On the court, ice, mat and in the water, winter athletes have started preparation for their upcoming seasons. Senior John Basil knows the boys basketball team has put in time in the off-season to be prepared for game day.
“Students can expect a very competitive team in some really great games,” Basil said.
The team has their first home game Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Varsity Gym. Basil encourages students to attend home games this season.
“It really helps us out when we have a large and loud student section cheering us on,” Basil said.
In the same gym, girls basketball suffers the return of only two starting players.
“Our main scorers graduated last year so lots of changes are being made to adjust to our current players,” Riley Kuehn, a senior captain, said. Kuehn agrees with Basil and hopes students attend the girls basketball games.
The boys and girls swimming teams work to push each other to the state meets. Senior Erin Reardon thinks the girls team has a good chance at the district meet.
“We have a great team dynamic that encourages us to push each other in the best ways,” she said. “I think that this year if we do what we need to we could win districts and have a great state meet.”
Senior Antonio Ventresca and the boys swim and dive teams are looking to achieve similar goals.
“There are a lot of promising newcomers that could earn critical points for us at districts and states for [both teams],” Ventresca said.
After qualifying for the state meet last year, the boys wrestling team is hoping to start this season in the same way they left off last March.
“Coming off a great season last year, the team has set a goal to become district champions,” senior Quentin Zimmer said. “We have nearly a full starting line up of seniors and want to send more than a handful of wrestlers back to the state tournament.”
The girls gymnastics team did not lose any graduating seniors and gained six freshmen for this season. Senior Taylor Shockley thinks goals of a district championship are tangible for the strong team.
On the ice, the boys hockey team is focused on winning against their rival team from St. Charles and winning the coveted CBJ Cup.
“We have never won [the cup],” senior Will Lawless said. “But we are all super excited for the season and believe we are going to improve a lot.”