Winter Sports Preview

Varsity competition in high school winter sports will begin this Thursday, December 1. With a long season ahead, there is a lot to look forward to from the Hastings Tigers.

Girls basketball is looking to continue its streak of successful seasons, having made state the past two years. With Hastings High School’s all-time leading scorer, Sophia Pankratz, having graduated last year along with other strong teammates, the team is looking to make up for the loss. Figuring out how to do this is a question head coach Greg Mays faces.

“Not only was Sophia scoring about 17 points a game, but the offense was running through her. Other people were scoring when they doubled and tripled Sophia. Now, we’re kind of in totally new territory,” Mays said.

Despite this loss, Mays feels that the team can still be successful. With one senior and several juniors competing for playing time this year, how they will mesh and step up on varsity is unknown.

“What I don’t know is how they’re going to do when they move from supporting actress to lead actress. I know they’ve been awesome at their niches. Now, when they have to be the lead dogs, what are we going to get? That’s the big question,” Mays said.

While this season could feature an adjustment period for the Tigers, Mays thinks that the team will still be able to compete at conference and possibly districts with all the hard work that the girls have been putting in to prepare for this winter.

Boys Basketball is also dealing with the weight of graduated seniors. Three of the team’s starters graduated last year, which leaves the team with a lot of room for new players on varsity. However, coach Lance Creech believes that this has given the team another skill.

“I think our depth is going to be a little bit better. We have a few more options than maybe we did a year ago. We’re just playing with a lot of inexperience right now. It’s going to be really difficult to replace that, especially early on we are going to struggle at times to execute things that we were pretty good at a year ago,” Creech said.

Subsequent to the graduation of starters, one significant difference between the team last year and this year is the change in the roster. Many underclassmen are going to get the chance to have time on the varsity court and to play with people they haven’t before.

“I think it’s important that we continue to build some type of team chemistry since there’s so many new pieces coming in. It’s just going to be a work in progress this whole season,” Creech said.

The boys have put in a lot of work to build the team up for this upcoming season by going to camps, leagues, and open gyms. While improvement has already been made, Creech hopes to continue this into the season.

“I want to see us get a little bit better every time we take the floor; whether it’s a game, practice, or even a shoot around,” Creech said.

Swimming and Diving is enjoying its second year in a co-op with Adams Central and Saint Cecilia with their numbers up to fifty this year.

“It’s fun meeting new people from the other schools who love doing what you do as much as I do. Especially for the relays, the co-op has helped a lot in bringing our relay to state last year,” senior Shyann Chitty said.

Chitty believes that the team has a chance to take swimmers to state again this year. While the team had a void to fill with the loss of Daniel Opperman, Johan Vizoso, and Katie Fast, new teammates Kate Delaney, Morgan Baker, Grant Johnson, and Peter Goodin have stepped up.

Swimmers have also been putting in a lot of time in the pool during the offseason by running and competing with the Hastings club team. Because of this, Chitty thinks that this year will be positive for the Tigers.

“There are a lot of swimmers this year so we will be able to score more points at meets this year,” Chitty said.

The wrestling team has spent their offseason dedicating hard work and time to the sport by going to national tournaments, open mats, and workouts, the team to prepare for what winter, and other teams, may bring.

According to junior Joe Keele, the team’s goal for the season is “being in better shape than other teams, [and] literally grinding it out until the other guy is tired and then taking control of the match.”

The team is also going to be including new freshmen that will help the team out during the season.

“[A] majority of them show high potential on the state level, but still watch the rest of the team; we’re all improving and working toward wins,” Keele said.

The team is geared up and ready to hit the mats with their season beginning December 3.

“The first meet is this saturday and we have three home duels. Be there,” Keele said.

Athletes to Watch: