THE WARM-UP: S-E-M hoping to ride the wave after fall championships
The S-E-M Mustangs are riding a giant wave of success.
The glow of winning state championships in football and volleyball remain, and that momentum, along with plenty of basketball experience, have the Mustangs thinking of a double-double.
Girls basketballTaking advantage of depth and versatility, Coach John Rohde employed several different starting lineups last year so seven players who started at different times return to this year’s team.
That group is led by 5-10 forward Mikah O’Neill, who averaged 16.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game last year when the Mustangs went 18-5 and qualified for the state tournament.
Also back is 5-7 sophomore Taryn Arbuthnot, who averaged 12.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game a season ago.
Other returning starters are 5-11 senior post player Jenna Claflin, 5-10 senior post player Cayleigh Jackson, 5-4 junior guard Allie Rohde, 5-6 junior guard Katelyn Reiter and 5-6 sophomore guard Jaycelyn Hoos.
“Coming off a fairly successful season last year, winning the FKC regular-season crown and winning our district finals game to get a chance to play in Lincoln, the girls are still hungry for more,” Coach Rohde said. “We had a good summer and played a lot of basketball and we feel confident going into this season.
“What I like about these girls is that they all are competitors and team players and coaching them is a lot of fun. They do what it takes to be successful as a team and step up when needed.”
Boys basketball
Coach Darby Line brings back four seniors from last year’s 22-6 team that finished third in last year’s state tournament.
“We lost four senior starters that were the core of last year’s team but most of our varsity got valuable minutes during the season and in the state tourney,” Line said. :We hope that experience carries over to another successful year.
“Our guys put in the necessary effort in the off season to improve and build depth, so I’m looking forward to this season.”
Seniors returning are 6-foot Ryan Arbuthnot, 5-10 Colt Schroeder, 6-1 Jace Rosentraeder and 6-0 Bart Beattie.
In all, the Mustangs return nine lettermen from last year.
The S-E-M wrestling team is looking forward to a banner year with four returning state qualifiers.
Hunior Maddox Jones brought home a sixth-place medal from last year’s state meet, finishing 33-6.
Classmates Treu Atkins (27-17) and Clayton Scoville (29-14) also qualified for state last year.
Clark Padrnos, a state qualifier in 2022, missed out last year after dealing with an injury.
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