High School Varsity Sports – Winter 2025 Preview: Bellevue West

Bellevue West 2025 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
3rd Season as Head Coach at West
Assistant Coaches: Matthew Lauritsen, Noah Graziano, Matt Henry, Greg Hepburn, William West
Last Year’s Record: 18-8 (State Tournament Qualifier)

Season Outlook: We are focusing on playing faster than we have the past few years because of our lack of size. We are also hoping we can build on shooting the way we did last year as we have many guys back that can really shoot it well.

When you come to a game this season, you are going to see a team that plays extremely fast on offense and hard on defense. More importantly to me is that they play for each other and be great teammates in the process. These young men do a great job of representing the Bellevue community!

Team Leaders: Bryce Johnson (PG) 6’0 Jr., Brayden Mauro (PG/SG) 6’0 Jr., Keaton Melcher (SG) 6’1” So., Carsen Schultz (SG/F) 6’0” Sr., Jacob Coyer (F) 6’4 Jr. – All of these young men are starters that came back off a team that made it to the state tournament and will be heavily relied upon to get back to State.

Most Improved: Bryce Johnson (PG) 6’0 Jr., Brayden Mauro (PG/SG) 6’0 Jr., Keaton Melcher (SG) 6’1” So. – All 3 of these young men have put a lot of time into their game this offseason and have really improved! I am really looking forward to what they can accomplish this season for the T-Birds.

The Boys get their season started this Friday against Norris High School at 7pm in Firth, NE.

Girls Basketball

Head Coach: Dane Bacon
8th Season as Head Coach at West
Assistant Coaches: Jesse Cardenas, Mike Jenkins Taeha Pankey, Emily Salie, & Xavier Guardiola
Last Year’s Record: 18-9

Season Outlook: We are competing to make a school record 5th straight state tournament appearance. We will play fast and compete together, bringing a lot of joy to the game.

Team Leaders: Nyla Tatum – Sophomore point guard with offers from UNO, South Dakota & Wichita State; Yirah Sears – Sophomore guard with an offer from UNO; Vanna Reitsma – UNK Soccer Commit and returning starter; Jaycee Woodard – UNO Softball Commit and returning starter

Most Improved: Amora McAfee is back this season after suffering an ACL tear before her freshman season

The Girls tip off their season this Saturday, December 6th, at 5:30pm at Millard North.

Boys Wrestling

Nolan Barry
2nd Year as Head Coach
Assistant Coaches: Matthew Roen, Anthony Salcedo, Gary Kroeger, Brayden Boyesen
Last Season: Dual Record of 7-8

Season Outlook: I’m looking forward to watching them embrace new roles and leadership positions. We graduated about half of our varsity positions last year, so we’ll have a lot of first-time varsity wrestlers this year. They’re a great group of wrestlers. As much as we want to win on the mat, these guys are trying to do the small things right, and it shows in our practices. They’re a respectful crew, and they try to do things the right way instead of cutting corners. I’m proud of these guys and am looking forward to watching them grow this season.

Team Leaders: Nate Treat – 215 and Jesse Gage – 157 are two of our four seniors this year. They’ve both played important roles for the team since they were freshmen, but over the last four years they have both adopted and grown into their own leadership style. Nate has become more of a vocal leader for us in the wrestling room, during warmups he leads the guys through our routine and he gives feedback as we show technique. Jesse tries to lead more by example in how he wrestles in the practice room and at competitions. He’s not scared to wrestle anyone and loves the grind of the sport.

Most Improved: Demarcus Robinson and Jack Taylor have both looked really good in the off-season and the start of this season. They both give a lot of effort during workouts and they are both very motivated to develop as wrestlers.

The team starts their season tomorrow night, December 4, at 6pm at Millard North.

Girls Wrestling

Head Coach: Bryan Irsik
5th Season as Head Coach
Assistant Coaches: Pat Fetter (5th Season), Nick Allman (3rd Season), Josh Slosson (1st Season)
Last Year’s Record: 4-1 Dual Record; 3rd Place as Team at Districts; 19th at State (7 Qualifiers and 2 Medalists)

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: We are excited as a coaching staff to see the growth of our program in numbers and success as we strive to improve each year as a group (athletes and coaches). We have a great number of returners this season, and we are excited to see what the season brings for them this year.

