Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week (12/11/2023)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Dec. 4-10. 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.

Blake Hinrichs – Ord Boys Basketball

Hinrichs has a career scoring average right around 11 points. He was a little bit above that last year and may be on his way to a number significantly better if he can keep up the kind of performances he had Dec. 5 against West Holt. The Chants senior tied his career high with 25 points while shooting 50%, hit three three-pointers and nearly had a double-double that included eight rebounds.

Lou Hodoly – Omaha South Boys Basketball

Hodoly was a dominant force in the paint for South in Saturday’s victory over Omaha Buena Vista. The Packer junior tied his season high of 27 points while shooting 55% from the floor and grabbing seven rebounds. Hodoly must enjoy playing against Buena Vista because he’s had 27 points in both games this season while shooting nearly 60%.

Cole Karlin – Beatrice Boys Wrestling

Karlin’s first year in varsity wrestling revealed a skill set with a ton of talent and potential. The Beatrice 113-pounder lost just six times in 46 matches, claimed six tournament titles and was the Class B state fourth-place medalist. He’s back on track again for another big season after starting a perfect 9 for 9 with seven pinfalls and a technical fall. Saturday at Crete he was a perfect 4-0 with three pins and his only decision of the season. That came in a 7-0 win over who was also a fourth-place state medalist last year.

Leo Kriegler – Papio South Boys Wrestling

The title match of the 113-pound weight division at Bellevue West came down to two unbeaten wrestlers on Saturday at Bellevue West. Kriegler was the one who stepped off the mat with his perfect record intact and capped off a tournament that included five wins, four by pin. Following a sixth-place finish medal at state as a sophomore, Kriegler has opened his junior season with 12 straight wins and titles at Bell West and York.

Taylor Nilson – Creighton Boys Basketball

After a slow start to the year, Nilson has been catching fire of late and increasing his point production each time out. The Creighton junior had just two points and shot 1 of 11 during a season-opening loss to Laurel-Concord-Coleridge. But after a tough night, Nilson scored 15 against West Holt, 10 against Wuasua then dropped 33 in a win Friday over Neligh-Oakdale.

Jeremiad Ingison – Maywood-Hayes Center Boys Basketball

Ingison has had quite the scoring touch early in the 2023/24 season. The MHC senior has 70 points through the first three games, an average of 23.3 per game with a high of 29 in a Dec. 5 win over Decatur Community. Ingison was 12 of 27 shooting in that one while also making it a double-double on 12 rebounds. He’s shooting 55% to start the year and has already earned 21 trips to the free throw line.

Mynor Strong – Omaha North Boys Basketball

Strong has been, forgive the pun, strong to start the new season and helped lead the Vikings to a 3-1 start. The North senior is filling up the stat sheet in every regard, averaging 16.5 points per game, just about five rebounds, five assists and three steals. His best game of the year came during Saturday’s dominant win over Omaha Westview and ended with a Strong stat line that included 21 points, 8 of 14 shooting, three three-pointers, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Logan Vandenberg – Aquinas Catholic Boys Wrestling

Vandenberg had a so-so start to his varsity career, splitting his first eight matches during tournaments at Bennington and Wood River. Making the starting lineup as a freshman at a powerhouse like Aquinas is an accomplishment all of its own, but Vandenberg didn’t earn that spot with the expectations of being a .500 wrestler. He began to show his potential for the future on Saturday in North Bend when he took the 138-pound championship by going 4-0 with wins over two sophomores and a senior in the final.

Layne Warrior – Bloomfield Boys Basketball

Warrior is no stranger to high-scoring totals. The 6-foot-3 Bloomfield senior has been a dominant force for the Bees both on the gridiron and the hardwood. This year in hoops, he already has three games with more than 20 points including a season-high 30 in a win Friday over Winside. Warrior averaged over 19 points per game last season, is scoring better than 22 through five games this season and now has two games with more than 30 points.

Clayton Zavodny – David City Boys Basketball

Zavodny began to find his scoring touch just about halfway through last season then came into this year and has only added to that element of his game. The David City senior scored double digits 14 times during a stretch of 17 games last season and has opened the new season a perfect 3 for 3. December 5 against Schuyler he set a new career-high with 26 points and made it 20 or more points in all three games thus far.

Alissa Brabec – O’Neill St. Mary’s Girls Basketball

Brabec has taken the floor four times for the Eagles in the young season and has scored more than 20 points in three of those four. Most recently, she had 26 in a win Saturday over Gregory and 23 in a victory against Niobrara/Verdigre on Dec. 7. She’s been deadly from long range in all four games but especially lately. Brabec had seven against Niobrara/Veridgree and six against Gregory. For the year, she’s got 19 threes and is just 16 points away from 100 total.

