Diedrich is all-state

Senior was the Bluejays floor leader

By Casey Krautkramer

Athens senior guard Cooper Diedrich scored over 1,000 career points this season in leading the Bluejays to back-to-back Marawood North Conference championships and to the WIAA Division 5 sectional final for the first time in school history.

For his efforts, Diedrich was awarded Marawood North Conference Player of the Year. Diedrich also received honorable mention allstate in Division 5 this season.

Athens head coach Jeramie Penney, meanwhile, is the conference’s Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 season after leading the Bluejays to a 22-7 record.

Diedrich and his Athens teammate, junior center Aiden Janke, both are unanimous first team all-Marawood North Conference players this season. Diedrich led the Bluejays with an average of 18.9 points, five assists and 2.7 steals per game. He paced Athens with 528 points, 135 assists and 72 steals. Diedrich converted 189 of his 417 field goals for 45 percent shooting from the floor. He made 94 of his 153 free throws for 61 percent shooting form the charity stripe. Diedrich was second on the team in rebounding with an average of 7.1 rebounds per game for a total of 192.

Diedrich obtained 1,000 career points in Athens’ road game against Wausau Newman on Dec. 2, 2021. He concludes his Athens boys basketball playing career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,467 points. Cameron Ford is Athens’ only other boys basketball player to achieve 1,000 career points.Janke was also a pivotal part of the Athens boys basketball team having so much success this season. He led Athens in both rebounding and blocks. Janke averaged 10.1 rebounds per game for a total of 274 rebounds. He averaged 2.3 blocks per game for a total of 62 blocks. Janke was second on the Bluejays in scoring with an average of 14.3 points per game for a total of 401 points. Diedrich and Janke tied each other for scoring the most points, 30, in a game for Athens this season.

Chequamegon senior Joseph Newbury and junior Isaiah Deitz were also unanimous first team all-Marawood North Conference players this season, along with Prentice senior Alex Schantner.

Athens senior forward Kody Lepak was awarded second team all-Marawood North Conference this season. Lepak was second in assists for Athens with an average of 2.5 assists per game for 65 total assists. He was third on the Bluejays in both scoring and rebounding. Lepak averaged 11.2 points per game for a total of 302 points and he averaged 6.4 rebounds per game for a total of 167 rebounds.

Other players who made second team all-Marawood North are Rib Lake senior Logan Blomberg, Prentice juniors Layne Blomberg and Ashton Makovsky and Phillips junior Nate Belan.

Players garnering honorable mention all-Marawood North Conference this season are Abbotsford juniors Adam and Brandon Diedrich, Athens senior Evan Guralski and junior Connor Sheahan, Chequamegon senior Andrew Schienebeck and sophomore AJ Morgan, Phillips senior Dawson Hauschild, Prentice senior Adam Greenberg and junior Reese Isaacson and Rib Lake senior Jordan Yanko and junior Michael Borchardt.

Players awarded to the Marawood North Conderence all-defensive team are Chequamegon senior Collin Luhtala, Abbotsford junior Esteban Gomez, Prentice junior Ty Heikkinen, Phillips junior Nate Belan, Athens senior Kody Lepak and Rib Lake junior Tanner Vlach.