Bay Area News Group athlete of the week: Nicholas Ruiz, Benicia soccer

Scheduling note: We are pausing the athlete of the week poll until after the holidays. The next poll will be posted on Jan. 9.

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Benicia soccer player Nicholas Ruiz is the Bay Area News Group’s boys high school athlete of the week for Dec. 12-17 after he had received 39.22% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.

Dublin basketball player Mehki Thomas (36.72) finished second and Santa Teresa basketball player Adam Nakai (10.80%) took third.

Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.

Ruiz, a senior, scored two goals to lift his team to a 3-2 non-league victory over Armijo. He began this week leading the team with five goals and four assists as Benicia had won five of its seven matches.

To nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, email [email protected] by Monday, Jan. 9, at 11 a.m. Please include stats and team results.

We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps.com by coaches/team statisticians for consideration.

Winners are announced each Friday on the Mercury News & East Bay Times websites and, starting Sept. 30, in the print edition of the Mercury News and EB Times sports sections.

Past winners

Dec. 5-10: Eli Roth, Acalanes soccer

Nov. 28-Dec. 3: Austin Shelton, San Ramon Valley football

Nov. 21-26: Jae’Von Reels, Bellarmine football

Nov. 14-19: Dashiell Weaver, Campolindo football

Nov. 7-12: Nate Bell, Liberty football

Oct. 31-Nov. 5: Angel Barraza, Dublin football

Oct. 24-29: Zachariah Norton, Hayward football

Oct. 17-22: Shane Timmons, Saratoga football