In this edition of Lots O’ Stuff, a Jackson County Central graduate is planning a mission trip to Africa; some local grads have earned academic honors from the NSIC; Gavin Jacobsen is back for his junior season at Bethany Lutheran; a softball standout who played at Fairmont last season is pitching at the Division I level; and the LeSueur-Henderson football program should be seeing a boost in numbers in the fall.
Mission trip
Keegan Moore is planning a mission trip to Africa toward the end of next month.
Moore is a member of Quest Church in Norman, Okla. and plans to travel to Rwanda, Africa in late May and early June.
He’s teaching sixth grade Language Arts and an Art class in Prague, Okla. He is also head wrestling coach for Prague and club leader for Red Ryder Wrestling Club in Prague.
Here’s what Moore wrote in a recent social media post:
I believe that the Lord has called me to Rwanda Africa on a mission’s trip end of May-June 2024. Rwanda has a population of more than 8 million and is still feeling the effects of a devastating genocide that killed over 1 million people in just over 3 months in 1994; one out of every eight died. Rwandans are also faced with an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has left many homes with no parents or grandparents to raise their children. There are many widows and orphans who struggle every day to overcome poverty, disease, and painful memories.
Moore is working with an organization called Baho Outreach, Inc., which cares for children and families in need in some of the poorest communities in East Africa. That organization brings freedom and opportunity to children and families through education, church planting and sustainability.
Keegan needs to raise funds for the trip. He said in his post that whether support comes through prayer, financial means, or both it will be an encouragement.
Gifts may be made out to: Baho Outreach, Inc. and mailed to:
BAHO OUTREACH,
PO Box P, Prague, OK 74864
All gifts to Baho Outreach are tax-deductible Tax ID # 81-3788656
Or, you may also Cash App or Venmo:
Cash app: $RRWC1
Venmo: Keegan-Moore-8
Moore earned a master’s degree in human relations at Oklahoma University, where he concluded his college wrestling career with the Sooners. He was a two-time NCAA tournament qualifier, once with Oklahoma and once with Oklahoma State. He also wrestled at Northern Iowa.
Keegan was a three-time state wrestling champion at JCC and his name appears throughout the school record books in wrestling and football.
Academic honors
Four local high school graduates earned academic honors from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for the winter sports season.
Student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.60 or better were named to the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence, while those with a GPA of 3.20 higher are NSIC All-Academic team members.
Earning a place on the Team of Excellence were Martin County West graduate Jaxson Rohman, a junior with the Augustana University wrestling team; and Fairmont grad Laura Thompson, a sophomore with the Vikings women’s indoor track and field squad.
Listed on the all-academic team are Jackson County Central graduate Olivia Anderson, a sophomore with the Minnesota State University women’s indoor track and field team; and Payton Anderson, a junior with the Augustana wrestling program.
Jacobsen wins
JCC graduate Gavin Jacobsen was the winning pitcher for Bethany Lutheran in the first game of a doubleheader vs. Northland College Thursday in Mankato.
He went six and two-third innings, allowing two runs (none earned) on four hits, walked three and struck out seven as the Vikings won 12-2 in eight innings.
For the season, Jacobsen has a 2-1 record with a 2.28 earned run average. He has pitched 23 and two-third innings, allowing nine runs (six earned) on 18 hits, walking 13 and striking out 31.
The Vikings are 8-7 overall and 6-0 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
BLC has five games scheduled at ISG Field in Mankato this weekend, with a single game vs. North Central University Friday, a doubleheader vs. NCU Saturday and another doubleheader vs. Carleton on Sunday.
Livesay at SEMO
Tegan Livesay, who played her final season of high school softball at Fairmont and the led the Cardinals to the Big South Conference championship, is a freshman pitcher at Division I Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
With the Cardinals, she earned Class 2A all-state honors. In the pitcher’s circle she had a 15-4 record with eight shutouts and a 0.40 earned run average. At the plate she hit .478.
Livesay was the Kansas Class 5A Co-Player of the Year as a junior at Newton High School.
She’s appeared in 15 games for the Redhawks this season including nine starts.
In 42.1 innings Livesay has allowed 35 runs (25 earned) on 43 hits, walked 23 and struck out 24.
She pitched a complete game vs. Florida International on Feb. 10 but took a 1-0 loss. Livesay had a high of six strikeouts in 3.2 innings in a no-decision vs. No. 24 Auburn on Feb. 24.
SEMO is 13-20 overall on the season after upending No. 11 Missouri 1-0 today (Wednesday) on the Tigers’ home field in Columbia.
The Redhawks are tied for third in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 7-5 record.
Numbers boost for Giants
After a numbers problem in its football program, LeSueur-Henderson should be getting a boost next season.
The LSH School Board has approved new cooperative agreements with Minnesota New Country School in Henderson for football and speech, starting with the 2024-25 school year.
In his opening comments at a special meeting on the topic of the co-op, LSH Superintendent Jim Wagner commented that the board should consider its responsibility to provide opportunities for students and residents in the school district, even if they are not LSH students.
Superintendent Wagner has also served as the head coach of the Giants’ football team for the past two seasons, and pointed out the program is short on numbers.
Although they have about 40 students who expressed an interest to play in the fall, Wagner said that not all of those students are physically up to playing varsity. He said only about 20-24 can physically handle a varsity football game.
In 2023, multiple injuries resulted in the Giants forfeiting a game to Jackson County Central in Week 4 of the season and the Giants also opted out of the Section 3AA playoffs. That dropped the number of teams in the section to seven and resulted in JCC receiving a first-round bye.
There are 8-10 MNCS students who are interested in playing football.
Adding the MNCS students could cause LeSueur-Henderson to go from competing in Class 2A to Class 3A.
Current enrollment figures would have LSH just under the cutoff set by the Minnesota State High School League for Class 2A. The range for Class 2A is currently 211-312 enrollment.
Estimates have LSH at 309 students, which would be just below the 312 cutoff the Minnesota State High School League currently has for Class AA (211-312 population).
You probably have never heard Bohemian Rhapsody like this before: