Vote: Who should be SBLive's Nebraska high school athlete of the week? (2/5/2024)

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Jan. 29-Feb. 4. 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 is 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. 

Ben Barlow – O’Neill St. Mary’s Boys Basketball

Barlow has had quite the start to his varsity career. The freshman is averaging over 15 points per game, and he’s scored in double digits in 14 of 15 contests. A road win Jan. 30 at Elgin/Pope John was his best so far. Barlow set a new career-high with 25 points and hit four times from long range. He was also 5 of six from the line and had three assists plus three steals. Barlow is shooting 57% and now has four games with 20 or more points.

Nate Finnegan – Creighton Prep Boys Swimming

On a day the Junior Jays dominated the rest of the competition and won nine of 11 events, Finnegan had two of those on his own and four total. Finnegan got his day started Saturday in Elkhorn at the Fete Fling Swimming Meet with the lead leg of the 200 medley relay that took first and just kept winning. The Prep senior followed it up by winning the 200 free and 500 free then was the anchor leg on the championship 200 free relay. This season, Finnegan has put together 16 first-place finishes, six seconds and four thirds.

Marcus Glock – Wahoo Boys Basketball

A player rarely makes this list after his or her team suffered a loss. But while Glock’s heroics weren’t enough to knock off unbeaten Crete, it was one of the best nights ever for a high school hoops player in Nebraska. Glock, who’s already in the middle of one of the best Wahoo careers ever, solidified himself as a Warrior legend by scoring 54 in Thursday’s 90-81 loss to the Cardinals. He did it while going 24 of 25 at the line and broke his dad’s 52-point record from 1991.

Orrin Kuehn – Minden Boys Wrestling

Minden had to settle for runner-up at Saturday’s state duals, but few wrestlers had a better day than the Whippets’ junior 150-pounder. Kuehn came in fresh off back-to-back tournament titles, including a conference championship, and went 3-0 with two pins and a major decision. One of those pins might have been his best win of the year, and that’s saying a lot for a guy who came into the day 37-2. In the final dual of the day, Kuehn knocked off St. Paul’s Alex Meinecke who was 36-0 when the two met in the 157-pound bout.

Rickey Loftin – Westside Boys Basketball

Loftin is a quality player for the Warriors. The senior guard averages 11 points and five rebounds, but he mostly serves as a secondary scoring option for a roster that has Kevin Stubblefield and CJ Mitchell. That wasn’t the case on Friday when Loftin almost doubled his previous career-best and scored 25 points in a win over Creighton Prep. He went 9 for 13 shooting, 5 for 7 from three-point range and also made it his second double-double with 11 total rebounds.

Caeden Oelin – Millard South Wrestling

There are more than a dozen wrestlers on a loaded Millard South roster who have impressive records and win totals in the 20s and 30s. But the best record of all those guys is Oelin at 215 pounds. He showed that again on Saturday at the state duals when he went 3-0 and helped the Patriots secure another state dual championship. Oelin earned a 17-2 technical fall in the first round, did it again 17-0 in the semifinals then made it a 3-0 day by pinning his final foe in just over a minute. Oelin is now 38-2 on the year and has 24 pins. He’s looking for a second straight state title after winning it at 195 pounds last February.

Kellyn Ollendick – Elkhorn Valley Boys Basketball

Ollendick has been at it awhile now, and although he’s good every time he steps on the floor, his performance in a Jan. 30 road win at North Central was one of his best. The Elkhorn Valley junior scored a career-high 32 points and did it as efficiently as possible. He was 12 of 15 shooting on the night, hit two threes, made six free throws, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out four assists. Ollendick is averaging 18.5 points per game this season and could be within 1,000 career points next season.

Dashle Richards – South Platte Boys Basketball

South Platte faced a busy schedule of six games in 18 days starting on Jan. 16. The Blue Knights' senior shooting guard has been sensational in that span, putting together three games with more than 20 points including 27 and a new season-high in a win Friday over Arthur County. Richards’ last six games have combined for 102 points, 14 three-pointers, 43 rebounds and 26 steals.

Derek Rollins – Millard North Boys Basketball

Rollins is another player who is solid and consistent night in and night out. Still, even 48 games into his varsity career, Rollins has nights where even he accomplishes something new. That new accomplishment was a career-high 32 points during a Jan. 30 win over Millard South. Rollins hit all but two of his 14 shot attempts, was 8 of 12 from the free throw line and made it a double-double on 12 rebounds. It was the second time this season he’s scored 30 or more points and the sixth time he’s had more than 20.

Mynor Strong – Omaha North Boys Basketball

Strong was already a nominee for AOTW back in early December thanks to his ability to fill up the stat sheet every night in every category. And while his consistency has been impressive, he was more than just his consistent self during a Feb. 1 road win at Benson. Strong tied his season and career-high with 26 points and created a lot of easy baskets with a career-high eight steals. Strong was 9 of 17 shooting, sank three threes and was 5 of 6 from the foul line.

