The GMC: Sussex Hamilton Chargers

Sussex Hamilton looks to keep climbing in the Greater Metro Conference in 2019. <h5>Past:</h5> Sussex Hamilton doesn't have a storied history of State Championships and winning conference. The Greater Metro Conference has continuously sent out top collegiate talent and the Chargers have started to see those commitments from their program. <strong>Jess Jablonski </strong>was one of the first college commits and just finished her 4-year career at UW - Lacrosse. 2015 saw their next leaders enter their freshman year. <strong>Kayla Dowler </strong>led the team as their 6 rotation outside. Unfortunately for the program the Dowler family moved to North Carolina. Kayla went on to success at her new high school and committed to Southern Utah University. Side note, her little sister <strong>Sydney Dowler </strong>is wrapping up her senior year and will go on to play for the Terrapins of Maryland next year. I try to avoid looking at the "What ifs" but those two would have helped the Chargers growth. With Dowler gone that left fellow classmate <strong>McKenna Packer</strong> (Lewis University) as the 4 year starting varsity middle blocker. 2015 drew a talented freshman class but that was just the beginning of the push for Sussex leading up to their present roster. <h5>Present:</h5> The 2016 season welcomed UW - Milwaukee recruit <strong>Sarah </strong><strong>Schrader </strong>to the program. Sarah will be going into her senior year healing from some back issues in preparation for her college career. Sarah helped put small outside back on the map. She is not the tallest, but she brought a defensive first mindset with great offensive IQ. Sussex will still have Schrader in the gym but they will look to others to step up statistically. Senior <strong>Jessica Bagley</strong> will be joined by <strong>Riley Dahlquist </strong>and freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='82916' first='Sylvie' last='Zgonc'] </strong>in competition for the two outside positions. The setting duties should be handled by the assist leader from a year ago, <strong>Janelle</strong> <strong>Stuempfig</strong>, and one of the most under the radar Division 1 recruits <strong>Kaitlyn Lefler</strong> (Illinois State). Lefler was quietly making noise, if thats possible, during her last club season and verbally committed this summer with the NCAA new recruiting rules in place. You should see <strong>Lakyn Graves</strong> and <strong>Ava Rebarchik </strong>(Kentucky Wesleyan) solidify the middle. If you don't see Dahlquist on the outside, look for her to compete for middle reps along with <strong>Ella Chevalier</strong>. <strong>Kayla Lewinski </strong>finished off a very successful club season along side Graves, which should help solidify her spot as the top right side. The libero jersey will be an everyday competition for <strong>Megan Hawthorne</strong> and <strong>Clara Hoeksema</strong>, with Megan have the slight edge to start the season. The projected starting line up is anyones guess with Schrader's absence. You could see some creative line ups be put out there after seeing Lefler hit middle and outside during summer league. Most cases you can guess a starting lineup or at least the majority or positions. This Chargers team will be one to watch as they piece together their best lineup. <h5>Future:</h5> The Chargers will graduate 3 seniors after the 2019 season; Jessica Bagley, Ava Rebarchik, and Sarah Schrader. They will get an unfortunate head start on replacing their top outside from a year ago due to injury. Schrader is a great athlete and will go on to UW - Milwaukee where I think she will fit in great. The Panthers have three "undersize" outsides in <strong>Louise Kiekhofer</strong>, <strong>Lexi Uselding</strong>, and kill leader <strong>Kylie Wilks</strong>. All three are homegrown talent like Schrader, which is always great to see. This year may not have started as scripted but the Chargers will still find their way near the top of the conference. Brookfield Central, Sussex, Germantown, and Divine Savior should finish in the top 4. The final result is anyones guess. Each team has the talent to go undefeated in conference <strong>IF</strong> they play to their potential. Hamilton will take a senior heavy class into the 2020 year and have another great shot at their first conference title. They have <strong>Tatum Baldwin</strong>, <strong>Trisha Shankar</strong>, <strong>Anna </strong><strong>Frafjord</strong>, and more waiting in the wings to get varsity reps. 2019 will be a fun year to watch, but keep an eye on the Chargers to make their move in a tough conference and sectional. **Featured Photo Credit: Roberta Pratt's Photography