Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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For nearly 30 years, I’ve been a season ticket holder for Nebraska volleyball matches. I also used to cover the sport. I was around when then-Coach Terry Pettit was begging football fans to attend volleyball matches after watching a football game. Way back in the day (years before I caught the volleyball bug) loyal fans used to set up their own folding chairs so they could watch a match. Fast forward to today. Home volleyball matches in Lincoln have been sold out for years, making it harder f...
For the majority of her life, basketball has taught Adyson Mlnarik lessons on and off the court. Now, as a junior at Hastings College, she is using her experiences to help younger athletes at a series of basketball camps that took place at Summerland, St. Mary's, Boyd County, and Niobrara/Verdigre schools. "The goals are the same for all age divisions, developing their skills and making them more confident." Mlnarik said. According to Mlnarik, her specialty in basketball would be shooting, but... Full story
When Brett Kaczor walked into the Ewing football program as a freshman, longtime Ewing coach Ed Johnson didn't need much time to recognize what he had. "We (Coach Brock Eichelberger and I) made a decision to bring him right up right away," Johnson recalled. "We thought he was ready, and we used him right away and didn't waste any time at all. He proved us right, I guess." Nearly two decades later, that decision looks even more obvious. On June 20, Kaczor was inducted into the Nebraska Eight-Man...
The two highest-paid nonprofit employees in the state benefit from a bonus system criticized for incentivizing more medical procedures. Nebraska's state auditor calls it inexplicable. A former health insurance CEO suggests it's excessive. A veteran doctor says it's unheard of. They're reacting to what a nonprofit hospital paid its gastroenterologist in 2024: Nearly $5 million. That same hospital, Faith Health in Norfolk, paid a plastic surgeon $3.8 million. Those sums made the doctors the two...
Two Summerland track and field athletes will compete in this weekend's 2026 NSAA State Track and Field Championships. The meet will be held at Omaha Burke Stadium, 12200 Burke Boulevard in Omaha. Ryan Rifer and Ethan Kester, both seniors, qualified during the May 14 district meet at Atkinson West Holt. Complete results and photos appear on pages 5 and 6. Rifer will compete in the Class C boys high jump at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, May 22. He will compete against a field of 17 other competitors....
The Bobcat track and field teams traveled to Atkinson West Holt, May 14, for a competitive Class C5 District meet. In the boys division, Summerland finished eighth, scoring 16 points. Battle Creek claimed the team title with 146, while West Holt kept the runner-up trophy with 93. Other teams competing included O'Neill, Elkhorn Valley, Crofton, Valentine, Boyd County, and Niobrara/Verdigre. Summerland's girls team finished ninth. West Holt topped the field with 133 points. Battle Creek claimed...
Summerland athletes were recognized Friday during the annual athletic banquet at the school. Ethan Kester and Caydence Schumacher receive the Outstanding Senior Athlete Awards. Ryan Rifer, Kester, Schumacher, and Jenna Funk are named Senior Academic Athletes of the Year....
Ethan Kester, Isabella Kester, and Ryan Rifer will participate in the 32nd Annual Norfolk Track and Field Classic, planned for Thursday at the Norfolk Senior High Track facility. E than Kester will compete in pole vault, scheduled to begin 4 p.m. Isabella Kester will run the 3200m, slated to start at 7:20 p.m. Rifer will high jump, beginning at 4 p.m....
Summerland's track and field teams headed to Neligh-Oakdale on March 26 for the first track meet of the season: the Warrior Relays. Athletes compete in each event as a collective group, and those marks are added together to determine an event winner. In the girls division, the Bobcats took first place in triple jump, totaling 79' 11.5 inches. Kanyon Allemang led the group with a jump of 28' 4.5 inches. Caydence Schumacher reached 27' 9.5 inches, and Karley Dawkins landed at 23' 9.5 inches. The...
York University continues to expand its athletic opportunities with the addition of powerlifting, as President Timothy Westbrook announced that the Board of Trustees has officially approved the new program. The plan for powerlifting is to start as a club sport and grow into a full collegiate program. Leading the new program will be head coach Jeff Shabram, a respected name in Nebraska's powerlifting community. Shabram brings more than 25 years of experience in education and over two decades of...
In a single jump, Bobcat senior Ryan Rifer set a personal best, school record and facility meet record, on Friday at the Wayne State High School Track Invite. Rifer cleared 6' 5", besting the second- through fourth-place finishers by seven inches. He also competed in the 400m, running 59.27. He ended in 13th place. Ethan Kester finished second in pole vault. He cleared 11' 6 inches. The 4x800 team, comprised of Ethan Barner, Lane Sanne, Rogan Robertson, and Cash kester placed sixth. They ran...
Adyson Mlnarik of Clearwater and a graduate of Summerland Public School is having a record year as a member of the Hastings College Women's basketball team. The Broncos, currently 22-8 on the season, head to Wichita, this Friday, for the NAIA Women's National Championship Tournament. Hastings College will play Friends in the first round, set to tip off at 2 p.m., at the Garvey Center. The teams met on Nov. 5 in the same venue. Friends walked away with a 104-102 win in double overtime. Mlnarik's...
