Girls soccer

Varsity girls soccer finished their 2011 season with a winning percentage hovering around .500. They ended on a tough note losing to District Champions Lafayette in a post-season game that came down to penalty kicks.

“It was one of those games that could have gone both ways,” Chris Kenny, varsity girls soccer head coach, said. “We played well that game, and we are very close at being able to win Districts. It’s just a matter of performing at a critical time, and this year we have a lot of reasons to be hopeful.”

One reason for such hope, Kenny said, is the amount of returning players who offer a wealth of both skill and knowledge of the game. Kenny said he sees lots of talent in this group of girls.

“A lot of players have varsity experience, very good attitudes and are very athletic,” Kenny said. “I think we’ll have players that keep a competitive spirit and hopefully that will bring out the best in everyone.”

While some players have been under Kenny’s coaching for the past few years, Kenny said he’s still not certain how the 2012 squad will pan out exactly.

“Every year you have to look at the players you have and figure out, tactically, what is the best approach,” Kenny said. “It’s like you have a reshuffled deck so you don’t know exactly what to do until you see everything.”

Boys Volleyball

Boys volleyball has a fresh face at the head coaching position this year: Jared Kreienkamp. Kreienkamp, who has never been head coach of a high school team before, has a list of credentials ranging from assistant coaching at Rockwood Summit last year to being named NAIA National Tournament MVP in 2009.

Not knowing the many faces of the MHS boys volleyball team will slow down the team’s start, Kreienkamp said, but it’s nothing he can’t handle.

“We are at a disadvantage to the teams that have had a few seasons together with the same coaching staff, Kreienkamp said. “The players will need to adapt to my coaching style as well as I will have to adapt once I figure out what motivates individual players as well as the entire team. Once we get past that obstacle I see the season going very smoothly.

Kreienkamp said what he has seen from players at open gyms has been promising. The talent of the boys should put them in a good position to reach for a District Championship, he said, which could be difficult because the defending State Champions are in the same conference.

“This season I expect to compete for a conference championship, and make a run in the State tournament,” Kreienkamp said. “Although I don’t know all of the players very well yet, from what I have seen we have a talented group of student-athletes that are excited about this season getting started.”

Boys track & field

With the momentum of a Conference Championship last year, boys track and field has a legacy to live up to. Head coach Matt Nienhaus said he’s confident his team will not disappoint.

“We lost very few seniors from last year and despite strong teams at Lafayette and Eureka, we are confident that we can repeat this year for our 12th Conference Championship here at Marquette,” Nienhaus said. “In addition, we are strong enough and deep enough this year to finish in the top 10 at the State meet.”

The biggest obstacle to this success, Nienhaus said, will be filling the sport’s vast amount of positions.

“Track is an 18-event sport and so if young men come out to compete for us, I have the confidence in my coaching staff that those athletes who listen and work hard will get stronger, run faster, jump with more explosiveness or throw further,” Nienhaus said.

Boys golf

Zach Gollwitzer, junior, was the only golfer last year to qualify for State. Both he and Colton Owens, junior, made a trip to Sectionals last year as well. This year, head coach Eric Schweain said he sees bigger and better performances in store for the team as a whole.

“With this team we have returning, I believe we have a shot at qualifying as a team for State,” Schweain said. “We have good young talent and I know a lot of them worked over summer and even winter at improving their game and I think that really bodes well for our upcoming season.”

Schweain said the biggest difficulty will be taking a sport that’s often referred to as an individual’s game and make it work for a whole team.

“In no way can I say [any success] is what I’ve done with the team,” Schweain said. “Really, it’s up to the kids and what position they’ve put themselves in for this upcoming season. You create your own luck in this game and that’s what is so unique about this sport.”

Baseball

Coming off a heartbreaking extra-innings loss to the eventual champions Eureka in the first round of Districts last year, varsity baseball head coach John Meyer said he has high expectations for the 2012 season.

“Our performance will be better [this year] because we will have better chemistry and teamwork,” Meyer said. “A lot of that has to do with a lot of the players we have coming back.”

Meyer said this year’s team will have a relatively small senior population, leaving the rest of the team to be composed of juniors. The most promising aspect of the team, Meyer said, is the remarkable amount of athleticism on the team.

“I see us being very capable and competitive this year,” Meyer said. “The most intriguing is we have such versatile players.”
Meyer said he has high hopes for the season.

“I’m really looking forward to the season,” Meyer said. “I want it to be good and memorable so hopefully we’ll be District champs, and I’d like to see us in the Final 4 because we’ve never done that before.”

Girls track & field

Youth is a double edged sword in terms of sports: It gives teams a longer time to build towards success, but lacks in the know-how most veterans possess. Girls track had an abundance of youth last year and this year the same young talent is returning to the stadium with the added edge of experience.

“Last season we were a pretty young team and, given that we’ve got a lot of athletes coming back, we are looking a lot stronger in these events than we were last year,” Mike Ebert, head coach, said. “We should be able to be much more competitive and the bigger invitationals we go to, and getting multiple athletes in relays to State would be our other goal.”

The biggest threat to the team’s success, Ebert said, is injury. In addition to the short duration of the season, injuries are especially harmful to team performance.

“In track and field one of the biggest obstacles has got to be injuries, especially because of the weather and the short season,” Ebert said. “If an athlete has an injury that lasts 2-3 weeks, that’s costing her half of the season.”

Girls lacrosse

One of the few girls sports at MHS that lacks a male counterpart, girls lacrosse is entering its second season ever under the guidance of head coach Chris Elledge. Finishing up last year five games above .500, Elledge said he’s excited about the upcoming season.

“This year we have a group of girls with great work ethic, they all hustle, and they’re very dedicated,” Elledge said. “I’m so pumped about this year we’ll be a lot better.”

Elledge said the biggest focus for him this year is going to be helping the girls develop their skills and build an impenetrable defense.

“Mastering skills will be our goal, as well as being a defensive juggernaut,” Elledge said. “We are going to be defensively ridiculous.

The idea of mastering skills is a basic task, Elledge said, but it’s much more difficult to put into actual use.

“The skills part seems like a simple concept, but it comes down to practicing specific fundamentals every day and then having progressions,” Elledge said. “As you move through the season, you want to have days that focus on different themes. We’re just going to practice so much that we’ll be good by second nature.”