By Ken Hansard
Because of Webb City’s longstanding tradition as a Missouri state power in football, many of the local boys grow up dreaming of starting on the gridiron for the Cardinals. When you have older siblings that you grew up watching, that feeling of community pride runs even deeper. Such is the case for junior inside linebacker River Lenker.
As a sophomore last year, Lenker entered the season as a JV prospect with ambitious goals, “We won a district championship, and I worked my way up from JV to a starting position on defense for most of the regular season and the entire playoffs – enough time to earn a letter as a sophomore. I’m proud of this because my personal goal last year was to do just that – to earn a starting spot and to help our team win.”
Now a junior, Lenker has even bigger goals he wants to achieve, “I want to be a leader for the defense and do whatever it takes for the team to be successful – whatever it takes to win state.”
River’s aspirations aren’t just talk; he spent the off-season preparing and improving his body and his game. “I want to avoid becoming complacent and remember that there’s always ways to improve. One of Coach MacFarland’s goals for the offseason was for us to get bigger, faster, and stronger. I ate more than ever before to get bigger, I lifted weights more than ever before to get stronger, and I ran varsity track to get faster. Now I can’t wait to get my pads back on and go out and lay some big hits this year.”
River is also a star in the classroom, with a healthy 3.85 GPA. He lettered as a freshman in wrestling and as a sophomore in track.
