The sun is out, teenagers are out and about, and people are ready to enjoy the summer sun. Audubon High School’s athletes are getting geared up for their summer season, while still competing in spring sports. One of those summer sports approaching is baseball.

Digging out his glove and lacing his cleats for a good season ahead, sophomore Collin Subbert is excited for the baseball season, and he wants the Wheelers to be competitive. “I want our team to win the Western Iowa Conference this year.”

Unlike Subbert, many players will be balancing baseball along with the current sport season: track, tennis, and/or golf. One may think this seems like hard work, a headache, or a tiring job, but senior Colby Rattenborg isn’t affected much, but tries to stay cautious about potential injuries. “Towards the end of track season around state time [if one qualifies] you go from track practice straight to baseball practice. It affects me a little bit, because I’m trying not to get injured.” He also adds, “I think we will have a pretty good baseball season. We have a variety of returners, so a lot of us have experience, and it gives us advantage to put those people in sports they’re experienced with.”

Head Coach Sean Birks does not see the overlapping sports as a problem and tries to plan around an athlete’s schedule. “The sport in season takes priority. If there is track practice when we have baseball practice we wait to start baseball until track practice is over.  There are some May days that some athletes are at practice from 3:30 PM until 6:30 or 7:00 PM.  It takes a special kind of person to balance school work, track, baseball, and everything else they have going on.  Between track meets, golf meets, and tennis matches it is pretty rare to have all of the baseball players at practice at the same time.  It is something I've gotten used to as a coach and we make it work.”

The first baseball game of the season kicks off out of town on May 26 against Elk Horn Kimballton-Exira.

Rackets are being dusted off and bright yellow tennis balls are being bounced around. It’s finally the time for the tennis teams to head out to the tennis courts and begin a new season.

This year the girls have a new tennis coach, Ms. Messerschmidt. While she has not coached tennis before, she has coached volleyball and assisted with basketball practice. Messerschmidt also teaches 5th grade and coached the 6th grade AAU volleyball team. “I have really enjoyed coaching the girls so far, they’re a great group. I hope to coach as long as I can,” said Messerschmidt. 

“I really like the new tennis coach! She’s pretty great, and is very understanding!” exclaims Morgan Gust, a junior who has been in tennis throughout all of high school. This year there are eight girls on the team, they host Corning April 22.

Coaching the boys tennis team for the fifth year, Mr. Thoelke plans to work harder on hitting ground strokes to penetrate the wind during practice to try to keep the opponent away from the net.  He enjoys coaching tennis and he doesn’t have any plans to stop any time soon.

Many students, including Daniel Schneider, think that Mr. Thoelke is a great coach and has an amazing understanding of tennis.  Schneider said, “This is actually my first year in tennis, my dad used to do tennis when he was in high school so I decided to give it a try.”  Since the girls host, the boys will travel to Corning on April 22.

Maddie Christensen, a senior, has been in tennis since freshman year and has been in summer recreational tennis since she was in 1st grade. Christensen is thinking about playing intramural tennis, but not competitively after high school. Many students from both boys and girls tennis teams enjoy being in tennis and look forward to a great season.

With big success in previous years, Audubon golf is looking forward to a great season. For the last two years girls golf has made it to State, and they are hoping to make this their third year in a row. Their first meet will be on April 11, in Audubon. They will be facing off against Tri-Center. Practice, however, has prepared them well for the coming season.

Susie Bylund, a 4-year senior in the sport, will be leading the team this year. Even though they’ve done well in the past, Bylund sees this year as more of a rebuilding year. “We lost a lot of great seniors last year, so we’re only bringing back two returning varsity individuals.” Susie also feels that while the younger players have potential, they aren’t quite experienced enough yet. “Everyone has got to put work in individually to succeed,” Bylund said. She says that she tries her hardest to take extra time to work on her game. Bylund thinks that this will be a good season, but they’ve definitely got some tough competition. “The hardest opponent is usually Treynor; they’ve got more experience than us as a team this year, I would say. I’m so eager to get the season underway and see how it turns out!”

It is that time of the year again to get the track ready and free of snow for the girls and boys Audubon High School track teams. Every spring, a few students will participate in an indoor track meet; such as the one at Buena Vista University on March 21. However, the first outdoor track meet will be here at Chis Jones field on April 1 for boys and April 3 for girls.

This year the boys track team consists of a good number of boys and Coach Bob Monahan hopes that it will continue in years to come. As for the indoor meet coming up, Monahan and coach Monte Riebhoff are thinking of having long jump, shuttles, and possibly some sprinters participate.

Everyone hopes that the weather will warm up so they can go outside for practice, but instead they are running in the halls and lifting weights to get in shape. For instance, Koby Hunnicutt is one of many trying to watch what he eats to help get in shape and improve his performance, he hopes, “to win a race and a field event” for this track season.

As for the girls track team, coach Pete Dammel believes that they will be running the shuttle, 4x800, 1500, and some sprints for the upcoming indoor track meet. Unfortunately due to students' busy schedule they tend to be out of shape, making them unable to be fit enough for the upcoming indoor meet. To help with being out of shape the girls are currently working on their core strength more than they did in the past years of track. Dammel and coach Tony Konkler will also be working on leg mechanics, running habits, blocks, and more with the girls than they did in past seasons.

Due to the decrease in enrollment there is also a decrease in the amount of students going out for track. Junior Track member Kaitlin Andersen said, “The decrease of kids in track is sad but not unexplainable. I feel that many kids have busy schedules and sometimes they just can't fit in the time it takes to make a sport happen.”

Freshman Cole Petersen said, “More kids should be doing track because it can help you get in shape.” As they say the more the merrier; however, between everyone's busy schedules and being in or out of shape, all wishes to beat his or her own times and accomplish goals and have fun during Audubon Wheeler’s track season.

