Vote: Who should be SBLive’s Nebraska High School Athlete of the Week (9/9/2024)?

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Sept. 2-8

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s Nebraska high school athlete of the week for Sept. 2-8. 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 nate@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.

Greeley Cargill – Kearney Softball Junior

Cargill has been a pain for the opposing pitchers and defenders. The Kearney junior is hitting over .700 through the first six games and has had at least one hit in eight of the nine games the Bearcats have played so far. Overall, she has 10 hits in nine games and has scored five runs. Cargill was held off base in Kearney’s first game of last week but then went on to have four hits, two doubles and three runs in the next three games.

Addisyn Dalbey – Bayard Softball Freshman

Dalbey has had one role so far in her first season of varsity competition, and she’s taking advantage of every opportunity. The Bayard freshman is the Tigers’ base-running specialist. She’s excelled on the base paths to the tune of 24 stolen bases in 24 attempts. Dalbey has also turned more than half of those (14) into runs. She’s one of only two players in Nebraska with more than 20 thefts through the first few weeks of the season.

Addison Darnell – Auburn Softball Junior

Darnell has been providing a power surge to Auburn softball through the first 14 games of 2024. The junior had six career home runs coming into her third varsity season and has already matched that mark before mid-September. Darnell blasted three of those last week including two bombs, three RBIs and three hits during a win over Raymond Central on Saturday.

Amalia Doty – Gross Catholic Cross Country Junior

Doty looks like she has the potential to figure into the postseason medal at Kearney Country Club in a few weeks. As a sophomore, she had one top-10 finish in seven races. She started her junior year by running a personal best at the Class of the Metro meet on Aug. 31 then continued that momentum into her first career victory Sept. 3 in Plattsmouth. After running a top time of 23:44 last season, Doty has now broken 21 minutes in both of her races in 2024.

Ashlynn Hellriegel – Elm Creek Volleyball Freshman

Hellriegel is the Nebraska leader in aces. The varsity newcomer has been deadly from the serving line, stacking up 27 aces in seven matches thus far. She has had at least two aces in all but one of those seven matches and has five or more in four of the seven. Last week in a five-setter against Bertrand, Hellriegel had seven on 28 attempts. Despite her aggressive nature, Hellriegel has only committed eight serving errors – a net positive of 19 for the Buffaloes.

Kennedy Johnson – Lincoln East Volleyball Senior

Johnson has already topped 200 assists just a few weeks into the season thanks to six matches of 20 or more. She started the year with 47 assists in a win over Grand Island and hasn’t slowed down since. That’s one of four matches in which she set up more than 30 assists, including a sweep of Southeast last week. Johnson had 32 assists in that win to go with six digs.

Sophia Reynolds – Hastings Cross Country Sophomore

Reynolds ran nine races as a freshman, finished inside the top 10 in seven of those and took the championship at the Adams Central Invite. While she was putting together an excellent first season, she continued to pick up momentum to the point where she broke 20 minutes in her final two races. Reynolds did that and then some on Sept. 6 when she won the Boone Central Invite by running a personal best of 19:30.9 and taking the gold as the only girl under 20 minutes.

Evelyn Timmons – Fairbury Volleyball Sophomore

Timmons has picked up where she left off a strong 2023 freshman season. The Fairbury outside hitter ended her rookie season with back-to-back matches of more than 20 kills. Last week in a three-set sweep of Auburn, Timmons notched another performance with more than 20 when she sent 24 shots to the floor and hit .588. Timmons has 87 kills and is hitting .424 through the first six matches.

JLee Van Driel – Twin River Softball Sophomore

It wasn’t a fluke, or beginner’s luck or whatever other explanation might cover it. Van Driel has simply been a gamer ever since she first stepped on the field last fall for the Titans. Her freshman campaign included a .642 average, 61 hits, 45 RBIs, 24 extra-base hits and 68 runs scored. She’s putting up eye-popping numbers again, the most eye-popping of which might be her run total. At 33, Van Driel is already nearly halfway to last year’s total and is tied for the national lead.

Reagan Wallraff – Elkhorn North Volleyball Sophomore

Wallraff is the state leader in kills through the first few weeks of the season. She has had double-digit totals through each of the first nine matches except for one. This past week, Wallraff piled up 30 kills in two matches with a high of 21 in a win over Gretna. Although she’s averaging more than 35 attempts per match, Wallraff has been a very efficient .382 overall and has hit .286 or better in all nine matches.

