Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Kenji Kawabata, Newark Memorial

Newark Memorial cross country runner Kenji Kawabata is the boys athlete of the week for Sept. 9-14.

In online voting that ended at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Kawabata finished with 40.11% of the votes. Liberty water polo player Jace Cleghorn was second at 17.42%.

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

Kawabata, a junior, crossed the finish line in 15:33.26 to take first place in the three-mile run at the Mission Valley Athletic League meet.

To nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, email highschools@bayareanewsgroup.com by Monday 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 in the print edition of the Mercury News and EB Times sports sections.