On Monday, Nov. 14, the boy’s basketball team began their 2016 season.

In 2015, the boy’s ended their season during the second round of districts against Glenwood. Their final record was 18-5.

During the off-season the team attended several summer camps, and frequently had open gyms.

Senior Garrett Franken said, “During the camps, we played the best 3A and 4A schools we could possibly play. We all have built good team chemistry from playing with each other so much.”

This year, the team has 12 freshmen, 10 sophomores, 8 juniors, and 3 seniors.

The boy’s practice everyday, along with scrimmaging different teams to prepare them for the season.

Franken said, “My goal for this season is to be the best player I can be, and be a great leader. For the team, I want us to win the conference, and make it to State.”

Head coach Alan Jenkins said, “I think the team has an opportunity to continue to build on our success of the past two seasons, we have more depth than we have had in the past and our culture is firmly in place.”

The team is returning three out of their five starters this year. All of this year’s starters have had a good amount of varsity experience.

Jenkins said, “The leaders for this year’s team would be (seniors) Garrett Franken and Jake Olsen, and (junior) Grant Podhajsky. All three will be vocal leaders for our group, but a wide number of others will lead by example. I think all of our guards have really improved, we have made a huge jump in our skill development.”

“I expect us to be one of the tops teams in the Hawkeye 10, and a top 10 team in class 3A. Those are high standards, but definitely attainable. We are looking to make a deep run in the post-season and compete for a conference championship,” said Jenkins.

Franken said, “I’m very excited looking into my last high school basketball season, and I’m ready to make history.”

The boys’ first game is Tuesday, Nov. 29, at Winterset high school.