Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Name: Sam Arneson
 
School: Merrill
 
Grade: Senior
 
Football Honors: A three-year varsity letter winner for coach Tom Tourtillott … Played tight end and linebacker as a sophomore and junior and quarterback and linebacker as a senior … First-team all-Wisconsin Valley Conference selection at both quarterback and linebacker as a senior … First-team all-Great Northern Conference pick as a tight end and linebacker as a junior … First-team all-Great Northern Conference choice at linebacker as a sophomore … Passed for 973 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior while helping Merrill to an 8-3 record … First-team all-state pick by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association as a senior at linebacker and honorable mention at quarterback … Father, Dave Arneson, played football at Wisconsin and lettered in 1983 and 1984 … Accepted a football scholarship to attend Wisconsin and will play tight end for the Badgers.
 
Basketball Honors: Three-year varsity letter winner for coach Kurt Soderberg … Averaged 7.2 points per game as a senior while helping Merrill to a 16-12 record and a runner-up finish in the WIAA Division 2 State Tournament … A 6-foot-4 forward who also averaged 4.2 rebounds per contest as a senior … Set many strong screens for teammate Paul Jesperson, a first-team all-state pick who will play next season at Virginia.  
 
Track & Field Honors: Three-year varsity letter winner for coach Kurt VandenHeuvel  … Participates in the shot put and discus … Person-best throw of 185-feet, 6-inches in the discus and 55-1 in the shot put ... Advanced to the WIAA State Meet in both events as a junior and senior … Finished sixth in Division 1 in the discus as a senior and 14th in the shot put...Had the state's farthest discus throw of the year at the Wausau West Regional with a toss of 185'1".
 
Favorite Sport: “I would say football. It’s the sport I’ve always been around. It’s the one I’ve excelled at the most. I just enjoy everything about football.”
 
Best Part of High School Sports: “Being a part of all the teams. Playing three sports, you have different teammates in each sport. All the relationships you develop and being with your friends … it’s a really great experience.”
 
Best Advice from a High School Coach: “I’ve had some great coaches over the years. With all of them, it’s just doing whatever is best to help the team achieve success. We were fortunate to have some good years because we always played well as a team in every sport.”
 
Most Memorable Moment in High School Sports: “Two stand out. My junior year, we made it to level four in the playoffs for football. That was a special team and year. I would also have to say our run to the Division 2 state championship in basketball this year. Getting to play in the Kohl Center was a highlight.”
 
Best Part of Playing Three Sports: “You get to experience all different sports. It’s not like you get tired at it at all. It’s always a new thing and you get excited for the next sport. Being able to have a variety of sports … not just the same thing all the time.”
 
Toughest Part of Playing Three Sports: “It does take a lot of time. There is always the summer stuff and they overlap at times, but it keeps you busy.”
 
Favorite Opponents: “For football, the last couple of years we’ve had some really good games with Marshfield. Marshfield always has a very talented team and we had some great games against them the last few years. In basketball, we played Antigo a lot the last couple of years and they had some very good teams. They got the best of us three times my junior year, but we got past them on our way to state this year.”
 
Favorite College Team: Wisconsin Badgers.
 
Favorite Professional Teams: Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers.
 
Cumulative GPA: 4.0.
 
Toughest Individual You’ve Competed Against: “Jordan Mach of Antigo would be the guy in basketball. He really carried his team when we played them. In football, we switched conferences so there really wasn’t one guy that stood out.”
 
College Plans: “I’m going to University of Wisconsin to play football. I plan to major in health and movement science.”
 
Activities Outside of Sports: Link Crew, Octagon Community Service Club, National Honor Society, helped with youth basketball and football camps at Merrill, helped with Special Olympics.
 
I Find it Relaxing to: “I live to watch movies a lot and I like to hang out with my friends.”
 
Favorite TV show: Modern Family, Seinfeld.
 
Favorite Movie: Ocean movie series.  
 
Favorite Musical Artists: “I like to listen to a lot of different types of music. I wouldn’t say I have a favorite. I listen to a wide variety from all different genres.”
 
Favorite Subject: Math.   
 
Favorite Websites: www.facebook.com, www.espn.com, www.wissports.net.
 
Other Family Members: Father, Dave; mother, Marge; older sisters, Tori and Marlee.
 
If you would like to nominate a senior, three-sport athlete for Triple Play Triple Threat, contact Mark Miller at mark (at) wissports.net