Winter Sports Athletes to Watch

Senior Mello Ball has very high expectations with him going into his senior year as a starting guard on the boys basketball team.
“I expect myself to get first team all-conference, and average 15 points per game and average 6 assists,” Ball said.
In the three games played so far this season, Ball is averaging 17 points per game and 6.67 assists. Last season, Mello played in 17 games, averaging 3.8 points per game and .76 assists.
“As a team, I want to be conference champs and win districts,” Ball said. “Doing this will take a whole team effort, good practicing, and playing together.”
Last season, the team lost in the State quarterfinals and won their district. They finished with a 24-6 record and it will be hard to duplicate that success this season as the team has a new coach in Aaron Mueller and they lost three out of their top five scorers from last year. Since it is Ball’s last year, he will be leaving the program and has future plans on his radar.
“I do plan on playing in college, but I haven’t decided where to go yet,” Ball said. “This is something I love to do and I will stick with it.”
Look for Ball to have his best season yet and achieve the goals he has set for himself.
Being a freshman on varsity is always a very tough thing to do. Most varsity players are in their junior or senior year and it can be rare to be on varsity as a sophomore. Freshman Maggie Huff looks to make an impact at the varsity level as the only freshman on the team.
“It’s fun being a freshman on varsity,” Huff said. “All the girls are really nice and they know that it’s a learning process and give me tips and advice.”
Huff wants to go out and get better throughout the season.
“I just want to work on the things I have to work on and get better every game,” Huff said.
So far, the team is 4-0 with their closest game being an 11 point win over rival Parkway North.
“I don’t necessarily have a set goal for the team, however I think it would be really cool to make it to state,” Huff said.
That is something that could be reachable as the team went 22-5 and only graduated one senior from last year’s team. Look for Huff to carve out a role and make an impact on a loaded team this season.
On the opposite side, it is very rare to not have a senior on a varsity team. That is the current situation the wrestling team is in as they have no seniors and have only one junior. That junior is Andrew Lee who is brand new to the sport.
“A lot of us are relatively new to the sport, and we have a lot of sophomores and freshmen on the team,” Lee said. “A good goal for the team would be to learn as much as we can this year to become an extremely powerful team for years to come.”
As the oldest player on the team, Lee will be looked up to by younger wrestlers even with his inexperience.
“There is very little pressure being the oldest on the team because everybody acknowledges that we are a team,” Lee said.
Along with being inexperienced, Lee was one of the latest wrestlers to join the team.
“I was one of the latest to join the team so even though I was the oldest, I was the least experienced for a long time,” Lee said.“It was a little embarrassing to be helped over and over by  younger wrestlers even with his inexperience.
“There is very little pressure being the oldest on the team because everybody acknowledges that we are a team,” Lee said.
Along with being inexperienced, Lee was one of the latest wrestlers to join the team.
“I was one of the latest to join the team so even though I was the oldest, I was the least experienced for a long time,” Lee said. “It was a little embarrassing to be helped over and over by the younger people on the team, but they are really good people and helped me improve.”
Along with the goals he has for the team, he has some personal goals.
“There’s so many moves and techniques that can throw a match one direction or another,” Lee said. “I want to have a match where I become comfortable enough with the moves so that I completely dominate a match by the end of the season.”
Look for Lee to lead the team as the oldest player and look for him to put it all together this season.
As a junior, Catherine Ke looks to be a leader on the girls swim and dive team.
“This season, I want to be someone that younger divers can look up to and respect and hopefully help them become better divers,” Ke said.
Like wrestling, dive is a sport where everybody is on varsity and there are no separate levels. This allows everybody in the program to become closer.
“I want everybody to bond and get along because having unity is good for the program and will help for years to come,” Ke said. “If there are people that don’t get along well, it causes tension and awkwardness which then causes separation.”
Along with the non-performance team goals, Ke wants the team to perform well and that includes herself.
“I want to perform well enough that I can go dive at state,” Ke said. “I also want some of the other girls perform well enough to go to state because that would be a lot of fun and would be a really good thing for the program.”
Look for Ke to be a leader and perform well and look for the dive team to become closer and have multiple people perform well enough to go to state.