Halle Dolliver – Malcolm Girls Basketball

Dolliver exploded onto the scene last year when she began dominating the paint right away as a rookie. The Malcolm sophomore hasn’t slowed down a bit in year two and is already on pace to surpass her 20 points-per-game average as a freshman. Dolliver started the new season with the second-highest point total of her career and had 80 points through three games. She scored 35 in a win over Plattsmouth, 18 in a victory over Auburn and put up 27 in a win over North Bend.

Emma Harb – Grand Island Northwest Girls Basketball

Harb missed out on the first-ever girls state tournament in 2022 when she lost the third-place match at the district meet. That disappointment fueled her to come back last winter, earn a trip to Omaha and finish on the medal stand in sixth place. It looks like two losses at state are providing fuel once again for a wrestler who stands at 10-0 and with two tournament titles so far in her junior year. Harb started with a gold medal in York on three pins and a decision then followed it up on Saturday by winning at Wood River with five pins, all in the first period and four of which took place in under a minute.

Rebecca Hueske – Nebraska Lutheran Girls Basketball

Huseke has started the season on fire from long range, sinking 8 of 11 three-pointers. Her most recent effort was 5 for 7 and 24 points in a win over St. Edward on Dec. 5. The Nebraska Lutheran junior is shooting 59% overall and started the season with 18 in a loss to Meridian. Twenty-four points tied a career high and gave Hueske her third game of 20 or more points in the past two seasons. She made 14 threes all of last season and looks set to far exceed that total.

Ahmani Klabunde – Omaha Benson Girls Basketball

It took a few games for Klabunde to shake off the rust but it seems that’s gone for good after her dominant scoring performance in Saturday’s win over Omaha Westview. Klabunde and the Bunnies lost to the Wolverines six days earlier when she shot 4 of 15 and scored nine points. It was part of a two-game start that saw Klabunde go just 6 of 24. All of that is in the rearview mirror after the Benson senior scored 32 in a rematch win over Westview while shooting 55%, sinking three threes and dishing out five assists.

Kalison Miller – Weeping Water Girls Basketball

Miller had three games in double digits last year. She’s already surpassed that this winter with four games of at least 10 points and increasing totals each time out since 10 in a loss to Auburn. Miller scored 15 in a win over HTRS, 18 in a win over Conestoga and 26 on Saturday in a win over Omaha Christian Academy. Kalison made 11 shots and hit three three-pointers while setting a new career high.

Taryn Otteman – Johnson-Brock Girls Basketball

Otteman was a point producer for the Eagles from all over the court last week, leading Johnson-Brock to a pair of victories while scoring 56 total points. The junior scored 28 in a Dec. 5 win over Palymra while shooting 10 of 17 and making half of those shots from beyond the arc. Three nights later, she was one back of that total with 27 points and 8 of 14 shooting but this time 7 of 11 from inside the arc. She also had 20 total rebounds during that two-game stretch and 13 in the win over Palymra.

Chelsey Robinson – Omaha North Girls Wrestling

Robinson had her first taste of the state tournament last year and suffered a tough defeat in the heartbreak round while ending her season 30-9. Natural improvement and her start to the new wrestling year are making her look like a definite medalist in a few months. Robinson sits at a perfect 10-0 as the season enters Week 3 and has two tournament titles. The most recent was a dominant run through the Beau Haizlip Invite Saturday at Omaha South. Robinson won all five of her matches at 115 by pinfall and wasn’t forced past the first period until she built a 13-4 lead and wrapped up gold with 44 seconds left in the match.

Mya Stanley – Louisville Girls Wrestling

Stanley was part of the seven Lions girls who wrestled for a title on Saturday at North Bend and was the most dominant of the five who won gold medals. The Louisville junior won those five by pinfall and pinned each of her final three opponents in the first period. Stanley suffered a loss in the Conestoga Classic to open the season but has otherwise been untouchable, earning each of her nine wins during a 9-1 start by way of pin.

Myleigh Weers – Diller-Odell Girls Basketball

Weers has been unstoppable through the first few games of the season. The Diller-Odell junior has scored 19 points or more in each of her first three games and went over 30 for the sixth time in her career on Dec. 1 when she dropped 31 on HTRS. Weers hit four three-pointers in the game and had five assists to go with five steals. She followed it up with 23 in a Dec. 5 win over Thayer Central.