Joseph Andreasen – Pius X Football Senior

Andreasen had 53 total carries in his Thunderbolt career before this fall. Now one of the main weapons of the Pius offense, Andreasen is seizing his opportunity by rushing for more than 100 yards in each of the first two games. This past Friday in a win over Blair, Andreasen earned all but four of the team’s 31 carries and turned his 27 chances into 165 yards and a touchdown.

Conor Booth – Bishop Neumann Football Senior

His is a name Nebraska high school football fans are familiar with. The Neumann senior dazzled again on Friday, rushing for 259 yards on 16 carries while scoring four touchdowns in a win over Yutan. Booth ran for over 2,100 yards and 31 scores a year ago. Passing the 200-yard mark again means he’s rushed for more than 200 yards in 11 of his 29 varsity games.

Tristan Campbell – Scottsbluff Football Junior

Campbell has big shoes to fill in the Bison backfield. He showed flashes of that as a sophomore when he averaged 5.8 yards on 65 carries and found the end zone three times. Now as the feature back in the offense, Campbell has 446 yards in two games and five touchdowns. This past Friday in a win over Aurora, Campbell shook loose for 254 yards, three trips to the end zone and an average of 8.5 yards per carry.

Brier Cerny – North Bend Cross Country Senior

Cerny had his first taste of the state meet last season when he was 28th overall and ran 17:58 in Kearney. Although he had posted four better times than how he finished at state, it was the fifth time he had broken 18 minutes and looked set for more next fall. Well, next fall has arrived and Cerny has fired out of the gates with his second career win. Following a win at Schuyler last year, he made it back-to-back Schuyler golds by running a PR of 16:1 and besting second place by 40 seconds.

Jayden Fuehrer – McCool Junction Cross Country Senior

Fuehrer and the Superior Country Club simply go together. The McCool Junction senior has two career wins and both have come at the Superior Elks Invite. He claimed his most recent Superior crown on Sept. 3 when he came across the finish line nearly a minute ahead of second place. Fuehrer broke 18 minutes for the second time in his career, running a 17:56.5 and posting one of the fastest times this season of any boy in the state.

Joshua Janssen – Holdrege Football Senior

Janssen totaled 20 receptions in nine games last season. Through the first two games of 2024, it appears he’ll be much more of the focus of the offense. Janssen has grabbed five passes in each of the past two games, put together more than 100 yards receiving and scored three times. This past week in a win over Alliance, Janssen’s five catches were worth 159 yards and two touchdowns.

Tommy Rice – Skutt Catholic Cross Country Senior

Rice spent 2023 finishing third or better in all seven of his races. At the John Votta Invite in Norris, Rice earned one of his two runners-up, coming in 21 seconds behind the champion. He returned to Firth on Aug. 31 and ran a personal best of 15:40 and took the gold – completing a time that would have been good enough to win last year as well. Rice then rolled that momentum into the Sept. 7 Burke Invite where he earned his first-ever back-to-back by crossing the tape 11 seconds ahead of the silver medalist.

Austin Scheuler – Bergan Catholic Football Junior

Schueler’s first year under center finished with over 1,300 passing yards, a 65% completion rate and 10 touchdowns. In just two games so far in the 2024 season, Schueler is already nearly halfway there thanks to back-to-back efforts of over 200 yards and four touchdowns. His most recent stat line read 16 for 21, 289 yards and a 76% completion rate. Schueler set a career-high in game one for passing yardage then did it again in Week 2.

Braylen Warren – Omaha Westside Football Sophomore

Warren is the latest sophomore to take over the reins of Westside football. That could be a tremendous load to shoulder for most, but Warren is excelling in the spotlight. After coming up six yards short of 200 passing yards in his debut, he passed for 351 and four touchdowns in a win over Columbus. Warren averaged over 20 yards on his completions and completed 65% of his throws while leading the Warriors to a 2-0 start.

Barrett Wilke – Stanton Football Senior

Wilke was the picture of efficiency in the Mustangs’ dominant win over Wausau/Osmond. Following a season debut in which Wilke rushed for 196 yards and scored four touchdowns, Wilke nearly matched those numbers exactly when he ran for 194 and three scores. However, this time, he needed just 11 carries for an average of 17.6 yards per carry. Through two games, Wilke has totaled 390 yards on the ground and is averaging 12.6 per attempt.