On March 7, an event that Senior competitor Riley Jones says “Separates the men from the boys,” will occur. On that day, bars will bend, plates will rattle, and strength will be tested. That event is the Western Iowa Conference Weightlifting Championship.

A group of Audubon students will be going to this meet to compete. Under the pressure of lifting in front of a crowd, many lifters will get an adrenaline rush and lift weight they never thought they could, because of that atmosphere. One of the lifters is sophomore, Nathan Hagedorn. Hagedorn arrived at the competition last year and set his personal bests. He has the same hopes this year, stating, “I will lift heavy things,” and that he has been working hard in the weight room. 

Jones said, “It’s a good way to find out who has been putting in the work and who hasn’t.”

The competition is based off two dominant lifts: the bench press and the squat. A formula, based off the lifter’s weight, then has the weight that was lifted successfully plugged into it. A score is then formed; the highest total score of the two lifts wins. Of all the students participating, every of them will be out to set personal bests. School records are in a few students’ sights.

The WIC Weightlifting Championship will be held in Missouri Valley, and will start at 4:30 p.m. For those watching the powerlifting, the Wheelers will be sure to put on a good show.

    The Western Iowa Conference wrestling duals are coming up on Dec. 21, and Audubon is looking to win it all. With last year’s success, the Wheelers are very hopeful for this season. Last year, they went all the way to State and are hoping to come back for more this year.
    Senior Chase Petersen is ready to take on his fourth year of wrestling. When asked how prepared the team is, Petersen said, “We’re just as competitive as ever and have potential to do the same or better than last year.” He is very confident in the team this year, saying that most likely they will finish well towards the top.
    While he is confident, he still knows that the key to success is practice. “Getting everyone at practice and keeping them focused and working hard [will get us ready].” With his success last year at state, Petersen is looking to go all the way this year.
    As this season rolls on, the Wheelers remain confident that their hard work will pay off. The event starts at nine a.m at Underwood.  The teams will include all of those in the conference, including the team added this year, Logan-Magnolia.

    The Audubon dance team has been busy practicing and performing, even before school had begun.  This year they added a new performance to their repertoire; performing at the Iowa Wild hockey game in Des Moines. Coach Lynn Spies said, “It was a great experience and a lot of fun, despite having to walk on the ice!”
    Besides performing at the Iowa Wild hockey game, the dance team will be performing at the Iowa State Dance Team Championships in Des Moines, Iowa on the 5th and the 6th of Dec.r at Wells Fargo Arena and the Hy-Vee Hall.  The all-male dancers will perform at 9:16 a.m. at Wells Fargo. Then the coed will be performing at 11:03 a.m. at Wells Fargo. Lights will be at 12:59 p.m. at Hy-Vee Hall. This is their only competition and the dance team has been working very hard  for it.
    They have been working on conditioning, technique, and dance routine choreography. Spies said, “Right now at practice we are going over the dances many times and working on glitches or things that need to be fine-tuned or changed.”
    Just as ready as they are, the dance team is determined to make this a great year. First it was a new experience at the Iowa Wild Hockey game in Des Moines, now it is the big Iowa State Dance Team Championships. A senior and third year member of the dance team Bailey Nelson said, “I will miss being part of the dance team. I enjoy being a part of such a great group of girls. We have a lot of fun!”

    What a season! With twelve returning runners and six rookies, it’s been quite a journey for the cross-country team. The official start of the season was the first day of school, Aug. 14. Though for some runners, the season began long before that, when the last bit of snow had melted away in late spring. The entire Audubon cross-country team practices on the fairways of the Audubon Golf Course at 6:15 in the morning. By the last practice, the sun wouldn’t rise until after 7 a.m., and the temperature resembled that of a walk-in cooler.
    The girls team captain, senior Megan Deist, said, “The girls always placed in the top 8 each meet, with the newcomers Kiara Brannan-Sporrer and Carmen Malloy rocking it!” Deist placed in the top 10 at districts, and she returned from State on Nov. 2 with a 25th place finish out of 127 runners.
    The boy’s team captain, senior Sean Card, after a strong season, sustained an injury during P.E. class and was unable to participate in the district meet. Acting captain Mitchell Nelsen placed 16 at districts.
    Some on the team members weren’t the fastest on the course, but they didn’t give up and always finished strong. Though cross-country is a very individualized sport, everyone is part of the team.  Carpooling to practices, sharing money and snacks at meets, and cheering each other on during that final 100 meters to the finish line, they became tight knit over the months of early morning practices and after school meets. The last meet of the year, at Treynor, was completed with tears of sadness as the seniors shared their last cross-country event with the underclassman.

    The Audubon boys of fall have had an extremely successful and notable season. Having won nine consecutive games in a row, they currently hold a solid record of 9-2. In post-season play, the Wheelers defeated the Riverside bulldogs with a score of 39-0 during their first round playoff game on Wednesday, Oct. 30. This was the Wheelers’ first time winning a playoff game in over 20 years. On Monday, Nov. 4, the boys took down the East Mills wolverines with a final score of 24-0.
    Senior Chase Petersen feels the team holds the advantage of depth. “Starters can get breaks knowing the person coming in the game is quality and will do their job,” he said.
    Junior quarterback Trevor Smith agrees with Petersen by adding, “We trust everyone to be doing their job on every play.”
    Senior Riley Jones said, “I feel great about this season. It’s really fun to be on a team that I’m so close with.”
    Smith also feels good about the season, but reiterates, “It’s not over yet.” The Wheelers must conduct a final win in Avoca on Friday, Nov. 8 against AHST in order to advance to State semi-finals and play in The Dome.