Hockey

The Kadet Hockey team rests in the hands of senior hockey players this upcoming year. Last season, the boys hockey team qualified for the playoffs and made it to the second round. This year, the team has many freshman hockey players. Tyler Duckworth says, “We’re excited about how many freshmen have taken an interest in hockey.” With the young hockey players joining the team, the program will look to captains to whip the freshman into shape. With the promise of young talent, the future looks bright for the Air Academy High School hockey team.

Wrestling

The boys wrestling team hopes for improvement from last season. With a successful season last year (six state qualifiers), raising the bar from last season will prove to be quite a difficult task. This season, some wrestlers who were on the edge of making the state tournament will have another opportunity to make it. Varsity wrestler Tyler Hanenberg says, “We have practice in the morning from 6:00 to 7:00 and then after school from 3:15 to 5:15.  We have practice twice a day Monday through Friday.  It started at the beginning of November and ends in February.”   Practices have intensified early to build better wrestlers than ever before. As four state qualifying athletes return for another year, leadership will carry the team to a better season.

Girls’ Swimming

The girls’ swim team practices  in preparation for the season ahead. After multiple swimmers qualified for state last season, the expectations are high for this season. There is a wide variety in age among returning state qualifiers, so this season looks promising. Also, this season has seen an increase in upperclassmen swimmers wanting to become involved in swimming. Kate Thatcher has been preparing even before the season started. According to Kate, “Swimming is a great stress reliever.” The upcoming season seems promising.

Girls’ Basketball

The girls’ basketball team builds excitement as they head into this year’s season. With incredible success last year with a young team, their goals are set high as they begin practice. The girls’ basketball team made the playoffs last year, but they hope to improve because they lost in the first round. The team will be looking toward captains Kassady Huffman and Hayley Rhein for leadership. Kassady Huffman has been practicing off-season in club basketball with a few other girls. “Practice has definitely become harder.  Coach expects more from us since we’re older now.”  Girls’ basketball practices five days a week.  Looking forward to the season, State seems to be in the cross hairs of the determined AAHS girls’ basketball team.

Boys’ Basketball

As practices begin heating up, the boys’ basketball program cranks into full gear to prepare for the upcoming season. The year started off with plenty of male athletes trying out for the team. Since the team has an ample amount of athletes, the competition for the various levels of teams was extremely tough. Morning practice has already started. Some people are waking up as early as 5:00 to get ready and go to practice. After-school practices have also started. This includes conditioning workouts, strength and lifting workouts, and shooting practice. Our Kadets aim high for the season to improve on last year’s season, which ended in the playoffs. Kadet boys’ basketball looks promising for all the athletes competing.