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

Brabec has been on one heck of a run the last two weeks, scoring a combined 90 points in four games. Her scoring touch was off a bit in a Jan. 29 win over West Holt, but she’s had 27 or more points in three other wins including that exact total in a Feb. 1 victory over Niobrara/Verdigree. Brabec was 9 of 20 shooting with six three-pointers and is now shooting 39% for the season overall and has made 57 threes. She has eight games with 20 or more points.

Jesani Green – Omaha Benso Girls Basketball

Green looks like she’s on her way to averaging a double-double for the season, especially after days like Thursday when she scored 20 points for the second time this season and the second time in two games. That plus an eye-popping 19 rebounds gave Green her seventh double-double in 15 games. She set a new career-high in boards by pulling down 13 offensive rebounds and increased her season total to 144. Green has five games with 12 or more rebounds.

Serena Heeren – Lincoln Northeast Girls Basketball

Heeren had the best three-game stretch of her career this past week when she combined for 50 points and had a season-high 26 in a win Saturday over Kearney. The Northeast senior was an efficient 12 of 17 shooting and made it a double-double with 12 rebounds. Heeren has found her footing as a regular contributor for the Rockets, averaging almost 11 points and seven rebounds. Heeren started the year with 46 combined points in the second, third and fourth games of the year before she had 12 Tuesday against Southwest, 12 more on Friday against Elkhorn South then the 26 on Saturday.

Adyson Mlnarik – Summerland Girls Basketball

Mlnarik has had big game after big game all season, including Saturday in a win over Niobrara/Verdigree. The Summerland senior made it six games in a row with 20 or more points when she had 39 and shot 50% from the floor. Mlnarik did most of her work at the line where she shot 14 of 18. She also sank three three-pointers and nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds. Mlnarik now has five games with 30 or more points this season.

Sara Iburg – Lincoln Pius X Girls Basketball

Iburg added to her total of 20-point games this season when she put together her fourth in a Jan. 30 home win over Kearny. The Pius senior needed just 11 shots to score a game-high 22 points thanks to earning several trips to the line and hitting on 10 of 12 free throws. Her night also included seven rebounds. Iburg has generated 70 free throws this season and has gone to the line five or more times in half of the Bolts’ 16 games.

Grace Swoboda – Brownell/Concordia/Mercy/Roncalli Girls Swimming

Swoboda has a career’s worth of gold medals just this season and added to that impressive total on Saturday in Elkhorn. The Mercy senior has won 30 events in the last four years and added two more at the Fete Fling Swimming Meet when she took the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke. Swoboda is the state leader in the breaststroke and has the top time in that event this year by more than a second.

Taylor Trinity – Gordon-Rushville Girls Basketball

Trinity has seven games of double-digit scoring this season, three of which have come in the last four games. Her best was Saturday against Morrill when the Gordon-Rushville senior scored a career-high 24 points and left her mark at the free throw line. She struggled through an 8 of 23 shooting night but made 8 of 11 from the stripe. Trinity also made it her fourth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Trinity almost has identical boards on both ends this year – 67 on offense and 76 on defense.

Myleigh Weers – Diller-Odell Girls Basketball

Weers is on the list for the second time this season and the fourth time in her career. The Diller-Odell junior was nominated in Dec. 2022 when she started out the 2023 season with two games that combined for 49 points. She scored 35 last February and was nominated again. Earlier this season, Weers had an even better start to the year – scoring a combined 50 on a total of 19 and 31. She went over 30 again, 32 to be exact, in a Jan. 30 home win over Exeter-Milligan that snapped a four-game Diller-Odell losing skid. It was the third time she’s scored more than 30 points in a game this season and the eighth time in her career.

McKenna Yates – McCool Junction Girls Basketball

Like Myleigh Weers, listed above, Yates is a multiple time candidate for AOTW. This is her fifth time on the list following 74 combined points in three games to start last season, 66 more total points in the three games that followed that start, 66 points during another three-game stretch in mid-January of 2023 and 86 total points in three games that ended the 2023 season and carried into district play. All in all, she scored 590 points last season and shot 45%. She’s on the list for a fifth time after dropping 30 in a Jan. 30 win over East Butler. It was the third time she’s scored 30 or more this season and the fifth time in her career.

Avery Yosten – Norfolk Catholic Girls Basketball

Yosten didn’t have a great shooting day, but a player of her quality always finds a way to have an effect in other ways. And while she was 6 of 13 overall, she still scored 22 points thanks to hitting 9 of 11 from the free throw line. That plus a huge effort in the paint amounted to 14 offensive rebounds. It was her fifth double-double of the season and the second time she’s recorded a double-double that included more than 20 points.

--Nathan Charles I @SBLiveNeb