‘Jays are road warriors

Athens have won all five away games

By Casey Krautkramer

The Athens varsity boys basketball team enjoyed the most historic season in school history last year. Now the challenge for the Bluejays is to keep their success going this season and into the future.

Athens had a magical 2021-22 season in which the team won back-to-back Marawood North Conference championships and played in the WIAA Division 5 sectional title game for the first time in school history. The Bluejays came up a little short against the Hurley Northstars in their quest to earn the school’s first ever boys basketball state tournament berth, but last year’s squad that finished with a 22-7 record provided the returning varsity players and Athens youth with a recipe for continued success in the future.

Star point guard Cooper Diedrich graduated last spring and is now a freshman college men’s basketball player for Division 3 UW-Stout, where both his older sisters, Kyncaide and

See ATHENS BOY HOOPS/ page 14

STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER Kenadi Diedrich, also played college basketball. His brother-in-law, Medford native John Keefe, also played men’s basketball at UW-Stout. Keefe Mike Wolf and former Athens boys basketball starting player Derek Czech are Bluejays varsity assistant coaches this season for head coach Jeramie Penney, who is in the midst of his second year as the varsity team’s sole head coach after spending six years coaching in the program.

Cooper and his sisters all eclipsed 1,000 career points in high school, therefore it’s a tall task for Athens to replicate his offensive production this season.

Athens also lost its third leading scorer, forward Kody Lepak, to graduation in spring. Lepak was a heady player who maybe didn’t grab the big newspaper headlines like Cooper did last season, but he was a consistent player in the team’s starting lineup who did the “little things” to help the Bluejays win games. Starting player Evan Guralski also graduated in spring and he was a similar-type player like Lepak who knew his role on the team and contributed whatever was needed for the team to be successful.

Senior center Aiden Janke was the team’s second-leading scorer last season by averaging 14.2 points per game and he led Athens in rebounding with an average of 10.2 boards per game. Janke has stepped up his game this season to become the Bluejays’ leading scorer with an average of 18.8 points per game and he is also leading the team in rebounding again this season with an average of 13.8 board per game.

“Aiden can really do everything,” Coach Penney said. “You might even see him play guard at some point this season.”

Coach Penney drew up the perfect play for Janke to score the game-winning shot off the backboard against Colby earlier this season. Senior Connor Sheahan inbounded the basketball to senior Nathan Wolf, who passed the ball to Janke for the game-winning shot as time expired in Colby.

“We ran that same inbounds play earlier in the game, and Colby didn’t let us get the ball inside, so we were very fortunate to get it inside to Janke for the game winner,” coach Penney said.

Sheahan, now in his second season as a starting guard, is currently second on the team in scoring this year with an average of 16.8 points per game. Sheahan is also second on the Bluejays in rebounding with an average of six boards per game.

Junior Andy Schaer and seniors Nathan Wolf and Connor Komarek are new starting players for Athens this season. Junior guard Ryan Peel is another top returning player this year.

“They are all working hard to get better every day,” coach Penney said. “They just need to to find some consistency.”

Sheahan takes over for Cooper Diedrich as the team’s new staring point guard bringing the basketball down the court this season. Coach Penney will need Sheahan and others to step up their play this season to fill the void lost by Cooper Diedrich’s graduation from high school.

“He will have to handle the ball most of the time, but we will also lean on other players too,” coach Penney said. “We have guys that can score but they just need to do it night in and night out.”

So far this season, Schaer has improved his game to become the team’s third leading scorer with an everage of 7.8 points per game. Sheahan and Wolf are currently tied for the team lead with 3.3 assists each.

The team captains this season are senior starting players Janke, Sheahan, Wolf and Komarek.

Battle tested on the road

Athens won its fourth straight game on Tuesday night, 69-41, against Phillips at home. The team’s only loss this season was to Wausau Newman at home, which is not a bad defeat because the Cardinals only have one loss this season. A good Auburndale squad was recently able to beat Wausau Newman at home, but the Cardinals were without star senior Mason Prey.

The Bluejays picked up solid road victories against Loyal and Prentice to start this season. Athens has basically lived on the road thus far this season until Tuesday night. Five of the team’s first seven games were on the road and Athens won all five of them.

Most recent wins

Athens beat Rib Lake, 67-53, on Friday in Rib Lake. Sheahan led the Bluejays with 20 points and Janke paced the team with 16 rebounds. Sheahan and Schaer paced the Bluejays with three assists each.

Schaer led Athens with 23 points and Janke paced the squad with 15 rebounds in the team’s win against Phillips on Tuesday. Wolf led the Bluejays with four assists while Sheahan and Komarek paced the squad with two steals apiece.