By Connor Stange
This season, Southwest fell short of returning to the state tournament, as it did last year for the first time in school history. In the first round of districts, the 2nd seeded Hawks fell to 3rd seed Kearney, 67-58.
This gave Southwest a finishing record of 11-11. In a season of ups and downs, the longest winning streak was four games, as was the longest losing streak.
The seniors on this year’s team were Drew Edmond, Jordan Tyrance, Landon Schmidt, Alex Duff and Rylan Cotton.

By Brianna Beard
The state meet was Feb. 25  through Feb. 27 and Southwest had many swimmers place individually and in their relay teams.
The boys who placed individually were seniors Tyler Mills who got 12th in the 200 yard freestyle and 12th in the 500 yard freestyle and Justin Jones who placed 23rd in the 100 yard butterfly, sophomore Andrew Murphy who got 21st in the 200 yard Individual Medley and 22nd in the 100 yard butterfly; junior Matthew Delisi who placed 9th in the 100 yard butterfly and 11th in …

By Connor Stange
With districts starting tomorrow for the boys basketball team, the Silver Hawks hope to cruise into the state tournament for the second straight season.
“Our season started off slow but we have gotten better as the season has gone on,” said senior Landon Schmidt.
“We’re really starting to put it together at the right time, as districts come up.”
The Hawks finished regular season 11-10 with a win over North Platte.  The first round of districts start tomorrow.
Since the season is approaching the end, the Hawk Talk spent some time talking …

By Kelsey Arends
Practices to prepare for this Special Olympics basketball and track seasons begin soon.  Southwest has traditionally been very successful in both sports.
“Training’s really hard. Coaches keep telling you to do this and do that…you just [have] to do it.  It works – you get stronger,” said senior athlete Justin Liekhus.
Liekhus has been participating in Special Olympics since his sophomore year.  He plays basketball and does long jump, the 200-meter dash, and the 4×1 relay.
District basketball started this month and the state competition is the third weekend in March.  …

By Connor Stange
District basketball is rapidly approaching and the boys team is looking to solidify their spot. The Hawks have moved to 9-10 following two wins and two losses since the victory against Sioux City North. Their first loss of that stretch was against Norfolk, 72-59.
The next two games came out to be wins for Southwest, first against Grand Island, 50-33; then against Northeast, 63-51. Unfortunately, though, the streak ended with a loss at Bellevue West, 59-54.
Southwest’s record has moved to 9-10 with two games left. First, they host Kearney, …

By Kaitlin Karins
After leaving districts, Southwest wrestlers had 10 state qualifiers and had their very own 189-pound title under the belts. Senior Beau Muehling earned his district title before finishing with a sixth place medal at state.
Also moving on to state with Muehling were Evan Augustyn, Connor Carstens, Joshua Weils, Vinny Delaney, Tony Delaney, Jay Holechek, Trew Bushhousen, Robert Krapfl and Dominque Pearson.
State began on Feb. 16 at the Qwest Center in Omaha. Carstens made it to the quarterfinals before losing a heartbreaker in overtime in the 112-pound division.
Overall the …

By Connor Stange
Four straight victories has given Southwest a 7-8 record heading into the final six games before districts. The Hawks managed to upset Fremont at home, 50-43 before consecutive nailbiters against East and Papillion LaVista. The most recent win was over Sioux City North from Iowa, 49-33.
The next game for Southwest is against one of the top teams, Norfolk, on Friday. The Panthers have a record of 11-1 and look like a solid contender for this year’s title.
The rest of the schedule includes match-ups with Grand Island and Northeast. …

By Colton Messman
As the Hawks dig deeper into their 11-week season, some of their goals change.
“We want a top 10 finish in state, and a 53 percent winning record. We want to be above just even,” said senior varsity wrestler Jay Holechek.
“We have several team goals for the year, most notably to have a team GPA of at least 3.0, to qualify at least seven wrestlers for state, and to finish in the top half of all meets,” said head coach Aaron Finley.
Finley has been Southwest’s wrestling coach since its …

By Atley Gustafson
With only three senior boys on the team, the pressure to step up and perform well is mounting. Tyler Mills is one of them.
Mills has been swimming all year round since freshman year. He started swimming when he was 6 years old.
Mills said his goals for the season are “to get top 6 at state in the 200, 500 or 100.”
“I’ve been dropping time from the first meet to the last meet. I have two records now, one beating my brother,” he said.
“Rock this” by Ben Folds is …

By Colton Messman
As the Hawks wrestling season begins, the stand-out players start to shine.
Last year the Hawks took seven players to state; seniors Rudy Fiedler, Jordan Brooks, Samuel Schmidt, Ben Samani and Jonathan Castro, junior Beau Muehling and freshman Connor Carstens.
Muehling, a returning wrestling letter-winner, looks to take it to state again, trying to beat his 1-2 finish in state last year. He is in the 189-weight class, and gained weight over the summer because he was underweight last year. Muehling’s goals for the season are to get on the …