Vote now: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska High School Athlete of the Week? (Sept. 26-Oct. 2)

By Nathan Charles 

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Sept. 26-Oct. 2. 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. 

Kennadi Borngrebe, Elkhorn South Softball

Back-to-back losses then a forfeit meant Elkhorn South was staring at a potentially frustrating finish to the season when the Storm took the field Sept. 29 against Millard North. Needing a spark, Elkhorn South turned to Borngrebe who delivered both in the circle and at the plate. Borngrebe scattered seven hits, struck out six and drove in four runs that included a three-run home run. Her efforts led to a 7-5 victory.

Aidan Kuester, Neligh-Oakdale Football

Kuester continues to carry the load for the Warriors, following up his 10-touchdown performance from a week ago with seven more, one through the air and six on the ground. He was 16-of-24 passing for 173 and rushed 29 times for 248 in a 64-36 eight-man win over Summerland. Kuester has 13 passing touchdowns, is 10 yards away from 1,500 rushing yards, 23 rushing touchdowns and is 52 yards back of 1,000 rush yards.

Izabella Pesicka, Millard North Golf

Pesicka has reached the realm of untouchable lately, winning each of the past four times she’s stepped on a golf course. In the Metro Conference Tournament on Sept. 27, she won on the second playoff hole after tying for the lead with a 7-over 75. The day before, she was the champ at the Omaha Westside Invite that included 11 other teams. Pesicka has yet to total 80 or more in eight events this season, carding an average score of 76.

Austin Carrera, Hastings Cross Country

Carrera picked up his fourth win of the season and did so in dominant fashion when he hit the line by more than 49 seconds ahead of the runner-up Sept. 29 in York. He was the second-place finisher three days earlier at the UNK Invite with his second-fastest time of the year before making it two wins in three events at York. He has gold medals at his home Invite, Aurora, in the Adams Central Invite and at York.

Alexa Gobel, Lincoln Southwest Volleyball

Gobel was a force for Southwest during a five-set win over Millard West on Sept. 29. The Silver Hawks, which hadn’t won a five-set match since last September, turned to Gobel time and time again to put the ball away during a top-10 showdown that saw Millard West come back from down two sets. Gobel had 28 kills and took 73 swings. She also blocked two shots and was one dig away from a double-double.

Cole Ballard, Elkhorn South Football

Ballard started with three straight 100-yard rushing games then cooled off recently with just 10 carries in a pair of blowouts. It was another blowout Friday, but this time Ballard made sure to get in enough work before the backups were inserted into the lineup. He found the end zone six times in the first half of a win over Fremont and set a new school record for single-game touchdown runs.

Hannah Swanson, Nebraska Christian Cross Country

Swanson remained perfect in five events when she won the Raymond Central Invite on Sept. 29. By nearly a minute, Swanson took the top spot and scored the 10th win of her career. She won all five of her regular season meets last season before taking the runner-up spot at state. Swanson’s 2022 wins include at St. Paul, Centura, Central City, UNK and now Raymond Central.

Kirby Le and Caden Haar, Lincoln East Tennis

Le and Haar continue to roll along as the top doubles duo in the state. In their biggest challenge of the season, Le and Haar came back from deficits of 3-1 and 5-4 during an 8-6 win that gave the pair the title at the Westside Invitational. Two days later, they won 24 of 33 sets and claimed another gold at the Capital City Quad. Le and Haar are unbeaten on the season.

Lauryn England, Malcolm Volleyball

England has been the steadying presence behind the Clipper attack for the past three years, totaling more than 700 assists in each of the past two seasons. She’ll get there again this season and reached a milestone last week when she went over 2,000 career assists. England set up 33 kills Sept. 27 then had another 28 on Sept. 29. She has seven matches with 30 or more kills this season.

John Brase, Papillion-La Vista Football

Brase was simply unblockable in Friday’s shutout win over Burke. The Monarch senior made nine stops in the win, which doesn’t sound all that impressive, but five of those stops were tackles for loss, and one was a sack. Oh, and he had an interception as well in what was a career defensive performance.

Karli Heidemann, Diller-Odell Volleyball

Heidemann is just 136 kills away from 2,000 in her career and based on her pace and the past two years she has an excellent chance to reach that milestone. Three matches last week are just another example why. Heidemann piled up 60 kills in those three matches with a high of 27 in a Sept. 27 win over Johnson-Brock. She also hit a robust .600 that night and has gone 18 matches in a row hitting .300 or better.

