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Warrior stat-tracker: Seventh-grader provides info for coaches, press and fans

Sports reporter

Landon Leiker loves basketball.

The seventh grade Marion Middle School student plays and watches the sport whenever he has the chance.

But for the past three years he also has studied the game.

Leiker is the son of Marion-Florence USD 408 superintendent Lee Leiker. When they lived in Stanton County before moving to Marion a year and a half ago, Landon decided he wanted to keep stats at basketball games.

He started off using paper and pencil, feverishly taking down any stat he could to help out the coaching staff.

Fast forward to last year just before the start of the Hillsboro Trojan Classic. Hillsboro High School athletics director Max Heinrichs used a program called Cyber Stats to track every thinkable basketball stat.

"He asked us if we could purchase the program and help keep stats during the tournament," Lee said.

So the district bought the program and Landon used it for three games before the tournament.

He then practiced on televised basketball games, preparing for the tournament.

"It was pretty easy to learn," Landon said. " I love the game and know the game."

In the beginning father and son would work on the program together. But after a while Landon knew the program inside and out. All he needed was a "spotter."

The spotter, either Lee or a friend of Landon's, tells Landon what is going on and he uses quick keys to type what is happening. Sometimes he can tell what is happening, but when a play turns into a back-and-forth scramble for the ball it can be tough to tell what is going on.

"The spotter tries to remember everything and I just listen to him," Landon said.

Lee said Landon will key about 500 to 600 entries during an entire game. For the boys' and girls' games, that is roughly 1,000-1,200 entries per night, 125-150 entries per quarter, or 15.6-18.8 entries per minute of basketball.

Still the more he uses it, the more comfortable he feels.

"It's a lot easier because you know where everything is," Landon said.

Landon's love of the game and stats has turned into a blessing for MHS boys' basketball coach Rex Ostmeyer. Before Cyber Stats, Ostmeyer was spending roughly two hours per game, watching film and jotting down stats, and then downloading them into a program at work.

He loves the fact it saves him time, and he said watching old film is never 100 percent accurate.

"Now I know it's accurate," Ostmeyer said. "Plus it's right there at the end of the game for me."

The program also has been great to WTVN-Channel 22. Lee hooked up the program to a monitor that displays up-to-the-second stats for the television announcers.

"It's fantastic," WTVN announcer Mike Powers said. "We don't have commercials and we have to fill that time. Those stats help us with that."

Powers said it's also nice to actually see how a certain player is doing not just guess.

"It confirms what you think you saw with your eyes," he said. "Those guys track about every stat you can think of."

While the program has been a great success for Landon and the school, the seventh-grader doesn't want to forget about focusing on his first love: playing basketball.

He did say however in the future if he had the opportunity he may want to take the stats at another level, possible college or the pros.

"That would be neat," he said.

For now the Warriors players, coaches, and fans are benefiting from Landon's love of the game.

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