2018 Athletic Banquet

A large turnout this past week for the annual Kimball High Booster Club Banquet and Awards Night. Jeri Ferguson served as the Master of Ceremonies and kept things moving right along. Dave Klinkhammer was recognized for preparing the delicious beef brisket and members of the Booster Club did the serving.

After everyone got their food eaten, the various coaches did a rundown on their seasons talking of this year's highlights, along with what they feel need to be accomplished to make their respective sports more competitive next year. Some of the talks were complete with a bit of humor. Girl's basketball Coach, Chauncey Pedersen, said, "We were told we could have 5 minutes to give our talks this evening, but after all of the injury problems we had this season, I would like to talk for 30 seconds and then have everyone join me in prayer for 4 and a half minutes that next season will be injury-free." He did go on to say that a positive from all of the injuries, if there was one, was that lots of young players got lots of playing time. He mentioned that senior, Hannah Biesecker, will play in the West Nebraska Panhandle Prep All Star game this summer, and Alex Reader, one of the injured who missed her second consecutive season, will be involved in the 3 point shooting contest.

Chad Wise, boy's golf coach, said he just came from the Golf Course and got hailed on putting carts away. His speech got rained on and he couldn't read it, but did a great job of talking about his successful season underway. He asked me to be sure and mention that he forgot to thank all of the parents who travel and attend all of the tournaments.

Luke Dea, boys basketball coach, pointed out that the numbers are way down, with only one senior this year and only two freshmen. A total of 15 kids were out for the sport this season.

Coach Tiffany Dea gave a rundown on all of the many honors her cheer squad won this season. She mentioned how they will miss the 5 seniors who will graduate. The cheer squad season never ends, as they are in action all the school term. "We are here to create support for all the sports and all the athletes," she said.

In the awards categories, 6 students were named as Western Trails Conference Scholar Athletes, including, Zane Anthony, Alex Reader, Kaden Adrian, Justine Heeg, Nicholas Thomas-Lewis and Kate Reader. The Outstanding Senior Athlete awards went to Hannah Biesecker and Jaden Mohr, with both receiving certificates and medals, the same as the WTC Scholar Athletes. Seniors Justine Heeg and Paycen Harroun, received $250 WTC scholarships. Hannah Biesecker and Nicholas Thomas-Lewis were awarded the $500 Booster Club Scholarships.

Recognition for the 3-6-9-12 awards were explained and special awards given to those athletes who took part in 3 sports for each grade they participated in. The freshman who were out for 3 sports were: Megan Spicer, Samantha Bemis, Raven Johnson, Emma Martin and Sydney Biesecker. Sophomores named for 6 sports participation were: Stephen Bateman, Bailie Brower, Brendan Walker and Carli Wurdeman. Juniors given the 9 sport awards were: Kate Reader, Izaac Reuter, Corey Travis and Madison Wynne. The 12 sport recipients were: Hannah Biesecker, Jaden Mohr, Alex Reader and Kole Bush.

Selected to the Athlete Hall of Fame was Kayli Rageth with former Coach Tiffany Johnson making the presentation. Coach Johnson pointed out that Kayli was a 4-year letter winner in cross country, track and basketball. She was a 4-time state qualifier in cross country and is listed in the school record books in the sport. Basketball was her main sport, where she is also listed in many school records. Kayli went on to excel in the sport at the college level at both Hastings College and Chadron State.

Selected as this year's Hall of Fame Fans were: Greg Robinson, long-time Public Address Announcer for both basketball and football, along with Harold Farrar, long-time official scorekeeper in basketball and also assisting in press box duties in football.

The evening concluded with Kim Adrian informing the audience that more members were needed to keep the Booster Club active with all of the many activities they perform throughout the season each year. Anyone interested is asked to contact her, or any of the other Booster Club members. Your interest is needed and appreciated. The student body took care of cleaning up the student center as the evening ended.