Carlos Collazo, Aurora Football

Collazo rushed for 134 yards and three touchdowns in Week 1. Looking back on that now it seems Collazo might have been slacking. Since then he’s put together 200-yard rushing totals in each of the past five games including a new career-best 299 in Friday’s 54-14 win over Minden. Collazo scampered for scores of 47 and 65 in just the first six minutes, had an 80-yard reception and scored a total of six touchdowns. His rushing total was also a new single-game program record.

Isabelle Francis, Wayne Volleyball

Francis is at the controls of the Wayne offense for the first time in her career and looks like a sure fire lock to be an all-conference and potential all-state award honoree sometime in her future. Following an uneven start, she’s found a rhythm lately that included 90 assists in five matches. Her best was during a five-set win over West Point-Beemer Sept. 27 when she posted 45 assists.

Keenan Valverde, Pierce Football

Valverde had the best statistical night of his career during a 54-20 win over O’Neill. For the second time this year, he eclipsed 200 yards rushing, had 203 total, averaged over 13 yards per carry and found the end zone four times. His total was more than half of the team’s impressive figure of 487 rushing yards on 40 carries. Valverde had rushed for 100 yards once before in his career prior to this season but now has four of those games and a new career-high.

Olivia Mauch, Bennington Volleyball

Mauch has been the picture of stability the last three years as the Bennington volleyball program has been on the rise. The Badgers were within a game or two of finishing above .500 in Mauch’s freshman and sophomore seasons. Now, they’re well above that mark and in the mix of Class B thanks to Mauch’s work in the back row. Last week she had 84 total digs in four matches, the best of which was 35 in a three-set win Saturday at the Columbus Classic.

Carson Kudlacek, Hastings St. Cecilia Football

Kudlacek connected with five different receivers, completed 17 of his 21 throws and piled up 313 passing yards during a 49-7 win over Kearney Catholic. His three touchdowns gave him five games in six starts in which he’s had three or more passing touchdowns. It’s also his second straight game with more than 300 passing yards.

Cecilia Arndt, Scotus Central Catholic Golf

Arndt, the reigning Class C champion, looks like she’ll have an opportunity to repeat following yet another strong regular season. The Shamrock junior closed out the schedule with a win last week at her home invite, her fourth of the season. Arndt has been first or second at all seven of her tournaments and set the program’s nine- and 18-hole records Sept. 23.

Carter Nelson, Ainsworth Football

Nelson did it in all aspects for the Bulldogs in an eight-man win over Elgin Public/Pope John that made them 6-0 for the first time in 30 years. Through the air he completed 18 of 32 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns. On the ground he carried it 23 times for 138 yards and found the end zone two more times. Most importantly, Nelson was the leader in a 28-point comeback that saw Ainsworth overcome a 36-8 hole late in the first half. He also had 12 tackles and an interception on the other side of the ball.

Brekyn Kok, Cornerstone Christian Cross Country

Kok earned her second win of the season and fifth top-10 finish in five starts when she won the Lincoln Lutheran Invite on Sept. 29. The win makes it three cross country golds in her career to go with one in Auburn last year as a junior and three weeks ago at the Archbishop Bergan Invite. Kok was coming off a PR and fifth-place finish at Creighton Prep on Sept. 21 when she took that momentum for a victory by more than six seconds in Lincoln.

Elijah Dix, Plattsmouth Cross Country

Dix showed his state medal potential on Sept. 26 when he was fifth at UNK. It was one of five top-five finishes this season, two of which he settled for silver. There was no settling Sept. 30 at the Syracuse Invite when Dix won by a little more than four seconds and a personal best time of 16:06.9. His run was the best of his career by more than 20 seconds and the third straight meet in which he broke 17 minutes.

Kassidy Stuckey, York Cross Country

Stuckey won three straight invites then settled for a silver medal Sept. 26 at the UNK Invite. She was back to her winning ways three days later on her home course, taking the top spot by more than 40 seconds. Stuckey has run under 20 minutes in all six of her events this season and now has 12 wins in her varsity career. Stuckey’s best time of the season currently sits second in Class B.

Jackson Roberts, North Platte St. Patrick’s Football

The Irish are 7-0 and two games away from a perfect regular season thanks to several factors, one major one of which is Roberts. The junior came up big again on Friday in a 67-16 eight-man win over Maxwell, turning nine carries into four touchdowns. He set the tone early with two first-quarter punt returns for touchdowns, giving him six total for the game.

Elly Honens, Lincoln East Golf

Honens held off two others by a single shot and was crowned the Heartland Athletic Conference championship Sept. 29 at the Norfolk Country Club. She was the picture of consistency throughout the round. Honens had a birdie on the par-4 10th and led the rest of the way. Her 77 was also a part of East’s conference runner-up finish.