O'Neill Lanes reports Wanda Kracl of O'Neill won 1st place in her singles division of the 77th Annual Women's Championship Bowling Tournament held in Grand Island. Wanda received prize money of $270 for her accomplishments and recognition with prize money for the high game in her division also.
This is the second consecutive year that an O'Neill bowler has taken first place in a singles division at state. Seth Staroscik from O'Neill won Men's Tournament in Omaha last year.
What some would call the Holy Grail of Baseball started in Omaha this weekend. The almost two week College World Series which made its home in Omaha for 63 years, began with opening ceremonies on Friday night. The festivities featured Orel Hershiser, a concert by O.A.R. and a tribute to Dennis Poppe, who is the head man for the NCAA’s part in the CWS.
And with all of the rowdy folks we have in our area, beware that both the city of Omaha and the NCAA have issued warnings for fans that run onto the field, saying they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which means they could face six months in jail and a $500 fine.
US Open to Have a (Somewhat) Local Flavor
There are, in fact, two golfers from McCook who have played in major PGA tournaments. Merely sending someone from Nebraska to a major seems like a pretty big deal, but the town of McCook can now boast two players who have played on one of the biggest stages in golf. The first was Chris Wiemers, who played the PGA Championship in 2005. The latest is a former Husker who hopes to continue his young but impressive career.
Brandon Crick, a 25 year old golfer from the southwest Nebraska town, joined the US Open by qualifying from among 9,860 entrants, all vying for a spot in one of golf’s four majors. While most golfers there have PGA exemptions, (Tiger, Phil, McIlroy and the like) Crick had to play several qualifiers to get it. After a local tournament, Crick entered the Memphis sectional, which is one of 13 sites golfers can try to qualify, and one of the most difficult. In fact, Memphis is one of the few sites that PGA Tour players without exemptions go to, which raises the level of play, and also means that a few more players will qualify from that site. Crick shot a 5-under 132, which landed him in a tie for sixth place out of about 130 golfers, good enough to head to Merion.
Crick has had a nice upswing in his career lately, as he started as a three time state medalist in Class B, notching a second and two third place finishes. His second place finish as a freshman was not only his highest, but was also the only time he finished ahead of John Hurley at the state meet. From there he played two years of golf at Gonzaga before transferring back to golf for the Huskers. He left UNL with four tournament victories and the second lowest career stroke average on the Huskers’ all-time list. He has been playing professionally at different levels for the past few years.
Crick will represent Nebraska at the US Open at the Merion Golf Club East Course in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. He will be the last golfer of the day to tee off, starting at 6:27 p.m. local time in group 52 at the eleventh tee.
The regular season of Nebraska high school rodeo has finished up for the year as contestants begin preparing for Finals in mid-late June. The last weekend was a big one, with a three-fer of rodeos in Mitchell, Harrison, and Crawford. The final results from those three rodeos are in the Pinnacle Bank Scoreboard.
Once again, there were many athletes competing from the KBRX coverage area throughout the year. The area was represented well in the final regular season standings, as we had the top two boys all-around winners, and many girls and boys at the top of their respective events.
Check out who those athletes were, and also who will be moving on in the postseason by clicking here or on the title of this article to open up the full write up.
Red Team Wins First Ever Northeast Nebraska All-Star Football Classic
Nate Rogers of South Sioux City caught two touchdowns passes to help lead the Red Team past the White Team 20-10 Saturday night in the first-ever Northeast Nebraska All-Star Football Classic. Rogers was on the receiving end of a 68-yard touchdown strike from high school teammate Scott Manley in the second quarter. He then caught a 12-yard scoring pass from Norfolk Catholic’s Jordan Bellar.
Saturday night’s game, played at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Norfolk, drew 2,249 spectators.
The Red Team was able to score when needed, although the White Team ran more plays and outgained the Reds between the 20s. The Reds finished with 255 yards of total offense, which were split very evenly between the air and ground. They only ran 31 plays, with 23 of those being called running plays. The Whites featured a ground and pound offense, grinding out 258 yards on 62 plays, of which 58 plays were on the ground.
Many players were from the KBRX area. Although several of them played offensive line or didn’t record a stat, many of those players were in position to get on the stat line. For the Red’s defense, Marcus Marcellus of West Holt led the charge with 10 tackles, one of those being for a loss. Marcellus also received praise from his teammates for his ability to clog up the line and take on multiple blockers. His high school teammate Ben Borer chipped in with a couple of tackles, as did Creighton’s Levi Nielsen. Eli Schrier of Niobrara/Verdigre recorded a stop, while Chet Beckmann of Bloomfield had four tackles and a big third quarter interception, the only one of the game. Although he didn’t pick up any stats, Trevor Krugman of Boyd County brought the energy, and his team noticed. Red teammate Riley Knake mentioned him after the game: “Trevor is a lot of fun. He really got into it. He was fun all week in practice, and he was just screaming. He really got everybody going.”
For the White Team, a few area guys contributed on offense. Michael Hedlund of O’Neill ran for 21 yards on seven carries, while going a perfect 3-3 through the air for 33 yards. Hedlund also handled the kicking duties, knocking in a 33 yard field goal and kicking a PAT. Ross Schindler of EPPJ spent time as the other White QB, running three times for 10 yards. His Elgin teammate, fullback Blake Anderson, also had three carries for six yards. On defense, Travis Kester of Clearwater/Orchard and Tate Laursen of O’Neill stamped their names on three stops apiece. O’Neill’s Derrick Hostert tallied two tackles. Ross Schindler, Michael Hedlund, and Osmond’s Andrew Folkers and Carlin Kreinert all notched a tackle. Kreinert also played a few snaps at running back on offense.
