High school scouts evaluate players skills and decide if they would be a good addition to a college team. Scouting is important for colleges as they help build promising teams by focusing more on potential, rather than their skill level now. A select bunch of students at LHS have been scouted this year and are planning to go to college to play a sport!
Lesli Guarra-Avalos, a senior, has been wrestling for three years, starting in her sophomore year. She started wrestling as a way to get her feelings out and was noticed at hard tournaments by scouts. Guarra-Avalos will attend either SCC or Doane and plans on majoring in business. In her free time, she enjoys skateboarding. Her advice to younger athletes looking to play a sport in college is “school is just as important as your sport.”
Photo Courtesy of Coltan Swarts
Coltan Swarts, a senior, has been swimming and diving since she was six years old. Swarts started swimming because her parents encouraged her to swim when she was young. She stuck with it after she made lots of friends and thought the practices were very exciting. Swarts will go to Juniata College and plans on majoring in chemistry. She’s most excited for “the amazing team environment” as she spoke about how she spent the night with the team during fall and they were very positive and kind.
Right now, Swarts enjoys reading and is involved in the IB program. She was recruited by coaches reaching out to her through email. All of her times were automatically uploaded on the website Swim Cloud. Many college coaches use this to recruit. If she liked the college, they would set up a time to talk over a phone call. Swarts’ advice to younger athletes hoping to go to college for a sport is to not force yourself to go to a school just because of your sport. “You never want to end up at a school that you can barely get an education at just because you wanted to continue competing in a sport,” Swarts said.
Photo Courtesy of Ayana Owens
Ayana Owens, a senior, has been playing basketball since fifth grade. She was inspired to start playing because her dad is a huge role-model for her and knowing that he used to play, made her want to, too. Owens is not yet set on a specific college but has multiple options. She has traveled to many places including Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky to play in front of college coaches. Owens has also gone to special tournaments specifically for scouting.
Owens is most excited to just continue playing in college. At LHS, she has participated in track since freshman year, she is now looking for a new sport to play this spring. Owens advice to athletes looking for a college to play their sport is, “go where you’re celebrated, not tolerated.”
Photo Courtesy of Aniyah Hicks-Robinson
Aniyah Hicks-Robinson, a senior, started playing basketball when she was seven or eight years old. At that time, she was tumbling as well but decided she wanted to focus more on basketball. Hicks-Robinson began playing because she used to go to many Nebraska Women’s basketball games and “was inspired by the players.” Her mom was also a great basketball player at Lincoln High and went on to play at division one level at Southern California University. She doesn’t know exactly what college she will be attending yet but has some scholarships to Junior Colleges. Robinson plans on majoring in Health Sciences to become a physical therapist.
Robinson was scouted throughout her high school career and played on summer travelling teams. She most looks forward to new friendships she will make and the better competition. At Lincoln High, Robinson is involved in the Equity Cadre and African American Caucus. In her free time, she enjoys going shopping with friends. Her message to younger athletes is, “it does not all come overnight and you have to put in as much work as possible to get the outcome you would want. You also have to have the confidence that you can make it”.
These are just some of the students who have been scouted at Lincoln High so far this year. Another Lincoln High job well done!
