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basketballcourt_120The season as begun for Winter Sports.  Coach Adam Heck sat down with the Lansing Star to lay out the run down for this year's teams.

Varsity Boys Basketball

The Boys Basketball season started last week, with Heck coaching the varsity team.  The team lost two seniors from last year, so there are a lot of experienced, returning players.  Last year the team was around 500, finishing the season 9 and 11.  Heck says the second half of the year was best as younger players found their legs.

"We have a lot of good size," Heck says.  "We have Ben Rourke, who is 6-4, 6-5.  We have Thomas Towner, about the same height.  And we have Ellington Hopkins as one of our guards coming back.We have Sam Curry, Greg Lehr, Nate Macintosh.  We've got kids who played on the baseball team that have been so successful -- hopefully that carries over to this sport as well.  Troy Osterman is another one.  So we're excited -- we have a chance to have a good year."

Varsity Girls Basketball

"Stu Dean is one of the great coaches around," Heck says.  "He's been doing Girls basketball for a while.  He'll have them ready as he always does."

The team is shorter in size this year.  Dean lost some seniors this year, but his guards are back.  Heck says Dean has been consistant for years, and that consistant goals and philosophy pay off in a successful team.

"The interior game is the part that will be young," Heck says.  "They'll get out and play the full court.  I'm excited to see them go."

Varsity Bowling.

Lee Christopher is the new bowling coach, after several successful years under coach Doug Volbrecht.  Heck says Volbrecht is still working on the bowling program behind the scenes.

"We're very lucky to get Lee this year," Heck says.  "They have good numbers.  They should have a good year.  They finished second in the Section last year, which was wonderful."

Varsity Boys Swimming

"We're excited to have Reed Dewey back again," Heck says.  "The kids have the opportunity to swim with Reed in the swim club during the off season.  So they know him and we're getting a lot of boy swimmers back who are year-round swimmers.  I think the young swimmers are going to make it a special team.  The returning kids are very excited about this year's team."

Ronan Corgel went to States last year and is back this year.  Heck says the older kids will push the younger ones to excel.

Varsity Indoor track

Matt Scheffler is coaching indoor track again this year.  Heck says the team will continue to be successful with strong boy and girl athletes.  The team has lost some strong seniors from last year like Shana Swanson and Outdoor Track State Champion Cameron Bruce.

"Ben Eisenhut is going to turn some heads in the track world, for sure," Heck says.

Varsity Wrestling

Long-time coach Doug Dake has stepped down after taking a number of champions to state including last year's State Champion Connor Lapresi, who is returning as a senior this year.  Chris Harrington will fill Dake's shoes.  Harrington comes from the Finger Lakes Wrestling club and brings a great deal of experience to the varsity team.

"The pressure is on for Lapresi this year," Heck says.  "He kind of went through the cracks.  Everyone was watching Will Koll, Ryan Todd, and Corey Dake, and here comes Lapresi with the State title.  Will Koll has a great opportunity.  He was a state champ two years ago, and finished third last year.  If Lapresi continues to work hard he's going to be right there at the top again."

Heck says the fall season was very rewarding for all the teams, varsity, JV and modified.

"This winter we expect that again.  I look forward to seeing the teams in the pool, on the mats, in the gym, on the track, and in the lanes."

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