Someone recently asked me to describe district wrestling since they have never attended. It’s a glimpse of pure joy, and a view of intense heartbreak. Tears flow - win or lose - after you’ve invested energy and headspace to an activity that pushes you to physical and mental limits. Nothing wrong with tears. It’s the culmination of sweat equity, countless practice sessions, prayers for a healthy season. Over the last two weekends, I watched several athletes who let the liquid flow follo...
Shelby native Curt Tomasevicz fulfilled his dream of playing football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, where he was a scrappy special teamer. But since then, his life and career have taken a circuitous route - a twisting, turning path kind of like a bobsled course. Tomasevicz, who grew up in a 700-person town hundreds of miles from the nearest mountain, is now on the USA Bobsledding leadership team as director of sport performance. And he's currently at the Winter Olympics in Italy. The...
Chasing goals. Bobcat wrestler Austin Mendoza said his first thought, after reaching 100 wins, was "Wow, it's about time I joined the club. It's a goal I've been chasing all year." The chase came to fruition, Friday, at the Central Valley Invite, when the Summerland junior pinned Yutan's Charlie Tasich in just over two minutes. " I knew I was close to 100 but did not think I would have gotten it the first match of the meet," Mendoza said. Head Coach Dan Roeber said reaching the century milestone...
Dr. Karissa Niehoff, Chief Executive Officer of the NFHS Jennifer Schwartz, Executive Director of the Nebraska School Activities Association High school sports is experiencing record participation. It is also experiencing unprecedented pressure. Across the country, young athletes are training earlier, competing year-round and navigating expectations shaped by a rapidly expanding youth sports economy. For many families, athletics now feel like increasingly high stakes. High school sports operate differently—by design. They exist within s...
Two Bobcat athletes established school records in their respective sports on Friday. Ava Cleveland becomes the first Bobcat girls wrestler to reach the century mark, a feat she accomplished during Friday's semifinal match at the Ord Invitational. Jenna Funk set the career rebound record for the Bobcat girls basketball program. In Friday's contest at Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, Funk ended with nine rebounds, bringing her career total to 494....
Doubles come naturally to Ryan Rifer, even his initials repeat. The Summerland senior made the symmetry official Dec. 30 at the Summerland Holiday Tournament, pouring in 36 points while hauling down 14 rebounds to set a school record in the single-game scoring category and tying the rebound record, a performance that doubled up the stat sheet and rewrote the program’s history in a single night. The multi-sport standout said he knew he was closing in on the scoring mark after a “hot first half,...
A weekend of family entertainment is waiting at the Missouri River Outdoor Expo 20th anniversary event set for Sept. 20-21 at Ponca State Park. At this expo, the largest of its kind in the Midwest, guests may participate in any of more than 100 outdoor activities, including wildlife encounters, fishing, kayaking, archery, camping skills, cooking demonstrations, contests, rock climbing, shooting sports, food and goods vendors, craftsmanship demonstrations, local entertainment and much more. Some fan favorites are back at the expo this year. The...
Summerland coaches and athletes played a part in Saturday's Sertoma All-Star 8-Man Football Game in Hastings. The West Squad included Coach Tom Thramer, Alec Schindler, Keaton Thiele, and Assistant Coach Brett Kaczor. The East Squad pulled off a 14-8 victory....
Two Summerland track and field standouts will have one final time to show why they belong among the this year's best. Senior Lydia Robertson and junior Ryan Rifer will compete in high jump in the Nebraska School Activities Association Class C State Track and Field Championships at Omaha Burke Stadium. Rifer will compete with 22 other athletes at 9:30 a.m., Friday, May 23. Robertson joins 19 other jumpers for an 11:30 a.m. start on Saturday, May 24....
The summer season begins with the 2025 edition of Ewing Summer FunFest. Activities are slated for Saturday, May 24 through Monday, May 26. Qualifying for the Hole-In-One Contest, sponsored by KBRX in O'Neill, will tee off this weekend, from 5 p.m. until dark, at Summerland Golf Course. Golfers will have two last chances to test their luck for the contest on May 23 from 5 p.m. until dark and May 24, from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday events begin with the Summerland Booster Club 9-Hole Golf Tournament....
Alec Schindler and Lydia Robertson were named the boys and girls athlete of the year. The announcement was made Friday, May 2, during the school's athletic awards program. The two also received honors as four-year, three-sport letter winners. Schindler will continue his athletic career at Wayne State College, where he will be part of the Wildcats football program. Robertson will play volleyball for Hastings College. Recently, she was honored as a Scott Scholar at HC....
Garrett Shadbolt grew up watching his dad chase dreams of saddle bronc stardom, but never had much desire to chase it himself - an interesting admission from the Nebraska native and current No. 7 bareback rider in the world. "I remember going to a lot of rodeos when I was little, but watching him didn't make me want to get into it," he said. Now, Shadbolt is forming new traditions with his young family. And as the lone Nebraskan to make it to the National Finals Rodeo in the last four years, he...
Three Bobcat track and field athletes will compete in Thursday's Norfolk Track and Field Classic at Norfolk High School at 4 p.m. Ruger Switzer, Lydia Robertson and Ryan Rifer qualified in high jump. High jump competition will begin at 4, with Robertson competing at the north pit and Rifer and Switzer jumping at the south pit. All field event medals will be award at approximately 5 p.m....
