Sports
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Xavier High School
Behind the scenes of Xavier’s varsity athletics
Behind every great team, there is a group of great athletes who may not get recognized as much as the star players. The Xpress went behind the scenes of the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams and the wrestling team. The girls’ basketball team recently concluded their season at the state tournament. The team finished with a record of 18-6. Seniors Nicole Noonan and Katelyn Winker are two seniors who have worked hard all year helping the team reach success. “It is fun to go in during the game, but it also fun to cheer on my teammates. Knowing that you worked hard in practice to make the starters better is a great feeling. It makes us better and the starters better as well,” Noonan said. Other players on the team who have helped the team reach success are juniors Alli Chorzempa, Ashley Stulken, and Lisa Boomgarden and sophomores Hannah Chute, Maddie Bertsch, and Hayley Deutmeyer. All of these players may get some time in the games, but they are not the ones who are recognized as much as the starters. “Being part of the team, you can’t be a ‘me’ guy. It’s all about attitude, showing up to practices and the games with a smile on my face and always being ready for my number to be called. A win for the team is not only a win for
The Xavier girls basketball team’s scout team watches as they face off against the Ankeny Hawkettes in the first round of the 4A State tournament. Hannah Brown Photo. those who play, but it’s a win for the bench, the coaches, and the managers as well,” Winker said. Two other members of the team are senior managers Sara Gross and Ashley Dostal. Gross and Dostal help the Saints during the games. Their responsibilities include filling up the water bottles, taking stats, and anything else Coach Lilly and Coach Sullivan need. “Having a deep bench is very important for the pace that we play with. We have to have a deep bench in order to keep the game at our up-tempo pace. A team isn’t just made up of five players, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the
Boys’ basketball wraps up The Xavier Saints boys’ basketball team ended their season last Friday against the Kennedy Cougars. The game took place at Kennedy as both the Saints and the Cougars came out ready to get to their final round of sub-state before moving on to the State tournament. The Saints struggled to find the basket as the Cougars came out with the victory and a final score of 59-45. The Cougars moved on to the next round as the Saints wrapped up their season. “It wasn’t what we’d hoped for but we had fun together as a team. We had games where we clicked and games where we didn’t,” senior Kevin Hosch said. The Saints finished with an overall record of 10-13 in their season. The seniors including Carter Valentine, Ben McDermott, Alec Clasen, Brian Ropp, Tanner Frazier, Kevin Hosch and Mack Mattke contributed greatly to the team’s games this year, as well as the younger players including junior Trey Sampson and sophomore Matt Nelson. “This year wasn’t what we wanted but we did a lot of good things
and had a lot of opportunities and we hope to do even better next year. All in all, I had a great year with the team,” junior Trey Sampson said. Although the Saints weren’t satisfied with their season, they did take a step in the right direction, making several improvements on the past few seasons. “Overall, I think we did really well, we were .500 in the conference, first 10 win season in four years, third seed in the substate tournament and we had three quality wins against top five state ranked teams,” Coach Jenkins said. Now that the season is over, the Saints plan on improving during their offseason and continue practicing to come back next year even stronger. Lucy Martin Sports Writer
Sara Gross,
will you go to PROM with me?! :) -Ryan Patrick Milke
help of our bench,” Lilly said. Just like the girls’ team, the boys’ basketball team also has members of the team who aren’t recognized as much as the starters. The boys’ recently completed their season with a record of 10-13. Players who are considered part of the scout team are all juniors. They are Patrick Mullin, Ben Breitbach, Greg Foxhoven, Robbie Thinnes, Zach Brown, Reggie Schulte, and Corbin Woods. These players received little playing time this year, but they know that they are a key aspect to the team and will be looking forward to next year where they will play a bigger role for the Saints.
Basketball is not the only sport with behind the scenes athletes. Junior varsity wrestlers worked to not only make themselves better, but help the varsity wrestlers get better. These wrestlers may have wrestled at every meet, but they practice every day with the varsity wrestlers. Across the board it is clear that while teams may be good, it is the scout team that makes up the backbone of the great teams. These athletes are the ones who are willing to put in the hard work needed in order to make the program successful. Ryan Milke Assistant Sports Editor
Upcoming events 3-12: GTR ISU Indoor 4pm 3-12: BTR MVC Indoor @ UNI 4:30pm 3-12: Tennis/Boys Soccer Practice Begins 3-13: BTR ISU Indoor 4pm 3-13 GTR MVC Indoor @ UNI 4:30pm 3-19: Girls Soccer Practice Begins 3-22: BTR Washington, IA Relays 4:30pm