By NICHOLAS KIMBALL

Staff writer

Boys basketball

Head coach Donald Raymer and assistant coach Chris Mercer will be leading a team this season with seven returning players from last season.

Of the seven , five are seniors, and two are juniors. All started games last season.

The seniors are Cooper Bailey, Brayden Blackman, Jonathan Frese, Jack Lanning, and Cole Smith.

Lanning, Bailey, and Smith led the teams scoring and defensive production last year and are looking to do the same this year.

“We have 22 players out and we are excited about the depth we have added this year to the squad,” Raymer said. “Practice has been going well with our leaders and our freshman working great together.”

The Marion Warriors have been working hard in the off-season and are bigger, stronger, and faster than they’ve been in previous years.

“We’re looking forward to competing in the Heart of America league, and our team goals for the year are to play in a championship game and ultimately win a championship this season,” Raymer said.

The Warriors will open the season Friday at home against Goessel.

That game will be followed by the annual Marion Classic basketball tournament Dec. 4 to 9.

Girls basketball

The Warriors will be led by two seniors this season, Grace Hett and Calleigh Soyez, along with returning head coach Jason Hett.

Even with only two seniors, this is an experienced group that has played a lot of varsity basketball over the past three years and is determined to keep building this program in the right direction.

“The girls have been working hard to start the season learning new things and attacking each day with grit and teamwork,” coach Hett said. “We will not be the tallest team on the court, but we will strive to be the hardest-working team on the court each night.”

Team leader Grace Hett is coming off a great junior season in which she averaged 15 points a game.

Soyez will be asked to take on a role that may change from game to game, but she is ready to help the team where she can, coach Hett said.

Juniors who are expected to be big contributors this season and take on more of a leadership role are Erin Regnier, Kenna Wesner, Taryn Kraus, Addison Cooper, and Scout Redger.

“I believe this team has the potential to really make some noise this season and I am excited to see where we can go as a group,” coach Hett said.

The Warriors will open their season Friday at home against Goessel. The Marion Classic basketball tournament will follow Dec. 4 to 9.

Wrestling (with Centre)

Down on numbers this season, Marion and Centre will field a cooperative team that will bring the number up wrestlers participating.

Returning coach Tyler McMichael will have five wrestlers from Marion (four boys, one girl), and five wrestlers from Centre (four boys, one girl).

“The nice thing about this season is that all of our Marion wrestlers have wrestled before, so that allows me to be able to focus a lot on our new wrestlers at the beginning of the season,” McMichael said.

The top returner this season is junior Brian Nguyen. He is a two-year letter winner and finished with a record of 24-13 last season.

Expectations are for Nguyen to turn into a dominating force on the mat this season and qualify for the state tournament in February.

“I hope to see growth out of all of our wrestlers this season in not just sport but also physically and mentally,” McMichael said.

The wrestling schedule is pretty much the same as last year except for an added dual against Central-Burden in February.

The first match of the season will be Friday at Burlington.

Boys Swimming

Coach Mackenzie Magee is new to the boys swim team and has one returning swimmer from last season, Zach Schlesener.

There are three swimmers total, the other two being freshman Coltyn Richardson and Josh Smith.

“I think there is a lot of room for growth with all of these guys and I am excited to see where they can get to by the end of the season,” Magee said.

Boys swimming will be the first sport to kick off the winter season for Marion.

The first meet starting will be at 1 p.m. Thursday.