MaxPreps 2014-15 Nebraska Female Athlete of the Year: Allison Arens of Crofton

Crofton point guard Allison Arens may maintain a quiet demeanor on the basketball and volleyball courts, and on the track, but her play spoke volumes during a nearly perfect senior season for the Warriors.

Joining forces with fellow all-state seniors Maria Wortmann and Quinn Wragge, Arens stood out during a run in which Crofton took home the Class C-2 state runner-up trophy in volleyball, and swept team championships in basketball and track and field, making her a shoo-in for MaxPreps Nebraska Female Athlete of the Year honors.

"Even as a senior, she wasn't bossy," Warrior volleyball coach Susie Johnson said of Arens' hushed but effective method of leadership. "She doesn't enjoy telling the other girls what to do. But if she has to, she'll pull them aside and do it in a more private way. I think the other girls respect her for that. Allison is not much of a show person. But she is competitive, and if she has to turn up the heat – she turns it up."

Much like she did throughout her career, Arens often doused the competitive flames of the Warrior opposition by either taking over a game herself, or by getting Warrior teammates more involved in a contest.

Guardian Angels Central Catholic girls basketball coach Jerry Stracke has been on the wrong end of some of Arens' basketball genius.

"Allison's always been a thorn in our side," Stracke said. "She does so many things. She can take you off the dribble. She hits the ‘3.' Allison is so strong and she does a great job of getting everybody else involved in their offense.

"Sometimes you get so involved in watching her that you forget about what is going on out there. The girls love playing against her. They love playing against someone of her caliber."

In typical fashion, Arens downplayed all the acclaim she has received during the course of her four seasons in the Warrior athletic program. As far as Arens is concerned, her family and her coaches should get the credit for her success.

As she sees it, Arena is just another player on the court.

But her stat lines don't lie.

Arens swatted down 254 kills and was credited with 35 total blocks, 320 digs and 57 aces in garnering second team all-state volleyball honors as a senior. Last fall, the University of South Dakota basketball recruit helped Crofton end a drought of 21 straight seasons in which the Warriors did not play past the first round of the Nebraska state volleyball tournament.

Crofton eventually lost to fellow unbeaten Freeman 23-25, 25-22, 32-34, 25-27 in the state championship match. But huge strides were made in turning around a Warrior volleyball program that had produced records of 7-18 and 14-12 in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Arens was at her best on the basketball court as a senior. The three-time all-state selectee averaged almost 16 points per game while dishing out more than five assists. Arens, who sits 61st on Nebraska's all-time girls scoring chart with 1,579 points, also pulled down 3.37 rebounds and swiped 2.78 steals per outing as a senior.

The four-time all-Mid-State Conference performer finished her career eighth all-time on the Nebraska girls career assist chart, with 220 dishes, and shot 38 percent from 3-point range for her career. The 5-foot-9 point guard made a career-high 85 free throws as a senior.

Arens' Warriors rallied past Hastings St. Cecilia, 48-39, to win Crofton's fourth-straight Class C2 state basketball championship, the seventh title in the past 11 seasons for Warrior coach Aaron Losing. The nine-point championship win closed Arens' prep basketball career with a 106-5 record as a Warrior.

"I really enjoy basketball. I like the other sports too, but I like the competition of basketball," Arens said of choosing basketball as her sport of the future. "I like that there is always room for improvement. There are always new moves to learn. There are always new ways to score and new ways to pass. I know I have a lot more to learn, but I look forward to it. I just really enjoy basketball."

Knowing how hard Arens worked in the offseason, Losing always looked forward to seeing what new twist she was about to add to her game as each new season approached.

"She just got better and better each season," Losing said. "Every year she would come in with one or two new little things that she worked on and developed over the summer. Having grown up on the farm, she always worked hard. She works hard in the weight room. Allison is really strong. She'll jump right in there at USD."

Warrior track and field coach Rod Hegge is a fan of how Arens and the rest of the senior players prepared themselves for battle and how they competed. Over the years, Hegge said he saw plenty of natural athletes slip when it came to preparation. But not Arens.

"She is a natural athlete," Hegge said. "Yet, she understands that training is a part of being an athlete. When you have to reach down low, (that little extra) is there because of that training. She is the epitome of a great athlete and she is a great student - a great individual. All of the kids just seem to gravitate towards her."

Arens' hard work paid dividends for Hegge as well. As a senior, Arens ran the third leg on Crofton's Class C winning 3,200-meter relay (9 minutes, 37.93 seconds) at the Nebraska state track and field meet at Omaha Burke Stadium, and garnered a fourth-place medal in the individual 3200 race (11:38.94).

She then finished ahead of the pack in the 1,600-meter run with a first-place time of 5:16.60 before concluding Crofton's second-straight Class C state track and field championship by running the second leg of the Warriors' fifth-place 1,600 relay, which came home in 4:06.49.

"This was all a blessing," Arens said of competing for her school and for the community of Crofton. "It has been a cool, cool experience. Everybody knows how you are doing. Everybody cares about how you are doing. It's a tight community. We've started our summer workouts at USD and I hear some of the girls there saying they don't really care to go home. But I want to go home."