Name: Aubrey Abel
High school: Blue Mountain HIgh School
Grade: Senior
Sport: Tennis
Accomplishments: Won three matches at No. 1 singles last week to improve season record to 10-1. In the process, Abel broke the Blue Mountain career record for singles wins by a girls’ tennis player (Amanda Bedway, 73). Abel entered this week with a career record of 75-11.
Age: 17
Hometown: Orwigsburg
Family: Father, Mark; mother, Elizabeth
Other sports I play: Track and field
Athletes I admire: Professional tennis players Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer
Favorite sports teams: Penn State football, Philadelphia Eagles
What age did you start playing tennis: 11
Talk about setting a school record: “I didn’t even know until this year that I was close to the record. ... I was really excited. I didn’t really know about it, that there was a record I could break, like in track.”
Talk about what you like about tennis: “Sometimes I don’t really enjoy it. It’s hard being out there by yourself without teammates to support you. I like the mental toughness you have to have and the physical ability of constantly moving on the court.”
Individual goals for this season: “I’d like to finally win districts (Abel is a three-time silver medalist in the District 11 Class AA Singles Tournament). It would be really neat to go to states my senior year.”
What are your plans after high school?: “I’ll be applying to Cornell and Penn State (main campus) and majoring in hospitality management.”
Past winners
• Sept. 2 — Rileigh Evitts, Schuylkill Haven, girls’ soccer
• Sept. 9 — Johnathan Condly, Jim Thorpe, cross country