Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week (12/18/2023)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Dec. 11-17. 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.

Aleziah Anderson – Lincoln Northeast Girls Basketball

Anderson found a new level of basketball in Saturday’s win over Burke. The Northeast senior went scoreless the first three games of the year and was 0 for her first 10 field goals until finally taking the top of the rim in a Dec. 9 win over Gretna. Saturday she had a career night with 7 of 11 shooting for 21 points. Anderson scored 12 of those from distance and was 4 of 8 shooting from the perimeter.

Evie Becher – Lincoln High Girls Wrestling

Becher rolled through the Johnson County Central Invite on Saturday for her second tournament title of the season and spent less than two minutes on the mat while earning her most recent gold medal. The Lincoln High freshman defeated her first opponent in just seven seconds, her next in 53 seconds and her final foe in 58. Becher improved her record to 14-1 overall and has won all her matches but one by pinfall. She’s also unbeaten against girls from Nebraska, suffering her only loss to a sophomore from Iowa.

Kendyl Delimont – Ainsworth Girls Basketball

Delimont might be having the best scoring season of her career, and that’s saying a lot for a player who averaged over 17 points per game last season. She’s a little bit behind that pace so far this year, but she’s shooting the ball better at 42% and will soon catch last year’s number with more games like this past week. Delimont had totals of 16, 17 and 26, the last of which came with four threes and six assists in a win over Cozad.

Neleigh Gessert – Millard West Girls Basketball

Gessert has had perhaps the hottest scoring start of any girl in Nebraska. The Millard West junior scored 21 then 20 in the first two games of the season then went over 20 points again in back-to-back games last week. She started with 22 on 8 of 10 shooting and four three-pointers in a win over Elkhorn South then scored 25 and had four more threes two nights later in a win over Gretna.

Kaylyn Harrill – Skutt Catholic Girls Wrestling

Harrill is among the leaders in Nebraska for girls' wins. The Skutt freshman hasn’t needed any time to adjust to varsity competition. She’s 15-0 with three tournament titles, the most recent of which was at her home meet on Saturday with three pins. She defeated a wrestler with 17 wins in the championship after starting fast with a 4-0 lead. Most impressively, Harrill was the champ at the Council Bluffs Classic on Dec. 9., defeating wrestlers from both Nebraska and Iowa in an event that features some of the best in the upper Midwest.

Olivia Loomis-Goltl – Bridgeport Girls Basketball

Loomis-Goltl barely missed out on a third season of 500 points last year when she came up 28 short. It doesn’t look like that will be a problem in her senior season. The Bridgeport senior already has 187 points in seven games and has three performances with more than 30 points. She did it twice this past week with 34 in a win over Pine Bluffs and 31 in a victory over Chadron. Loomis-Goltl is averaging 26.7 points per game.

Addison Medeck – Papio South Girls Basketball

Medeck looks like she has four big years ahead of her following a start that includes double-digit points in three of six games. The Papio South freshman scored 10 in her debut and had 11 a few nights later while also totaling 15 rebounds in those two contests. She was held to 18 total points in the next three games then scored 18 and had a double-double on 14 rebounds in Saturday’s win over Elkhorn South.

Macie Peters – Wood River Girls Basketball

Peters just missed out on her first double-double of the season on Saturday when she pulled down 10 boards to go with her 21 points. While she didn’t quite get the double-double, it was the fourth straight game in which Peters scored in double figures and set a season-high. In six games, Peters is averaging 12.5 points per game with 7.2 rebounds. Her 21 points in the win over Gibbon also tied a career high.

Saije Phelps – Sandhills Valley Girls Wrestling

Phelps had a taste of the state tournament last February and has used that brief experience to drive her to a tremendous start to the new season. The Sandhills Valley junior already has five tournament titles before the calendar flips to 2024 and has yet to suffer a loss. Phelps won all five of her matches at Cambridge by pin and dominated with four of the five in the first period and three of those in less than a minute. Phelps is 17-0 on the season and has titles at her home tournament, Southwest, Axtell, McCook and Cambridge.

Addie Sullivan – Blair Girls Basketball

Sullivan has had high scoring totals before and went over 20 points twice last season but has never had the scoring night like she did on Saturday in a win over Gross. The Blair junior scored 27 points and set a new career-high by a point. It was the fourth time this season she scored in double figures and the third time in her career she had more than 20.

