Winter sports get under way

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
If you’ve been at Newcastle High School over the last few weeks, you may have seen some athletes in the gyms knocking some rust off on the basketball court, but the winter sports seasons officially got underway with first practices commencing on Monday.
Allen Von Eye returns as head coach of the men’s basketball team and is looking at some good numbers this season. On Monday and Tuesday, all players practiced together in the Dogie Dome at 3:45, but split on Wednesday with freshmen practicing in the morning and junior varsity and varsity continuing their after school schedule.
Next week will also have the freshmen continuing to practice in the morning, and the JV/Varsity going after school. Both practices will be held in the practice gym of the high school. 
On Saturday, December 1st, both the junior varsity and varsity will be giving fans a sneak peek at the 2018-2019 teams at the annual Orange and Black scrimmage beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Chad Ostenson is at the helm for the Lady Dogie ballers following the resignation of Tyler Bartlett as head coach. Numbers are down this season, but all got their first practice under their belts on Monday. Freshmen players will be practicing for the first two weeks from 6:15-7:30 a.m. while the upper classmen will have the 3:45-6:00 p.m. slot. This week, the ladies are in the practice gym, and will be in the Dome next week.
The combined Newcastle/Upton wrestling team under returning head coach Lee McCoy got their season underway this week with practices in Upton. Next week the squad will be practicing in Newcastle from 4:00-6:00 p.m. in the wrestling room.
Finally, the Newcastle men’s swim team dove into their 2018-2019 season on Monday, and head coach Doug Scribner advised that practices will be held from 3:45-6:00 p.m. at the Kozisek Aquatic Center.
All teams got an earlier start to their seasons this year after dissatisfaction with the previous delay until after Thanksgiving prompted the WHSAA to allow teams to begin practicing the Monday before the holiday.