BHS teams, individuals compete on state level

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 18, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Bemidji High School students participating in extracurricular activities had an excellent year of competition, highlighted by more than 60 individuals or teams reaching state-level competitions or being recognized as all-state performers, according to Activities Director Jim Mergens.

In addition to those reaching state meets, 620 boys competed in athletics and 156 participated in the fine arts, and 540 girls competed in athletics and 385 participated in the fine arts. Overall, the school had more than 1,800 students who participated in extracurricular activities, according to Mergens, but some of the numbers are duplicated because of people competing in more than one activity.

"Somebody who saw these members said they kind of look like a voting record in Hibbing, where more people vote than there are people," he said at Monday's School Board meeting at which he presented the year-end review.

Students competed in 25 sports and a number of non-athletic activities such as speech, debate, Math League, choir and orchestra. They also competed on five cheerleading teams and three intermural sports teams.

One of the most outstanding teams in terms of number of participants in terms of number of participants was the girls track team on which there were 85 teammates, Mergens said.

The school district spent about $531,000 on extracurricular activities this year, which is slightly less than 2 percent of the district's annual budget, he said. The 2 percent spent is about average of what is spent on activities nationwide, he added.

The average grade point average for students participating in activities was about 3.4, while the average GPA for the school's general population was 2.9.

"It proves kids involved in activities will do better in school than the general population," Mergens said.

During the fall season, those individuals and teams making it to state competitions included the girls cross-country team, an individual from the boys cross-country team and nine individuals from the girls swimming team.

In the winter, state competitions included a boys and a girls cross-country ski relay team, an individual girl cross-country skier, eight individuals participating in Math League, nine boys swimmers, a speech contestant and six wrestlers.

State competitors in spring sports included six individuals from the girls track team, a boy from the track team, an individual from the girls golf team and the entire boys golf team, which won Bemidji High School's seventh state boys golf championship.

In other activities, an individual was honored as an all-state choir member, and five orchestra members as well were picked for the honor. Valencia Syverson with the Business Professional Association finished fourth in a national competition. And finally, two students participated in the state's Ford car diagnostics competition, and six more students competed in a state high-mileage event.

"If there was a team deserving of winning the state (boys golf) tournament, it's this team," said boys golf coach Eric Niskanen, one of several coaches who spoke at the board meeting. "They worked their tails off. These guys have kept in motion in Bemidji a tradition in golf."