pacheco ended her season as Las Cruces High's leader in on-base percentage (.523) and ERA (3.69).

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Donnail Escudero, Leah Pacheco voted El Paso Children's Hospital Athletes of the Week