Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska Athlete of the Week (10/2/2023)?
Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Sept. 25-Oct. 1. Read through the nominees and cast your vote. Voting will conclude Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If you would like to make a nomination in a future week, email athleteoftheweek@scorebooklive.com.
Editor’s Note: Our Athlete of the Week feature and corresponding poll are intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Athletes who receive votes generated by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.
Alexis Bradley – Lincoln Southwest Softball
The Silver Hawks turned to Bradley in each of their six games last week and the Southwest senior rewarded that confidence with 45 RBIs in 30 and 1/3 innings pitched. Twice she tossed a complete game and once she had double-digit strikeouts. That total came during a Sept. 26, 12-7 win over Fremont that saw Bradley strike out 14 of the 36 hitters she faced. Four days later she struck out seven in a complete-game win over Norfolk. For the season, Bradley has struck out 164 hitters in 112 and 2/3 innings and has pitched six complete games.
Ada Jantzen – Omaha Central Softball
Jantzen went 0 for 2 in her first game of the season but has hit safely ever since then. Counting two games last week, that makes it 19 games in a row in which she’s collected a base hit. Her batting average is among the best in the state at .591, her on-base percentage is a spectacular .640 and she’s scored 21 runs on 26 hits, six walks and 40 trips on base. Every other time she gets aboard she’s guaranteed to score a run. Jantzen has also stolen 15 bases and has seven doubles, three triples and two home runs. She has struck out 34% of the hitters she has faced.
Reagan Meyers – Superior Volleyball
Size certainly helps Meyers at the net but it’s not just her 6-foot-1 frame that makes her the most effective blocker in the state. With 122 total blocks on the season and two matches with 10, Meyers has the size plus the mobility and vision to set up a wall. This past week she totaled 20 blocks with a high of six in a win over Heartland. She has had 11 matches with six or more blocks this season and has 122 total. She’s the only player in Nebraska with blocks that total past the century mark. Oh, and by the way, she’s only a freshman. At this rate, she’ll challenge for the C-2 career mark in blocks and is just 65 away from setting a C-2 single-season record.
Mia Murray – Lincoln East Cross Country
Murray is one of several on this list making a return appearance thanks to continued dominance. For the Spartan senior, her dominance has been obvious with wins in all five of her cross country races this season. This past week she won twice, starting with the UNK High School Invitational on Sept. 25 then Friday back in the Capital City in the LPS Championship. Murray has now won 11 in a row and 12 of the past 13 dating back to a runner-up showing at the Millard South Invite more than a year ago. She won in Kearney by 24 seconds and in Lincoln by 43 seconds.
Peyton Paxton – Mullen Cross Country
Paxton has one of the highest win totals of any female cross country runner in Nebraska over the past three years. The 2021 third-place state finisher increased that total to 11 on Sept. 28 when she took the top spot at the Mark Matthews Invite in Bayard. Paxton won by 11 seconds and made it three wins in the last four races to go with victories in Bridgeport on Sept. 12 and Maywood-Hayes Center on Sept. 21. Paxton has four total wins on the season and a runner-up finish. She won just once last year after collecting six as a freshman. It appears she has regained that rookie form.
Adi Rennerfeldt – Oakland-Craig Volleyball
Rennerfeldt takes over the top spot for the most assists in Nebraska following a three-match set last week in which 80 of her sets were put down for kills. The Knights junior had back-to-back 23-assist performances in wins over Stanton and Tekamah-Herman. Considering that both of those matches were best-of-three, 23 assists account for nearly half of Oakland-Craig’s points. Two nights later in a best-of-five, she racked up 34 assists and went over 700 for the season. Her 702 assist total is the best in Nebraska by 77.
Jolee Ryan – Overton Volleyball
Ryan has been one of the most efficient and deadly hitters in Nebraska this season, hitting at a clip of .385 while piling up 234 kills. She’s had a big week pretty much every week of the season but was especially effective last week during a stretch of four matches. Ryan had 42 kills in those four matches and hit above .400 three times. Overall, she hit .379 for the week while also putting together 32 digs and six blocks. Her season hitting percentage is in the top 10 in the state.
Matti Stepanek – St. Paul Softball
Stepanek had the best three-game stretch of her career and one of the greatest in program history last week when she drove in 12 runs on seven hits during wins over York, Boone Central and Ord. The St. Paul senior built some momentum on Sept. 23 when she was 2 for 3 with a home run and five RBIs. That momentum carried through to games that included 2 for 5 with four driven in against York, 2 for 4 with three RBIs against Boone Central and 3 for 4 with two doubles and five runs driven in against Ord. Stepanek is hitting .391 on the season with 34 RBIs, six home runs and an OPS of 1.190.
Tia Traudt – Grand Island Volleyball
Traudt will go over 300 kills for the third time in three seasons this week and keeps rolling through one of the best careers in Islander history. The junior had 437 kills in 2022 and looks to be on pace to pass that number while also posting her best hitting percentage and lowest total errors. She earns a nomination for Athlete of the Week thanks to three matches that included 46 total kills, hitting percentages above .333 and 30 digs. Her top performance was 22 kills, a .333 hitting percentage and 12 digs during a victory over Southeast. Traudt’s total kill figure is among the top five in Nebraska.
