Time To Get Inside For Some Winter Sports

Winter sports practice officially got underway for Nebraska high schools this past Monday and it certainly is time to get indoors and out of the cold weather.

Wade Brashear is back to head up the Kimball High wrestling program and assistant Bob Culek is back to add his expertise as well. It looks like the Longhorns will have about 14 young men working hard on the mats this season which opens up December 5th when they host Bayard.

Chauncey Pedersen is back again to head up the Lady Longhorn basketball and has his top assistant Tiffany Johnson back also. It looks like the roster might fill out at about 22 and there is some talent, but the schedule is going to be tough as they face the usual opponents. But ... the sub-district play is going to be different as Kimball drops down into D-1 this year due to lower numbers.

The new look in the coaching ranks this season comes in the boys basketball with Mo Hanks taking over for the departed Luke Dea, who moved on to Gothenburg. Mo has a lot of coaching experience behind him, but this will be his first year of coaching basketball at Kimball High. Gene Mohr will also be on the bench and has been with the program for many years.

There are certainly some high hopes for the Kimball boys this year with returning experience and lots of height. One of the keys is getting everyone healthy from football injuries. Coach Hanks will not have a large number of players and it might be hard to fill out a junior varsity roster, but with the four returning letter men and anotherfive who will battle for starting roles, this could be a fun year for the Kimball High boys.

We will give you a lot more details and delve into the depth of the programs and what to expect in our upcoming Winter Sports Special coming out soon.

Junior High Sports

Looking at Kimball Junior High schedule that is ongoing, there is girls basketball at Ogallala this afternoon (Thursday), and the girls will be at Pine Bluffs Monday, Nov. 25. The junior high wrestlers are at Morrill tomorrow – Friday, Nov. 22 – and at Grant on Tuesday, Nov. 26. That will wrap up the month of November for Kimball school sports.

Hall Of Fame Numbers

I got a lot of nice feedback on the story telling you readers about Dale Hendrickson being inducted into the Nebraska Baseball Hall of Fame this coming Feb. 9, but Dale informed me that I shortchanged him on the years that I reported he had spent in the Kimball School system. I reported 24 years and it was actually 27.

Hey, he is proud of the years he put in at Kimball High, and he should be! Score that an error on me, Dale.