Tennis season has started at Audubon High School. Boys and girls are excited to be adding several new members to the team. Sophomore Lila Sebetka is one of many new members for the girls tennis team. Sebetka stopped playing tennis her fourth grade year because she was too involved in other sports, but she decided to join this year because she missed having a sport in the spring and missed the game of tennis. Sebetka said the hardest part is “re-learning the game and getting used to it again.” Sebetka is very nervous for her first match on April 7 in Denison, but is also very excited.

Veteran senior Bradley Nissen has been playing tennis for about 12 years on his own and has been on the Audubon team since his freshman year. Nissen enjoys tennis so much because “it takes almost equal skill and athleticism to play, and also it is a game without a time limit, which means that at any point in the game, either pl
ayer can still win the game.”

Tennis brings much enjoyment to Nissen but it also has its challenges. “The hardest thing for me was my consistency and my composure in long matches. I have improved on this by focusing more on the match on a point by point basis, and I have also played many tournaments in the past couple summers to help improve my play against better players.” Nissen’s goal for this season, as a senior, is to “end the year with a winning record as the number one from here, and also I would like to make it to sub-state.” Nissen knows sub-state is a hard goal to meet but he is willing to put in the effort to make it a reality. 

With their heads held high and hope in their hearts, the boys basketball team starts their season. With the new coach Michael Strasko, the team hopes to do much better this year. So far, the team seems to like Strasko as the new coach.


Junior Andrew Blomme, who has played for seven years, said he “wants the team to get eight to ten wins this year” and thinks they can do it since they have gotten around seven new players, mostly freshmen, and “are being pushed to work much harder by Strasko” with morning and afternoon practices, as well as open gym and a camp this summer.


Blomme’s passion for the game comes down to “the team working together and knowing what his teammates are going to do and where they’re going to be on court." Blomme thinks that some of the freshmen will have a huge impact on the team.


Freshman David Graeve, who has played for five years, said that he just plays to be with friends and have fun, but does think that Strasko was a good change for the team.


Blomme’s goal is to make a dunk this year while Graeve on the other hand just wants to make it through the season.

This school year has been one of change: the new grading scale, the elimination of quarters, and Mr. Pete Dammel taking over as coach for the Audubon cross country team. Many changes have been made to the team, including the time change of practices from before school to after school. Five runners returned for the boys team and another five for the girls team, with one new addition to the boys, freshman Kade Jensen. Three of the four foreign exchange students have joined the girls team.

Different people on the team look forward to different things in cross country. Senior Kaitlin Andersen said she is excited about “running a good race.  It’s been a good 4 years.”

Junior Mitchell Nelsen, and the boys team captain, said, “I look forward to the competition and trying my best.”

The last meet of the year will be the district meet at Panorama on Thursday . Nelsen has mixed feelings about the season ending. Because he is in football as well as cross country, Nelsen runs in the morning. “It’s getting kind of old running by myself. But I like the meets and am looking forward to next year.”

This year’s boys golf team is young but determined to do their best. Today [May 16th], they will be competing in the Sectionals at Coon Rapids. Coach Addison Patrick feels as though the team has improved a lot throughout the year for both Varsity and JV. Drew Christensen and Jalen Nelson have been on the varsity squad for two years. Christensen states that he loves the sport and when asked about his thoughts on golf he replies with, “It’s relaxing, and a fun time to kick back and have a good time after two hard sports seasons.”

Freshmen Micky Williamson and Garrett Inman have really made an impact on the varsity team this year. Senior Nick Andreason, who has never played golf before, has also been on the varsity team often this year.

Coach Patrick has been teaching the athletes to really work on 100 yards and in. He said that a majority of their golf shots come around the green so they have been working a lot trying to limit their putts to two per hole.  “I have used an iPad app to help with the guy’s golf swing which has showed some progress as they are hitting the ball a lot better than they were at the beginning of the season,” said Patrick. Overall the team has improved their scores all year by making it a goal to improve everyday at practice and meets. Everyone except Andreason will be returning for next year’s golf season to achieve higher goals and become more skilled at swinging those golf clubs.