Leading into Nationals, we look to spotlight as many teams as we can in hopes of shining a bright light on standouts from participating teams. These glow-ups include up to 2 of each team’s standout rookies as well as a handful of core contributing players that have gotten their respective team to where they are going into the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s annual finale. Lastly, we get a glance into each participating team’s mindset and expectations going into Nationals.
Cornhuskers’ Rookie Spotlight
When it comes to the two best rookies for this year, the first two names that come to mind are Caleb Fowler and Noah Willey. Both are sophomores who joined the team this year, and have been huge additions to our team since then.
Caleb is a great overall player, who succeeds at everything on the court. Though he may not have the experience that most players do, he plays with a sort of swagger that would convince me that he has been playing for years. I believe that he is going to be an integral part of the team for the next few years.
Secondly, we have Noah, who is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to catching. During practice it seems like he catches 90% of the balls thrown at him, and it could be argued that he can throw even better than he can catch. Noah has even less tournament experience than Caleb, but it is the same case that he plays in a way that seems like he has so much experience.
Key Contributors for the Cornhuskers
The first two players I wanted to give recognition to are Dustin Sprunk and Ethan Glenn. These two best friends came to the club together and have been at the head of it for the past three years. As two of our captains, they have worked with everyone to try and improve, and they have set a gold standard of how to perform at tournaments. Dustin is just coming off an injury and has been eager to compete, as it is his last year of school and very first national competition. Ethan has always been regarded as the most consistent player on our team, and his calm demeanor helps balance out some of our more explosive players that get into the heat of the game quickly.
The next player I wanted to recognize Colby Chohrach, who I believe might be the most slept on player in the entire league. Colby is by far the best thrower I have ever seen, and it isn’t even close. The way that Colby plays the game is so much different than anyone else on our team, but he knows exactly what he is doing, and when he gets into a rhythm, it is dangerous for anybody that he is against.
Then we have Tre Sumrall, the current president of the club. Tre has been on the team in some sort of leadership position since his spring semester freshman year. Given that is when Covid hit, he still stuck with the team, even for practices that only had 3 people, and eventually became head of the club. He isn’t necessarily the best thrower or catcher on the team, but he knows how to take control of the game when it is needed, and his dodgeball IQ is extremely high.
The last player we wanted to recognize was Alex Schmit. He joined the club in the middle of Covid when we were playing on a turf field since the gym that we usually practiced in had no air circulation. He is widely regarded as the Spiderman of our team because he somehow survives the most miraculous situations by rolling, jumping, and diving out of the way like he is Spiderman.
Mindset for Nationals – Tre Sumrall
“I think our mindset going into nationals is the same mindset that we have had for every game we have ever played, which is to go out and win. Because of our location, we really only get to play UWP, so we don’t really know how we are going to compare with some of the power house schools in the league, however I think that gives us an advantage since we are going into this with zero nationals experience and a chip on our shoulder to prove that the teams outside of Ohio and Michigan can compete at a high level. Obviously, our goal is to win nationals, but if that doesn’t happen, we at least want to pull off some upsets against some of the top teams in the league.”