High School Varsity Sports - Winter 2024 Preview: Bellevue West
High School Varsity Sports – Winter 2024 Preview: Bellevue West
Bellevue West 2024 Winter Varsity Sports Preview for boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ wrestling, bowling, and swimming/diving as provided by the coaches.
Boys Basketball
- Head Coach: Steve Klein Jr
- 2nd Season as Head Coach at West
- Assistant Coaches: Zach Bush, Matthew Lauritsen, Noah Graziano, Matt Henry, Greg Hepburn, Brandon Ashelford, Michael Jenkins
- Last Year’s Record: 27-1 (Class A State Champions)
Season Outlook: We have a very young team this season with not a lot of varsity level experience coming back from our State Championship team last season. We have 1 player in Robby Garcia that played significant minutes on last seasons team, everyone else will be playing varsity basketball for the first time. I am hoping that as the season progresses, we continue to improve and get better each day of practice and will have a chance to compete for something special at the end of the season.
The ups and downs you can have with a young and inexperienced team can be a major challenge for the season. We have to find ways to not have super highs and lows and level all those out to continue to progress through the season. We are also going to have to find some players who will step up into new roles and become scorers for us.
Robby Garcia is our returning player who has played Varsity basketball here for 4 years. He averaged 13.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season. We will need him to improve on those numbers for us to be successful this season. Other guys who we are expecting to me main contributors are Brayden Mauro, Carsen Schultz, Bryce Johnson and Jacob Coyer.
The opportunity to have a new team out on the floor and see what they can accomplish. This young group has a lot of talent and potential to do something special, but that will be determined by the importance they put on practice. The other thing I am excited about is the opportunity to do something special with a group that we believe has been overlooked and kind of forgotten.
The team started their season last Saturday, defeating #1 ranked Millard North at home.
Girls Basketball
- Head Coach: Dane Bacon
- 7th Season as Head Coach at West
- Assistant Coaches: Mike Jenkins, Jesse Cardenas, Taeha Pankey, & Emily Salie
- Last Year’s Record: 20-7
Season Outlook: New expectations with a new group, we are excited to show the state what we are capable of. This is a fun group, they play hard and give each opportunity everything they’ve got.
Team Leaders
A trio of Freshman, Stevie Harley, Nyla Tatum & Yirah Sears – Play wise beyond the years and are great teammates.
Most Improved
Jaycee Woodard and Vanna Reitsma will step out on the scene this year as important pieces to our team.
The team started their season last Saturday at home vs. Millard North.
Boys Wrestling
- Nolan Barry
- 1st Year as Head Coach
- Assistant Coaches: Matthew Roen, Anthony Salcedo, Gary Kroeger, Eyvind Boyesen
Season Outlook: To watch them battle with each other. We have a big senior class this year and I’m looking forward to watching them embrace their own leadership roles within the team. We also have some freshmen that will break into our varsity lineup so I’m excited to see them get some experience wrestling more seasoned opponents.
We have a lot of seniors on our team this year, but we also have a lot of new wrestlers. This might be the biggest wrestling team we’ve had at Bellevue West in awhile, definitely since I’ve been here. We have the potential to do some great things that haven’t happened at this school, within the sport of wrestling, in a long time. Our team is excited to show everyone what we can do.
Team Leaders
Creighton Jongeling 144, Ryan Hartmann 126. Both of these guys are very vocal in the wrestling room and they have personalities that I think other guys like being around and want to follow. They are both capable of getting on the other wrestlers and making sure they’re working hard, but they do a good job of straying away from a “drill sergeant” personality. They lead by example and work very hard in the practice room.
Most Improved
Athen Salcedo and Nate Treat both put in a lot of work over the summer, and it’s showing. Both of these guys have gotten more aggressive on the mat and their technique seems more refined than last year. I’m excited to see what they do this season.
The Thunderbirds kicked off their season last week at Fremont.
Swimming & Diving
- Head Coach: Peggy Speer – Coached the West team for 32 years
- Coached the West team for 32 years
- Dive Coach: Tami Dolphens
- Assistant Coaches: Kaitlyn Caniglia, Angelina Allen, Nathan Nixon, Chuck Jones
- Last Year’s Record(s): 1-6 Girls (In Dual Meets), 4-3 Boys (In Dual Meets)
NOTE: Starting this year Bellevue West and Bellevue East/Platteview have combined to form one team: Bellevue Swim and Dive.