Our wrestling program is mainly built on kids that have started wrestling in middle school or high school. Our coaching staff would like to encourage younger female athletes to step on the mat at a younger age and give the sport a try. These athletes can currently sign up for wrestling at BJSA this year by going to BJSA and signing up.

The Girls’ wrestling program is entering this season, Pre-season ranked #6 in the state, with 4 girls in the pre-season rankings. We also want to encourage members of the community to come out and support the girls in our home events this year. To find that or any other information, please check out the team’s social media.

Team Leaders: Farrin Thiemann (12) – Has a strong work ethic and has strong communication abilities to help guide teammates throughout the season; Makaela Davis (12) – Already has strong leadership skills used with her participation in band, and has done a great job of using these already developed skills in our room this off-season; Kaliyah Evans (11) – Has a strong work ethic and leads by example. helps others in need and is willing to help pull teammates aside and offer assistance; Aubrey Gross (10) – Great at helping younger teammates and those who need extra support. Has a strong understanding of the technique to the point of being help to help teach it when assistance is needed.

Most Improved: Malia Dudoit (12) – Malia has put in the work this offseason to help learn and understand the sport of wrestling. This has helped her to recognize areas she needs to improve and also helped her to build a strong confidence in her abilities on the mat; Jameiah Johnson (10) – Stepped out of her comfort zone and competed in a few offseason tournaments this year where she was able to get some national experience against others in the country. This helped her to build confidence in her abilities.

The Girl Wrestlers start the season on Friday, December 5th in a dual Vs #3 Kearney High School at 6pm at Kearney. The following day they will participate in the Kearney Girls Invitational.

Boys & Girls Bowling

Girls & Boys Head Coach: Laura Scott
2nd Year as Head Coach
Assistant Coaches: Brenna Dacey, Amanda Secrest
Team Records Last Year: Boys 13-11, Girls 23-2

Season Outlook: For the boys, we have a lot of seniors who have paid their dues over the past few years and are excited to play their senior year. They have worked hard in growing their own game and really work well as a team. For the girls, we have two very strong returners coming back from our Varsity team that made state last year, and we have a few new additions who are eager to fill in the roles of our graduates. This is a group that enjoys the game and is fun to be around.

Both of our teams are filled with great kids who are eager to play the sport they love, truly enjoy representing their school, and push themselves in and out of the classroom to be better. We love having large crowds at our events, so please come and check out our home duals this season!

We are looking to continue the great history of bowling at Bellevue West – we have quite a few kids who
will be pushing for a spot in the state tournament this year.

Team Leaders: For the girls, both Bailey Secrest (senior) and Chloe Mischke (Sophomore) are returning from great seasons last year both from the team perspective and individually. Bailey was a rock for us as the anchor for a majority of our bakers and made it to state individually. Chloe filled a hard role as a freshman on the varsity team last year but made it look easy and missed making state individually by just two pins. They both are positive role models, enjoy teaching and helping the new players, and make it enjoyable for everyone around them. They both act as extra coaches for the team, showing respect and a true enjoyment for the game and their teammates, which is needed with so many new faces to the team this year.
For the boys, we have a ton of seniors who were in hard roles for us last year, bouncing between JV
and Varsity. Many of them did see some Varsity time at one point or another so there is a ton of experience. Logan Hall is one senior who filled in during Districts in a hard role and helped us win some crucial points. He has such a positive attitude and is willing to do whatever it takes for the team. Kyler Johnson is a junior and the quiet but passionate player that every team needs, when the moment counts he brings the energy and an important pin fall. Koby Willis Daniels is another senior who had a quiet impact last year but is looking to fill a role this year – he has a ton of energy and is always smiling with positive energy for his teammates.

Most Improved: Jase Muhleka (senior) has really improved over the last year and is looking to make a strong impact on our varsity team. He has really improved in his consistency from one frame to the next.

Both Bowling Teams start the season tomorrow, December 4th, 3pm at The Alley Vs Elkhorn South.

Swimming & Diving

Head Coach: Peggy Speer
2nd Year as Unified Head Coach
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 last year, Bellevue West and Bellevue East/Platteview have combined to form one team: Bellevue Swim and Dive.

Season Outlook: O