Senior on track to finish high school as 16-season athlete

Football: Amen has been the starting cornerback in every varsity football game for the last two years, as of Sept. 23. Basketball: Amen made 17 out of 21 free throws attempted during a game against Highland Park on December 11, 2015. Track: Amen’s relay team broke the school record for the 4-by-400 relay at sectionals on ___, 2016 with a time of 3:21.9. Photo by Sydney Stumme-Berg
Football: Amen has been the starting cornerback in every varsity football game for the last two years, as of Sept. 23.
Basketball: Amen made 17 out of 21 free throws attempted during a game against Highland Park on December 11, 2015.
Track: Amen’s relay team broke the school record for the 4-by-400 relay at sectionals on May 19, 2016 with a time of 3:21.9.
Photo by Sydney Stumme-Berg

For most high school students, summer may be a time to travel or relax. For senior Luke Amen, summer is a frenzy of football, basketball and track to prepare for his four seasons of competition in the upcoming school year.

Amen has been doing all three sports since his freshman year and plans to have participated in 16 seasons by the end of senior year, due to being on both indoor and outdoor track teams. He is the only athlete in the graduating Class of  ’17 who intends to be a 16-season athlete.

  As he transitions from one season to another, Amen said he is conscious  of the sports he does and tries to constantly stay in shape for each by training for the ones that are not in season.

“With football, you [lift a lot], so I’ll focus on lower body workouts a lot to try to get into track shape, and [I will] focus on sprinting for basketball,” said Amen. “Football and basketball work [together] with cutting and route running and just footwork.”

According to Head Football Coach Bob Pieper, involvement in multiple sports promotes a healthy, competitive attitude among players.

“In the offseason, I’d rather see them compete …,” said Pieper. “Competing in other sports will transfer onto the football field, with just the competitive nature. I want them to compete in everything they do.”

With a 5-0 record as of Sept. 27, the football team may reach the state playoffs, which would lengthen their season.

“If [the football team] wins a couple of playoff games, there could be an overlap in seasons,” said Head Basketball Coach David Weber. “We would work with him.”

According to Amen, the hardest transition is the beginning of the indoor track season, since he misses the first few weeks of track due to its overlap with the basketball season.

“Every year, the first week I come back to track is the Buffalo Grove Invite,” said Amen. “I’m almost always part of either a relay or an open, and I just never run well in that meet. Playing the three sports, you do lose a lot of each sport from [missing the preseason].”

Senior Daniel Milgram has been on the track team with Amen since freshman year and recognizes that it is much more difficult for Amen to stay involved in the offseason.

“It’s hard for Luke to do workouts because he’s always busy doing one thing or another. “During the summer, he went to camps for all three of [his sports],” said Milgram. “He had some conflicting camps, and he’d go to parts of them — maybe a week.”

Amen said although he is considering track at the Division III level in college, he is grateful to have played all three sports through four seasons in high school.

Weber said he noticed the effects of Amen’s athletic diversity in his basketball ability.

“Let’s say he gets a steal, and he’s going full speed down the court, he’s going to get to the basket before the defense,” said Weber. “I see this, and I know that’s his track and his football coming out in him. And now he’s got to make the lay-up, and that’s when basketball becomes a part of it.”