Intramural Athlete of the Week: February 19-23

Addie Neal

Freshmen

Winning a game of basketball follows a simple concept: score more points than your opponent. Normally, the star player is the one who scores the most points for your team, but for the freshmen, their biggest asset was the defensive play brought by Addie Neal. Neal played the rebound game better than anybody else, and her work in the paint greatly limited Theta’s opportunities to score in the women’s final. Expect Neal to continue being a defensive unit for the freshmen come the soccer season.

1. What is it like being out there in the final, playing with your fellow freshmen?

It was a blast. Not only are they my friends in school and in the dorms, it’s just cool to see them in this aspect of sports and things we used to do in high school. It’s crazy we won the whole thing. We’re just so close off of the court.

2. What was it like having to step up in the playoffs against some strong athletes in Lambda and Theta?

I knew these girls were going to be bigger and stronger than me and would get in my face a lot, but I told myself repeatedly throughout the game to not let myself get scared because I’m just the same as them. I really focused on getting down and blocking out every single time to get rebounds and not being scared to try and block every time they went up.

2. Are there any other intramurals you’re looking forward to?

I’m really looking forward to soccer.

Cade Berkey

Kappa Sigma Tau

If you exclude Cade Berkey’s performance in the men’s A league final, you get a very competitive game with Kappa having a slight advantage over Chi. When you add a solid defender who drops over 20 points, you get one of the most dominant performances in basketball championship history. Berkey had a bit of a slow start to the final, but turned things up in the second half as Kappa pulled away from Chi. His pressure on defense also limited one of Chi’s best shooters, which helped force errors onto the opposing team.

1. What is it like winning the championship?

It felt pretty good. Obviously, it’s the last game, and it’s a team effort. We couldn’t have done it without the team.

2. If we subtract your stats from that game, it is a close battle. What is it like going out and dropping another dominant performance?

It’s pretty surreal, man. I’ve been working on my shot quite a bit, so it was nice to kind of play a lot of ball and just play with my friends but also see the results from the work I’ve put in and the abilities God has blessed me with.

3. There are not a lot of intramurals left, but there is still soccer. Will we be seeing you there?

I honestly have no idea. My schedule can be pretty crazy. I’m not very good with my feet, but I know Nathan is a great soccer player. Be looking out for him and the rest of the guys on the basketball team, they can do anything.