High School Spring Varsity Sports Preview: Bellevue East

Bellevue East Spring Varsity Sports Preview for Baseball, Boys’ and Girls’ Track & Field, Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer, Girls’ Tennis, and Boys’ Golf as provided by the coaches.

Baseball

• Head Coach: Ian DeLaet
• 6th Season as Head Coach
• Assistant Coaches: Corby Weaver, Jake Weaver, Zach Pinkerton, Leland Johnson, Josh Schiefelbein, Noah Triggs, Tyler Crompton, and Jeffrey Noble
• Last Year’s Record: 15-17

Season Outlook: We return 7 starters from the field & our entire pitching rotation from last year. I am really curious to see if we can take our experience and learn from prior mistakes. We will open the season on March 14th in the Cocoa Beach Spring Training Tournament in Coach Beach, FL

Team Leaders:

• AJ Lucas P/C/IF: He is a 4-year starter and brings us a lot of experience in multiple positions.
• Jacob Perrin OF: Brings a lot of varsity experience and is the vocal leader of our team. 
• Mason Chandler P/IF: Has played a lot on the varsity and is a true competitor. Will be a top pitcher for us.
• Cooper Brown OF/IF: Another player who has a lot of varsity experience. This year will be moved to CF for us. 

Most Improved:

• Cy Cheshier OF: Cy really had a great summer for us and has really improved from last Spring.
• Kaden Bach P/OF: Had a strong spring and summer last year. Has a chance to be a top pitcher for us again this year.
• Liam Kerr P/OF: Ended the summer as one of our best hitters. Had a great offseason and has added a lot of strength to his game.

Track and Field

• Head Coaches: Tom Messier (Boys HC), Bryan McKinley (Girls HC)
• Assistant Coaches: Connor Mazzei, Emily Vidlak, Cameron Dacanay, Sarah Birnbaum, Suzy Patterson, Delany Woodruff, Katja Martens
• Last Year’s Record:

Season Outlook: Both our girls’ and boys’ programs are young and inexperienced this year at the varsity level. We are looking forward to coaching them up and watching them grow and gain experience. We are going to be a really exciting track team to watch this year as our younger athletes continue to grow and develop as the season progresses.  

Our first Indoor Meet is at the College of St. Mary’s, beginning at 9:00am on Saturday, March 16. Our first Outdoor Competition is the Chieftain Invite at Bellevue East, beginning at 3:00pm on Thursday, March 28.

Boys Team Leaders:

Kevin Matthews (So) (Long/High Jump, Sprints): A returning state qualifier in the Long Jump, Matthews is an amazing athlete who is really starting to add strength and explosiveness this year. We are expecting him to develop into a great leader for our program this year.

Marcos Vazquez (Sr) (Long Distance)- Marcos will provide us with great senior leadership this year. He has 3 years of varsity experience and provides our team with a calm presence that leads by example.

Girls Team Leaders:

Brynn Friedrich (So)(Long Jump, Sprints)- Returning state qualifier in the 200 and 400. A tremendous competitor who really started to shine at the end of the season last year. We are expecting her to set up into some leadership roles after her successful freshmen year.

Christine Adzafui (Jr) (Triple/Long Jump, sprints)- Has two years of varsity experience, and is really starting to come into her own as she is progressing into a vocal leader of our team. Her focus and positive attitude really help set the tone for our team.

Most Improved: We are really excited to see what our junior thrower Lucas Roumpf can do this season in shot and disc. He has put in the work this offseason, and after one year of high school throwing experience, we believe he has the potential to put up some great marks this year.

Boys Soccer

• Head Coach: Brian Locke
• 1st Season as Head Coach
• Assistant Coaches: Craig Buettner (Varsity Assistant), Schyler Smeby (GK Coach), Randy Novotny (JV Coach)
• Last Year’s Record: 7-11

Season Outlook: Looking forward to the growth of each player, not only in their skills but also in their competitiveness, leadership, and overall personal development. The team is coming into this season looking to be a different team than they were last year.  There were many yellow cards for foul language and dissent last year and the players have set a goal to have no yellows for either infraction this year.  This past week we have set the groundwork to build upon character devolpment such as integrity, discipline, commitment, etc. I am excited to see how this team progresses throughout the season. The team only lost 3 seniors from last year, 2 were starters.  The team this year comes in with a high level and chemistry.  We were blessed to have a handful of seniors and other new players to add to the talent of the already talented returners.