Faith Venable – Pius X Volleyball
Venable had double-digit kills in three of four matches last week and also hit better than .700 in three of those four. She had 11 kills to start the week in a four-set win over Northeast but struggled to find the court. Despite 11 kills, Venable also had seven errors on 27 swings – her second-highest attempt number of the season. But as she has all year, Venable returned to her potent ways three days later and had 20 kills in two matches while hitting .826. Venable finished the week on Saturday with her 10th match of 10 or more kills and hit .500 in a win over Marian. For the season she is converting her chances at .376.
Peyton Abbott – Bridgeport Football
Maybe the third time on this list will be the charm for the Bridgeport senior who put up yet another 200-yard rushing performance in Friday’s win over Kimball. Abbott already has 1,427 yards rushing in six games, is averaging 237 a game and has three games better than that average including Friday when he needed just 12 carries for 257 yards and five touchdowns. He busted off his longest run of the year, 70 yards, had his second-best average per carry, 21.4, and scored four or more touchdowns for the fourth time this season and the fourth game in a row.
Rowdy Bauer – Norfolk Football
The Panthers were hungry to get back on the field after a 41-0 home shutout at the hands of No. 1 Westside. To satisfy that hunger, Norfolk kept feeding its senior fullback and he kept eating up the yards. Bauer rushed 17 times for 163 yards and found the end zone three times. He had a long of 32 yards and averaged 9.6 yards per touch. It was his third 100-yard performance of the season and the fifth of his career. His three touchdowns were the most he’s had in a single game.
Maverick Binder – Auburn Football
Binder was a load to stop on his career night where he rushed for over 200 yards and scored four touchdowns. The Auburn senior carried it 22 times and averaged 11 per carry while piling up 242 yards during a 40-26 win over Lincoln Christian. He had a long of 67 yards and bested his previous career-best single-game total by almost 100 yards. He scored on a 1-yard dive on the first snap of the game following a long kickoff return and added two touchdown runs of 2 yards and another of 27.
Izaac Dickey – Cross County Football
The Husker recruit won’t likely be the focus of the offense when he walks on for Matt Rhule next year, but he certainly is making an argument to get at least a few carries. Dickey had his best rushing game of the season on Friday when he needed just seven carries to rack up 179 yards and four touchdowns. That’s a mind-boggling average of more than 25 yards each time he carried the ball and a touchdown on more than half of his carries. It was the second time this season Dickey has averaged over 20 yards per carry and his second game with more than 100 yards rushing.
Caden Fry – Red Cloud Football
Fry continually stretched the field and made plays on the edges, over the middle and deep during a big eight-man win for the Warriors that made them 4-1 on the season. The Red Cloud senior collected nine catches for 159 yards and four touchdowns on a career night that tied his best in receptions and touchdowns and set a new high in yardage. He averaged 17.7 yards each time he made a catch and had a long of 40. Fry has gone over 100 yards receiving in every game this season but one and has a catch of over 40 yards in all five games.
Braxton Glines and Trenton Ernst – Lincoln Lutheran football
Here’s a pair of names you’re going to want to remember for the next two years. Glines, just a sophomore, went over 300 yards passing in a game for the first time in his career when he threw for 343 yards in Thursday’s win over Centennial. He tossed three touchdowns and connected with six different receivers. His favorite target was Ernst, also a sophomore, who grabbed 11 of those passes for 212 yards and all three of Glines’ passing touchdowns. It was the second time Ernst had had a receiving game with more than 100 yards and his first game with three scores.
Juan Gonzalez – Fremont Cross Country
Gonzalez followed an up-and-down rhythm last year when he was crowned the Class A championship. In total, he won four races, finished fourth twice and third twice. All of those results alternated back and forth. Of course, none of that really matters when you finish the season as the champ. Gonzalez is in the midst of another rhythm this year, and it’s all win-win-win. He captured his fourth of the season on Sept. 25 at the UNK High School Invite and took the top spot by nearly 15 seconds.
Tyler Hetz – Gothenburg Cross Country
It might have seemed like an early fluke for the Gothenburg freshman when his four early-season wins were followed by a runner-up and a third-place finish. But, come on now, six top-five finishes in his first six varsity races? Any runner would take that kind of start. And then Hetz returned to his winning ways on Thursday at home when he took the Gothenburg Invite title and was one of four Swedes that finished first through fourth. Hetz was the best by 41 seconds and now already has five varsity wins before he’s in the 10th grade.
Daniel Kaelin – Bellevue West Football
The future Husker certainly had Big Red fans dreaming of the future when they heard of his heroics on Friday night’s win over Gretna. Kaelin engineered a game-winning drive with four minutes remaining that included a 31-yard touchdown strike that capped 4 of 5 passing for 80 yards following a fourth-down conversion. Kaelin lined up to punt on fourth-and-14 from his own five but rather than kick it away he hit on a 15-yard connection for a first down. Kaelin was 23 of 41 for 311 yards and two touchdowns.
Payton Prestito – Papillion-La Vista Football
Prestito finds himself a candidate for this award again just two weeks after his first thanks to a career scoring night on Thursday in a 55-0 shutout of Burke. The Monarch senior only needed 14 carries to pick up 164 yards – an average of 11.7 per carry. He had 18 more yards two weeks ago but his four touchdowns were the most of his career. Prestito had three three-touchdown games before this past week, including the week before, and now has 29 rushing touchdowns in his career.
