2023-24 Preps Year in Review: 10 notable senior female athletes

The seniors in our coverage area were fun to watch this year, and it’ll be hard to see them go. Before they do, however, let’s give them one last wave of recognition. These athletes, all extremely talented and deserving of all the fanfare, didn’t always get the individual praise, but preps coordinator Zach Piatt revisits each of their final rides:

Molly Buckles | LeRoy

A three-sport standout for the Panthers, Buckles especially shined on the basketball court and softball diamond. In the winter, she averaged 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game, ending her high school career fourth on LeRoy’s scoring and rebounding leaderboards. In the spring, she batted .374 with six home runs, 39 RBI and 40 runs scored. Buckles won three regional championships this year and was an All-State basketball player.

Samantha Christman | Urbana

Christman started her senior year leading a young, inexperienced Tiger volleyball team to a regional semifinal appearance, finishing the season first or second on the team in every major statistical category. She then starred in two spring sports for Urbana, scoring a team-high 28 goals on the soccer pitch to earn an All-Big 12 Conference honorable mention and running the leadoff leg of the second-ever state-placing 1,600-meter relay in school history.

Brianna Denault | Watseka

Denault’s 429 digs during her senior volleyball season moved her into third on the Warriors’ all-time leaderboard, with coach Krista Pufahl calling her a “workhorse” with a “fierce libero mentality.” During basketball season, Denault’s teammates voted her Defensive Player of the Year after leading the team in steals, deflections and defensive charges taken. She saved her best for last, batting .566 for the softball team to bring her career average to a school-record .510.

Jacey Kessler | Arcola

Kessler’s numbers don’t jump off the page in any of the four sports she played, but she consistently provided solid performances for the Purple Riders’ volleyball, basketball, softball and track and field teams. She averaged 12 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists per game as the basketball team’s second option, batted .319 as the softball team’s catcher and finished her track and field career as Arcola’s second-all-time leader in the triple jump and 400-meter relay.

Addy Martinie | St. Joseph-Ogden

Martinie turned into one of the area’s best two-sport athletes in the back half of the school year. After the Spartans’ leading basketball scorer, Addi Seggebruch, tore her ACL in the middle of the season, Martinie stepped up, taking SJ-O to a Class 2A regional title with her team-high 13.8 points per game and 85 three-pointers. She then had an All-State softball season as one of the best players in the area, batting .515 with seven home runs and 58 RBI for another regional champion team.

Ella McFarland | Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin

Based on numbers alone, McFarland had the best volleyball season of any player in the area with 362 kills, 295 assists, 197 digs, 59 blocks and 40 aces. She broke the BHRA single-season kills record to move into third on the school’s all-time list and is now fourth on the career leaderboard for assists and aces. After leading the Blue Devils to a regional volleyball title, she broke the school triple jump record in the spring, qualifying for state in the event as well as the high jump.

Hunter Mowrey | Milford

Mowrey was quietly one of the better three-sport athletes around. She started her senior year with a well-rounded volleyball season, tallying 203 kills, 231 digs and 79 aces. She was a double-double machine for the basketball team, averaging 12.3 points and 13.4 rebounds per game as the program’s only career 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player. She ended the year batting .404 with 35 RBI for a Milford/Cissna Park regional champion softball team.

Ruari Quarnstrom | St. Thomas More

Quarnstrom put the Sabers’ basketball team on her back and led it to 13 wins in an up-and-down season with a tough Illini Prairie Conference schedule. She averaged 17 points per game on the season and upped it to 19 during conference play to earn All-Illini Prairie Conference Second-Team and News-Gazette All-Area First-Team honors. Quarnstrom was also a tactical defender on STM’s young, inexperienced girls’ soccer team, helping it improve throughout the spring.

Raegen Stringer | Unity

Stringer was one of the feistiest basketball guards around, almost never leaving the floor for the 19-win Class 2A regional finalist Rockets. She averaged a well-rounded line of 15.3 points, 3.9 assists, 3.6 steals and 3.3 rebounds per game as an All-State Third-Team and back-to-back News-Gazette All-Area First-Team selection. Before her final basketball campaign, she helped the Unity cross-country team to a third consecutive Class 1A state championship.

Brooklynn Sweikar | Centennial

There weren’t many area distance runners better than Sweikar this year. At least, Charger cross-country and track and field coach Laura Koterba-Buss said, “No one is better at racing.” If she’s not right, she’s not too far off. Sweikar ran a personal-best three-mile time of 18 minutes, 21.5 seconds in the Class 2A state cross-country finals to place 44th individually and then qualified for the state track meet in the 800-meter run and 1,600-meter relay.