Student-Athlete of the Week: Luke Weber

The stage is set for Luke Weber's grand finale.

Two years after winning the No. 3 singles state title and leading the Niwot boys tennis team to an overall state championship in 2020, Weber is focused on creating some similar magic during his senior season. The now-No. 1 singles star's first test will come on Sept. 28 when No. 9-seeded Grand Junction comes to No. 8 Niwot for the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.

"It's been a long journey, just playing all four yours going to state," Weber said. "Everything's super crazy there, but I'm excited for one last run and just to see what I can do."

Weber wrapped up his regular season with an impressive 10-1 record (per MaxPreps), including an Aug. 26 win over D'Evelyn's Aswaanth Karuppasamy, the reigning 4A No. 1 singles state champ who beat Weber in last year's semifinals.

As he enters the final stretch of his high school career, Niwot's accomplished veteran has both experience and success from which to draw. He is also fueled with some added motivation coming off of what he considered to be a disappointing end to last season.

"Experience is everything," Weber said. "I got fourth last year with a tough loss at the end. Everything helps and my performance last year was my motivation for this year, to just do better than I did last year, and I already have."

Throw in an extremely difficult schedule this season and Weber has indeed improved considerably from his 5-4 No. 1 singles record from a year ago.

But fortunately for Weber, the vast majority of his career has been filled with positive memories. Helping Niwot win its first-ever state championship in boys tennis was, of course, his most-cherished.

"That was definitely one of my favorite moments realizing, like, 'Wow, we could actually do it,'" Weber said. "Sneaking past all these big private schools that are always up there dominating the top three or four places and then us, this little school in Niwot coming in and taking down all of them, I think that was pretty special."

Both Weber's teammates and coaches have played a large role in his ascent to being one of the best players in Colorado. He was particularly thankful for his head coach, Aimee Hites, for supporting him throughout the years.

"She's been a super big part of the player I am," Weber said. "She helped coach me pretty much 100% through that sophomore year three-singles win. She was there, she was on the fence, she was watching all the matches (and) she was a huge part of that win for the team. Even this year, she's helping me through matches. She's been a huge part of everything that there is about the Niwot tennis team. She's an amazing coach, and I don't know where we'd be without her coaching and her wisdom."

Weber plans to play tennis in college and knows that the remainder of his senior year is critical, especially with the goal of committing to either the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, or Frostburg State University in Maryland.

"I really do want to take tennis to the next level," Weber said. "I've been working hard towards that and I'm excited to see where I'll end up after high school."

But first, he hopes to once again get Niwot to the state tournament championship round on Oct. 18 in Denver. Weber will also compete for the No. 1 singles individual title from Oct. 13-15 in Pueblo. Hites expects him to be the No. 2 seed in 4A.