With the cold and frigid winter temperatures approaching, Mt. Hebron winter sports teams began preparing and practicing for an eventful and action-packed season ahead of them. The teams competing this winter will include boys’ and girls’ basketball, winter cheerleading, indoor track and wrestling.

On the basketball court, both the boys’ and girls’ teams look to make a slam dunk this season with high hopes and expectations. On the boys’ side, returning players will include junior guards Brandon Prox and Ryan Kinloch, senior Yassin Omer and senior forwards Alex Nazaire and Malik Islam. Last season the Vikings were one of the best shooting teams in the county led by Prox and Omer.

This season, Mt. Hebron looks for additional contributions from rising underclassmen including juniors Kobi Crump and Ryan Kinloch. Coach Michael Linsenmeyer returns again as head coach with a lot of experience under his belt.

“Last year’s varsity players have a chip on their shoulders after an agonizing playoff loss to rival Centennial,” Omer said. “This year’s team differs from last years team as we have greatly improved in size while still being able to keep up with our fast-paced guard-heavy offense as our bigs can run the floor.”

The girls’ team will be led by juniors Lola Hankins, Meredith Williams and Eve Chase and sophomore Tori Valentine. Last season the lady Vikings finished the regular season 13-9 and 8-3 in Howard County play. Seniors from last season that Mt. Hebron will miss this year include Sydney Krell and Shane Devine.

The wrestling team is led by the best wrestlers in each weight class. The 106-pound weight class is lead by senior Casey Lopez, the 113-pound weight class is topped by junior Khiem Doan, and the 120-weight class is lead by senior Yahir Liums. The 126-, 132-, and 138-pound weight classes are lead by seniors Adam Scherr and Jamison Hulbert and sophomore Bryce Kampert, respectively. The 145-class is lead by senior Ali Pender, while the 152-class is lead by senior Marcus Suri. The last weight classes, 160, 200, and heavyweight are lead by seniors Zach Wilhelm, Isa Pender and Nick Nordhausen, respectively.

The boys’ indoor track team is lead by senior distance runners Sahil Sardesai, Jacob Ververs, Michael Schlining, Erik Vaughan, junior Sam Iseman and freshman Will Jones. The sprinters are lead by juniors Tyler Lizzo and Deonte’ Ferguson and senior Kingsley Simons. Five out of the top six distance runners have personal best mile times under five minutes, and the lead sprinters were all among the top in the county in their respective events.

As for the girls’ team, the sprinters are lead by senior Ebere Ugorji, juniors Jaiden Ritter and Blaire Ridgely and sophomore Lexi Croft. The distance runners are lead by senior Emmy Beyer, Lexi Banham and Ellie Gustafson, junior Caylee Bergreen, sophomore Jordan Maloney. The girls’ team had a successful end to the season last year, placing fifth in the state, much higher than in past years.

The cheerleading team ended the season last year with a third place finish in the county meet, losing only to Glenelg and Marriotts Ridge. They hope to bounce back this year and win their second County Championship in three years, as they won the 2015-2016 title, edging out Glenelg by .1 point.

This year’s winter sports teams are hoping to make deep runs into their postseasons to bring back the first trophies of the year to Mt. Hebron.