A’mare Bynum – Omaha Bryan Boys Basketball

Bynum has been a sensation in six games during the early part of the year, scoring at least 19 in all six. He had his best of the bunch on Saturday when he scored 25 and led Bryan to a bounce back win following a loss to Omaha Central the night before. He had 23 in that one and now has five straight games in the 20s. Bynum also has double-digit rebounds in five of his six games, making it averages of 22.2 points and 10.5 rebounds each time he steps on the floor.

Max Denson – Broken Bow Wrestling

Denson has been perfect so far through the first few weeks of the season and he remained flawless on Saturday in Logan View. The Broken Bow senior improved to 13-0 with two pins and won the 190-pound championship in a 6-1 decision. So far, he’s been dominant with eight wins by pin and three tournament titles. His contributions at Logan View were part of five Broken Bow wrestlers in title matches and a tournament championship.

Robby Garcia – Bellevue West Boys Basketball

Garcia has had to wait his turn for playing minutes in a program full of talent. Now with a bigger role for the T-Birds, Garcia has taken advantage of his opportunities with four totals of 11 points or more in five games. The best of those was Saturday in a win over Totino-Grace when Garcia scored 24 on 10 of 16 shooting and also made it a double-double with 10 rebounds. He’s averaging nearly 15 points per game with more than seven boards.

Mapieu Kouchinin – McCool Junction Boys Basketball

Kouchinin looks like he’s on his way to more than 500 points this season following a hot start with 107 points in six games. In Saturday’s in over Heartland, he had one of his best scoring nights of those six when he dropped 28 and went over 20 for the second time this season. He’s scored in double digits in five of six games and had a 30-point game in a Dec. 7 win over High Plains. Kouchinin is averaging over 27 points per game and 6.3 rebounds.

Owen Kurtenbach – Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family Boys Basketball

HLHF and Kurtenbach needed a response on Saturday following a second straight loss. Kurtenbach also needed to get back on track following just six points in a defeat to Pender. The HLHF junior led the way with a career-high 26 points and 12 rebounds. His point total was his best by five and it was the first double-double of his career.

Quin Oberg – Elm Creek Boys Basketball

Oberg played in 25 games last season in a limited role as he prepared to have a bigger stake in the future. The future is now for the Elm Creek sophomore who is averaging over 18 points per game through the first six games on the schedule. Oberg has gone over 20 points three times including on Saturday when he tied his career high from just two weeks earlier when he scored 25 on 9 of 17 shooting.

Jordan Shirley – Gering Boys Wrestling

It’s not yet Christmas and Shirley already has 15 wins under his belt. The Gering senior claimed four this weekend at the Bridgeport/Sidney Invite and earned his third tournament championship in as many tries while also remaining unbeaten. Shirley won the title in Cozad with two decisions and a major, took the Rapid City gold with two pins, a close 11-10 victory and two other decisions then pinned all his foes on Saturday.

Sam Souerdyke – Thayer Central Boys Basketball

Souerdyke started the season off with a bang and he hasn’t slowed down since. The Thayer Central junior scored 36 and has followed it up with totals of 22, 16 and 26. That lost figure came during Friday’s win over Heartland when Souerdyke had eight rebounds in addition to his 26 points. Through four games, Souerdyke has two double-doubles and is averaging 25 points per game.

Hayven Stewart – Plainview Boys Wrestling

Stewart has provided anything but a haven when opponents step on the mat across from him this season. The Plainview sophomore has yet to lose any of his 13 matches and has eight pins while claiming two tournament titles. Stewart has been taken the distance to six minutes just one time in nine matches. Saturday in Elgin, Stewart pinned his way to a second gold medal in as many tournaments.

Daleron Thomas – Omaha Central Boys Basketball

The Eagles have started 5-1 and Thomas is a big reason why. The Central senior has scored more than 20 points in three of those and has scored double digits in all six. His two best games came on back-to-back nights last week when he scored 28 in a win over Bryan and 27 in a win over Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. He was 18 of 37 shooting in those two games, 5 of 10 from beyond the arc, and totaled both nine rebounds and nine steals.