Our first game is on Thursday, March 14th, 7:00 PM, Bellevue East High School, Vs Omaha Benson

Team Leaders:

• Fernando Bautista, Center Back: Always has a positive attitude and lifts his teammates up regardless of the circumstances.
• Liam Parker, Center Back: Dedicated and committed to improvement everyday.  Leads the team to push themselves to new levels.
• Mason Locke, Center Mid: His soccer IQ allows him to communicate and explain to players of all levels what we are trying to achieve as a team.
• Kael Walker, Goalkeeper: He is the definition of integrity. His discipline and integrity shine through in everything he does, and he leads the team in staying true to the team culture.

Most Improved: Cesar Rodriguez, Striker: Cesar’s skills and speed have improved massively since the end of last season.  He was in the weight room during the off season and worked with the ball on his own.

Girls Soccer

• Head Coach: Nate Frankman
• 3rd Season as Head Coach
• Assistant Coaches: Sipres Hoefer, Laura Heath, Michael O’Dell, Morgan Sheard
• Last Year’s Record: 6-12

Season Outlook: We return a lot of our offensive production and will have a nice blend of upper and underclassmen to form our varsity team. A lot of underclassmen will be asked to play a lot of minutes! Bellevue East girls soccer likes to compete and work extremely hard. We hope to see members of the community at some games this year and would especially love to see some of the younger, future Chieftains in attendance to see what our program is all about!

Our first game is on Thursday, March 14th, 3:00 at Bellevue East vs Omaha Central

Team Leaders: Fallyn Glomb has stepped up massively as a leader and will look to grow in that role this season. We return seniors Emma Eltiste, Grace Eltiste, Lilly Jones, Kaylie Senior, Nat Roberts, Mady Tyner, Anika Smith, and Brooklyn Thurman. 

Most Improved: The growth of some of our girls during off-season conditioning has been extremely beneficial. Maddie Walter, Lilly Jones, and Fallyn Glomb showed up nearly every day and worked extremely hard, and I think they will realize the benefits of all that hard work!

Boys Golf

• Head Coach: Trevor Lenear
• 1st Season as Head Coach

Season Outlook: For the first time in a while we have some depth on the varsity level. We will be able to rotate guys through the squad and create more competition in practice.  Our motto is. “We play bad, we play good well, but we will always play fast.”

Our first competition is at Benson Golf Course on Wednesday, March 20th. Multiple Schools will be in attendance. We will be hosting the Chieftain Invitational on Wednesday, April 3rd, at Tara Hills. 

Team Leaders: Brayden Leibert. He is committed to York University for golf. He has been a great example for all of our younger golfers. We will also be counting on junior Adrian Davis to provide some leadership as he steps into the upperclassmen role. Senior Darius Small is our last returning varsity golfer. 

Most Improved: Both Brayden, Adrian, and Darius have made commitments to improving this offseason. We have a few additions that will be able to contribute this season. Elon and Demetrius Washington are both expected to compete in the varsity rotation this season. As well as Kevin Schmidt who transferred here this school year. 

Girls Tennis

• Head Coach: Krista Tew
• 5th Season as Head Coach
• Assistant Coaches: Ben Dalton
• Last Year’s Record: 3-7

Season Outlook: We will have a lot of new faces with the desire to win and make an impact. We have a great number of multi-sport athletes and they have what it takes to be successful! Tennis is growing in Bellevue and both East and West would love for support from the community throughout the season!

Our first competition is March 19th, 4 PM at Bellevue West.

Team Leaders: Kennedy Alwine and Mya Weber have high energy, a competitive edge, and can get any group together. We will look to them to hype up the team and pull out the best of everyone.

Most Improved: Layne Parker and Mariah Blaha competed at a high level last year on JV at 1 Doubles; during these first few weeks of practice, I have seen their growth and look forward to seeing the improvements they have made in the off-season play out on the court.