Congratulations to our area players who were chosen to play in the game, and the area coaches who were chosen to help coach during the week.
NEN All Star Football Announce Post-Game Awards
The Northeast Nebraska All-Star Football Classic Board of Directors have announced “Post-Game Awards’’ following Saturday night’s game.
The Board of Directors congratulated Red Team Head Coach Rich Rethwisch of Wayne and White Team Head Coach Bob Schnitzler of Battle Creek for everything they have done for high school football in the State of Nebraska. The received plaques.
Most Valuable Player of the Game awards were selected by each teams football coaching staffs.
Coach Rethwisch presented the Red Teams Most Valuable Offensive Player Award to Nate Rogers of South Sioux City. Rethwisch presented the Red Teams Most Valuable Defensive Player Award to Riley Knake of Norfolk Catholic.
Coach Schnitzler presented the White Teams Most Valuable Offensive Player Award to Travis Wright of Battle Creek. Schnitzler presented the White Teams Most Valuable Defensive Player Award to Cody Merchant of Norfolk High School.
The Board of Directors also created a “Best Teammate Award’’ as part of its first-ever football game Saturday night.
The award was voted on by the players of each football team. The following criteria was considered by their teammates: Leadership, Sportsmanship and Character.
Nate Meier of Pierce received the Award for the Red Team, while Jake Werner of Humphrey St. Francis captured the Award for the White Team.
Uplifting Athletes Road Race to Benefit Pediatric Brain Cancer Research
The inaugural Nebraska Football Uplifting Athletes Road Race presented by the Lincoln Track Club is set for Sunday, July 21, at 8 a.m.
The first Uplifting Athletes Road Race to benefit pediatric brain cancer research will start at the Stadium Drive loop just outside the 501 Building on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln city campus. All proceeds will benefit pediatric brain cancer research.
Both a 1-mile fun run and a 5K run will be offered. The fun run will begin at 8 a.m. (CST) with a registration fee of $20. The 5K will start at approximately 8:30 a.m. (CST) with a registration fee of $30.
All registrants will receive a commemorative race day t-shirt and Uplifting Athletes wrist bracelet. Times will be kept by the Lincoln Track Club with no prizes awarded.
Nebraska Football Uplifting Athletes is a recognized student organization at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is one of 21 chapters nationally. Each chapter has selected a rare disease to create awareness and raise research funds. The Nebraska football team selected pediatric brain cancer, based on the mentoring relationship between Husker running back Rex Burkhead, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, and Jack Hoffman, a 7-year-old with pediatric brain cancer.
Thousands of children are diagnosed annually with brain cancer. Registration deadline is midnight July 16, and no race day registrations will be accepted. To register, please click on the link below for either the 1-mile fun run or the 5K run.
Our part of the state brought home their share of hardware from the State Track and Field Meet. With athletes competing in three different classes, the two days of State Track produced a team championship and several individual titles, with many others also winning medals.
The excitement was certainly high when the Lady Cardinals wrapped up the Class D girls title over Arapahoe with a 56-50 advantage at the end of Saturday on the strength of medalling in 12 of 17 events. This was the first title for the St. Mary's girls team, as they join the 1959 St. Mary's boys team as recipients of the first place team trophy. Hartington won the Class D boys race, as they outscored Paxton by 8.5 points.
Another remarkable feat by an area team was the CWC girls winning a thriling 4x100 relay despite moving up a class, as they have now brought home the gold for three straight years in that event.
There were many medals that came back to our area, gold, silver, bronze and other. We have compiled a list of medal winners from our area schools, separated by class and gender.
Did you know that there is a town called Mascot in Nebraska? Apparently, there is (or used to be). It is located in Harlan County and used to have a school. The mascot of Mascot was the Eagles. Did you know that Farnam was the only school in the nation known to have their mascot name at the time?
This fall we began down memory lane, coming up with names of all of the small towns in our area we could think of. As entertained as we were by the few towns in our area, we turned to the HuskerlandPreps message boards to tap the knowledge of folks across the state, asking about the history in their areas. It took off, and a huge list of Nebraska history was compiled.
We decided to post the list here. To see the entire thing, please click on the title of this article to open it up.
Brandon Crick, a 25 year old golfer from the southwest Nebraska town, joined the US Open by qualifying from among 9,860 entrants, all vying for a spot in one of golf’s four majors. While most golfers there have PGA exemptions, (Tiger, Phil, McIlroy and the like) Crick had to play several qualifiers to get it. After a local tournament, Crick entered the Memphis sectional, which is one of 13 sites golfers can try to qualify, and one of the most difficult. In fact, Memphis is one of the few sites that PGA Tour players without exemptions go to, which raises the level of play, and also means that a few more players will qualify from that site. Crick shot a 5-under 132, which landed him in a tie for sixth place out of about 130 golfers, good enough to head to Merion.
Nate Rogers of South Sioux City caught two touchdowns passes to help lead the Red Team past the White Team 20-10 Saturday night in the first-ever Northeast Nebraska All-Star Football Classic. Rogers was on the receiving end of a 68-yard touchdown strike from high school teammate Scott Manley in the second quarter. He then caught a 12-yard scoring pass from Norfolk Catholic’s Jordan Bellar.
