Versatility the key for Lainhart, Fedde
Standing out in one sport is difficult enough for most high school students while juggling homework, exams and other responsibilities.
Natalie Lainhart and Erick Fedde made multitasking look like an art form.
Lainhart, a senior volleyball, basketball and track and field star at Silverado, and Fedde, a senior soccer and baseball standout at Las Vegas High, have been named the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s High School Athletes of the Year.
Even while stacking awards and leading various teams into the postseason, Lainhart and Fedde never lost perspective of what mattered most.
“It was my senior year. I just decided I would work extra hard and make sure I had fun,” Lainhart said.
Lainhart, who earned a scholarship to play basketball at Idaho, began her senior campaign with a standout volleyball season.
The 5-foot-11-inch middle blocker earned second-team All-Southeast League honors as Silverado (20-14) reached the Sunrise Region final.
“Coming into (volleyball) season, we were all scared because we lost a lot of people. We were nervous,” Lainhart said. “But it turned out awesome. We proved ourselves to a lot of people.”
Lainhart didn’t have as much to prove in basketball as a senior, but she left no doubt of her ability to play in college.
She was a third-team all-state pick after averaging 16.6 points, 13.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists to carry the Skyhawks to a 12-10 record. Although Silverado missed the playoffs, coach Kevin Volcic lauded Lainhart’s unselfishness in playing power forward when her college future is on the wing.
“She was a huge presence to lean on. It was like having an assistant coach,” he said. “Athletically, she was the best player we had.”
It’s why Lainhart was able to average more than 13 rebounds a game at just 5-11.
“When I’m on the court and I see the ball go up, in my mind, I’ve got to get it,” she said. “That’s my mentality. (Rebounding) is something that comes naturally.”
Lainhart stayed in shape in the spring, taking seventh in the discus at the Class 4A state track meet with a heave of 107 feet, 9 inches.
She said coaching was key in her continued improvement in each sport as her high school career progressed.
“I think if anything would stand out, it would be my coaches who pushed me,” she said. “At times when I wanted to slack off, they pushed me through high school and athletics.”
Fedde echoed those thoughts when asked what he’ll remember most from his senior year.
“Just my teammates and coaches,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with wonderful coaches, and the guys around me were great.”
Fedde, who will be a scholarship pitcher at UNLV next year, mastered the unique double of soccer and baseball.
“I’m one of the only guys I knew who played soccer and baseball,” he said. “It’s a lot different in the baseball and soccer communities, so it let me meet a lot of different people.”
In soccer, he made a smooth transition from forward to defender, earning All-Southern Nevada honors his senior year.
Though he was one of the area’s top center backs in soccer, Fedde’s prime sport is baseball.
The right-hander was a second-team all-state pick as a senior after he went 4-4 with a 3.12 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings.
Las Vegas baseball coach Sam Thomas said Fedde, a 24th-round draft pick of the San Diego Padres, became more precise on the mound as a senior.
“He became a pitcher and not just a thrower of the pitch that was called,” Thomas said. “To be able to change speeds and be a location guy, he was so much fun to watch.”
Locals will get to continue watching Fedde at UNLV, as the 6-foot-3-inch ace for the Wildcats will bring his 92-mph fastball to the Rebels.
Fedde called winning a soccer state title as a junior “the best experience” of his high school career, adding it helped leg strength and endurance for baseball.
“In soccer, you need to be in top physical condition,” he said. “And you don’t want to fatigue on the mound, so the leg conditioning helped keep me able to pitch strong in late innings.”
And perhaps soon, in Wilson Stadium.