Season Outlook: On the boys’ team, swimmers to watch are seniors Ryan Bartlett & Jarod Fasnacht, along with freshman Alex Jones. On the girls’ team, swimmers to watch are senior Addi Hedin and Junior Allison Rutherford.
Our first meet was a dual against Gretna. The boys qualified in their medley relay as well, and Bartlett, Fasnacht, and Jones achieved State qualifying times. Our first home meet is on December 17 against Omaha South, followed by the Elkhorn Invite on December 20-21.
With over 30 swimmers and 8 divers, the team is looking forward to an exciting competitive season. I am excited to combine the programs!
Girls Wrestling
- Head Coach: Bryan Irsik
- 4th Season as Head Coach
- Assistant Coaches: Pat Fetter (4th Season), Nick Allman (2nd Season)
- Last Year’s Record: 6-1 Dual Record
NOTE: The girls’ wrestling program is a united team between both Bellevue East and West, with practices taking place at BJSA during the season.
Season Outlook: The first competition of the year was last week in Kearney, Nebraska. On December 6 against the Kearney Girls’ Wrestling team and on December 7 for the Kearney High Girls Invite.
We are looking forward to the continued growth of our varsity this season; we are returning seven starters from last year’s roster and look to build on to it by adding some new faces to the lineup this season.
Girls Wrestling is continuing to grow across the state and the nation. We currently have over 40 girls wrestling at the middle school level and 37 girls on the team for the high school. This is a great time full of opportunities for girls in the community to try wrestling at all ages in Bellevue.
BJSA is currently starting its wrestling season and always looking to add wrestlers, we would love to see more young ladies starting to wrestle at the younger age levels. Stop by and sign up today.
Team Leaders
Zoe Stricker (28-10) – Returning starter and has a great ability to lead the team by being supportive and providing a strong example.
Farrin Thieman (29-12) – Returning State Qualifier, Vocal leader who is encouraging and demonstrates a strong work ethic.
Kaliyah Evans (23-14) – Kaliyah helps push others around her to be better as she puts in the work during and out of season and helps work with others from a teaching standpoint, helping aid in developing her teammates.
Violet Aulner (19-14) – Returning State Qualifier, Violet provides a strong work ethic and demonstrates the commitment needed to be successful on and off the mat. Violet is a strong asset to her teammates as she helps bring unity to the team by including all her teammates.
Most Improved
Kira Mabry and Samantha Carroll have both been showing great improvement in their levels of confidence which is shown in their efforts at practice as they continue to grow in the sport of wrestling.
Bowling
- Girls & Boys Head Coach: Laura Scott
- 1st Year as Head Coach
- Assistant Coaches: Brenna Dacey, Volunteers: Scott Mascarello, Erica Mascarello, Amanda Secrest
Season Outlook: I am really looking forward to working with these very talented athletes. They have welcomed myself and Coach Dacey in as their coaches and are a lot of fun to be around, but it is especially fun watching them participate in an activity that they truly enjoy competing in. We have some very talented players on both the girls’ and boys’ team, so I am excited to see them compete with the best talent in the state. We have quite a few seniors, so they are having a good time honing their skills and being with each other at the alley.
Team Leaders
Braxton Mischke (Senior) – Very talented bowler with high average – teammates really look to him for guidance and he is helping his sister who is a freshman this year.
Chris Pedersen (Senior) and Adam Williams (Junior) – Very talented and both great leaders with other teammates at practice.
Carie Mascarello (Senior) and Bailey Secrest (Junior) – The two leaders on our girls’ team both in skill and teaching ability in helping the younger and new players learn the process and drills of bowling.
All of these players truly embody what it means to be a good teammate, in their willingness to help each other, share their knowledge, and be respectful of the game and teammates. Being around them in the short couple weeks of practice, they truly radiate pure enjoyment for the sport and it has been extremely rewarding watching them interact with each other.
These athletes are great students both in the classroom and in their sport. They just enjoy the opportunity to be a part of a team and compete with others in the state.
The team got things started last week vs Elkhorn South.
