Wegner looks back on freshman campaign

HCHS’s multi-sport athlete Aubree Wegner just wrapped up her freshman year with the biggest smile on her face, starting off slow with volleyball and basketball, but finishing strong with track and field and softball.
“I think freshman year is a lot of learning the ropes and kind of learning from the upperclassmen to see how they do things in all the different sports,” Wegner said. “I think it was just fun to put myself out there and show what I can do, and meet my team and learn about them. That was probably one of the more fun parts about it.”
In the fall, Wegner started off with volleyball where she was a middle hitter coached by Jacie Stuerman.
“Ms. Stuerman, she did a great job of teaching us and coaching us through that,” Wegner added. “I feel like with the freshman squad, it was just trying to find ourselves and where we wanted to play and having a lot of fun.”
During the winter season, Wegner was on the junior varsity squad for basketball. With Erica Rust, Ava Monson, Hannah Sonderman, and Kara Kenkel graduated from the prior year’s state tournament varsity team, four spots have opened up for the new season. Wegner is up for the challenge of trying to secure a spot on the varsity roster, but understands it will be a tough task.
“Basketball is a much quicker sport and a lot more to learn,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what we can put out there this year.”
When spring rolled around, Wegner made some noise during track and field season where she was tied for first in the high jump with Kenzley Bruck with a jump of 4-08.00.
Wegner was also the second fastest in the 100 and 400m dash with times of 13.41 and 1:06.63, right on the tails of Dani Smith with a time of 13.38 and Paige Sonderman with 1:06.12. Wegner was the fifth fastest in the 200m dash with 28.66, just over a second behind Aubrey Schwieso, who had the fastest time in that event with 27.62.
Wegner had the opportunity to participate at the state championships in Des Moines at Drake Stadium in a relay race that featured her, Kami Stork, Samantha Ineson, and Lindsey Sonderman.
“Track was definitely one of the better sports with people because I feel like in track you become a family,” Wegner said. “Once I got to that day, I figured I’d be nervous, but I was very calm in that moment, and just happy to be there, happy to be in it with that team because they’re a bunch of good people.”
Despite getting the opportunity to represent HCHS at Drake Stadium, it wasn’t always an easy road on the track for Wegner, dealing with adversity along the way.
“I was struggling with track and running, and was trying to find my groove there for a while,” she said. “I was trying to find myself in track and become the runner I wanted to be and to never give up. Giving up is never an option for me, and some of the hard workout days it was hard to not give up. Once I got through that, I realized that those workouts were received better and my friends helped me to realize that too.”
In the summer, Wegner was part of a softball team that finished 3-29. However, Wegner got the opportunity to take over the role of the everyday left fielder where she batted .236, drove in six runs, had 17 hits, along with scoring 11 runs, and stealing seven bases.
“It honestly was about keeping my composure and not worrying, and just to play the game of softball,” Wegner added. “It was such a fun season, and hats off to the seniors. They were very good at helping us along the way, and I enjoyed left field a lot.”
Wegner enjoys Harlan Community where she has made so many friends and enjoys competing with them throughout the year.
“Batting with them, we really just learned how to push each other and make each other better,” she said.
With Wegner’s sophomore season right around the corner, she is hoping to once again compete strong, but knows there will be challenges along the way.
“For next year, I really just want to try to push myself to learn some of the things I learned last year and put those all together, and kind of try to just find my groove,” she added. “Put myself out there again and really have fun while I’m playing and not sweat the little things, because you once start sweating the little things, it all just kind of tumbles down.”