NRHEG Star Eagle

137 Years Serving the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Area
Newspaper of Record for NRHEG School District
Newspaper of Record for Waseca County, MN
PO Box 248 • New Richland, MN 56072

507-463-8112
email: steagle@hickorytech.net
Published every Thursday
Yearly Subscription: Waseca, Steele, and Freeborn counties: $52
Minnesota $57 • Out of state $64

By JIM LUTGENS

Sports Editor

Most of the time this season, defense has been the main nemesis for the NRHEG boys' basketball team.

On, Thursday, Jan. 26, it was the opposite.


STRONG START — After starting slow against JWP last Tuesday, the NRHEG girls’ basketball team made sure it didn’t happen Thursday at Bethlehem Academy. From left: the Panthers’ Sidney Schultz (12); Erin Jacobson (12) and Quinn VanMaldeghem. Photos by Judy Tweeten

By JIM LUTGENS

Sports Editor

The NRHEG girls' basketball team got off to a decidedly slow start at Janesville last Tuesday.

The Panthers made sure it didn't happen Thursday.

The locals recovered from a 26-24 halftime deficit to defeat JWP 70-50 and, two nights later at Faribault, they raced to a 45-20 halftime advantage en route to a 79-40 triumph. NRHEG improved to 13-2 overall and 9-0 in the Gopher Conference.

By DEB BENTLY

Staff Writer

“Cheerleading isn’t just waving your arms and shouting,” observes NRHEG senior Grace Wilkenson. Fellow senior Eva Wayne agrees: “People often don’t realize how serious it is,” she says. “It’s actually very competitive and very demanding.”

As three-time members of NRHEG’s state champion competitive cheer team and 10-year participants in the sport, the two of them would know.

Wayne and Wilkenson were among the 15 cheerleaders and four coaches who represented NRHEG at the weekend-long competition that ended Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023. On Saturday morning, the group performed its two-minute, 30-second routine along with 8 other competing teams and was ranked in the top half, thus advancing to finals later that evening.