Homer girls fill in banner with first trip to state
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, March 01, 2007
HOMER, Neb. -- Every now and then during a close game this season, Kelsey Krusemark admits she would steal a glace up at the banners hanging in the Homer High School gymnasium.
On the banner to the right, Homer teams that have qualified for state are honored.
There's one year listed under volleyball. Five years each for football and boys basketball.
Under the girls basketball heading, nothing. Just a blank space of red fabric.
That won't be the case any longer.
"When you look up there, you see the crowd, and you just want to win for them," said Krusemark, a senior center.
Most times this season, the Homer Lady Knights did just that. With a 21-4 record, Homer will travel to Lincoln today for its first-ever appearance in the Nebraska Girls State Basketball Tournament.
"It's kind of a relief knowing we finally got there," senior guard Ase Overfelt said during practice this week.
It wasn't easy.
Tonight at 9, Homer faces perennial power West Point Central Catholic, the same team that beat the Lady Knights Friday in a Class C2 district final. After that loss, Homer players and coaches knew that in order to get a wild card entry to state, they needed Perkins County to win its district final. To heighten the drama, the western Nebraska high school is in the Mountain Time Zone, so Homer Coach Merlyn Tremayne had to wait a little longer to get the phone call with the final score.
When he finally heard that Perkins County had won, it didn't take long for news to spread among the team, which had waited in the gym and parking lot outside.
"Once the news broke, it was pretty excited out in the parking lot," Tremayne said.
The excitement hasn't died down since.
"There's just a little bit more of a hop in everybody's step. There's more of a buzz" in the school hallways, Homer High School principal Randy Pirner said.
The achievement couldn't have happened to a more deserving group of girls, Pirner said.
"Our girls are exceptional athletes and outstanding students," he said. "A high percentage of them are our best students. They're somebody for the younger students and girls to look up to."
Senior center Haley Schwartz told the crowd at a pep rally Wednesday that the state tournament is bittersweet. As a senior, her career is nearing its end.
"But I wouldn't have wanted to end it any other way," Schwartz said.
Schwartz and her teammates can take satisfaction knowing that it ends with a first. Before the season, Tremayne said, the girls set three goals.
1. Beat rival Bancroft-Rosalie. Check.
2. Win the Lewis and Clark Conference Tournament. They settled for runner-up.
3. Qualify for state. Check. Finally.
"That was a big goal for them to get this year put up there (on the banner)," Tremayne said.
By the time she graduates in May and takes one last look at that banner on the wall, Krusemark won't be seeing that blank space anymore.
Instead, 2007 will appear in big white block numbers.
"Just because we're the first ones to do it, it's more exciting," she said.
Goal accomplished.
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
On the banner to the right, Homer teams that have qualified for state are honored.
There's one year listed under volleyball. Five years each for football and boys basketball.
Under the girls basketball heading, nothing. Just a blank space of red fabric.
That won't be the case any longer.
"When you look up there, you see the crowd, and you just want to win for them," said Krusemark, a senior center.
Most times this season, the Homer Lady Knights did just that. With a 21-4 record, Homer will travel to Lincoln today for its first-ever appearance in the Nebraska Girls State Basketball Tournament.
"It's kind of a relief knowing we finally got there," senior guard Ase Overfelt said during practice this week.
It wasn't easy.
Tonight at 9, Homer faces perennial power West Point Central Catholic, the same team that beat the Lady Knights Friday in a Class C2 district final. After that loss, Homer players and coaches knew that in order to get a wild card entry to state, they needed Perkins County to win its district final. To heighten the drama, the western Nebraska high school is in the Mountain Time Zone, so Homer Coach Merlyn Tremayne had to wait a little longer to get the phone call with the final score.
When he finally heard that Perkins County had won, it didn't take long for news to spread among the team, which had waited in the gym and parking lot outside.
"Once the news broke, it was pretty excited out in the parking lot," Tremayne said.
The excitement hasn't died down since.
"There's just a little bit more of a hop in everybody's step. There's more of a buzz" in the school hallways, Homer High School principal Randy Pirner said.
The achievement couldn't have happened to a more deserving group of girls, Pirner said.
"Our girls are exceptional athletes and outstanding students," he said. "A high percentage of them are our best students. They're somebody for the younger students and girls to look up to."
Senior center Haley Schwartz told the crowd at a pep rally Wednesday that the state tournament is bittersweet. As a senior, her career is nearing its end.
"But I wouldn't have wanted to end it any other way," Schwartz said.
Schwartz and her teammates can take satisfaction knowing that it ends with a first. Before the season, Tremayne said, the girls set three goals.
1. Beat rival Bancroft-Rosalie. Check.
2. Win the Lewis and Clark Conference Tournament. They settled for runner-up.
3. Qualify for state. Check. Finally.
"That was a big goal for them to get this year put up there (on the banner)," Tremayne said.
By the time she graduates in May and takes one last look at that banner on the wall, Krusemark won't be seeing that blank space anymore.
Instead, 2007 will appear in big white block numbers.
"Just because we're the first ones to do it, it's more exciting," she said.
Goal accomplished.
Nick Hytrek can be reached at 712-293-4226 or nickhytrek@siouxcityjournal.com.
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mike king wrote on Mar 1, 2007 10:56 AM:
larrisa wrote on Mar 1, 2007 10:52 AM:
Jackie wrote on Mar 1, 2007 8:02 AM: