Hello my name is Amanda Davis and I am Mary Kersenbrock and we are here with yet another addition of St.Mary’s School News.

This week at St. Mary’s has been filled with activity. The Van Allen orders for Volleyball, Football, Basketball, and Cheerleading or Drill Team posters are being taken. Pictures are posted outside the office during the school week. Order forms are available at the office and from Mrs. Troshynski and the senior journalism staff members.

Don’t forget to order your yearbook! 2001 Marian Yearbooks are now on sale. A drawing will be held for the first 100 yearbooks sold this year and three people will receive a free yearbook. Cost is $28.00 for the yearbook and $32.00 if you want it personalized. After January 19th the cost will increase to $30.00 and $34.00 if you want it personalized. You may call the office to purchase a yearbook.

Congratulations to the Voice of Democracy winners sponsored by the local VFW Post 926. 1st place went to Shannon Holz, 2nd place went to Stacey Zakrewski and 3rd place went to Katie Cameron. Winners will be contacted by Post 926 for an awards evening for their certificates and cash prizes. Congratulations to Shannon Holz who also won the District VOD Contest. Shannon traveled to Grand Island last Saturday for an awards banquet for District winners and State competitors.

Juniors, seniors and their parents are reminded of the financial aid meeting for college bound students next Monday, January 22 at 7 p.m. at the O’Neill Elementary School.

Mary, do you know what speech team is? Well, speech team is a competitive group who presents speeches and acts out performance pieces. An individual’s performance is compared to students from other schools competing in the same event by a judge within a "round." The speech team lettering system allows students to gain points for practicing, going to meetings, and placing in tournaments. First year competitors begin on what is called a novice team, similar to the JV of speech. The varsity team is composed of those members who have gained enough points from previous meets or who have been in speech for more than one year.

The Saint Mary’s High School speech team begins "fishing for a golden education" on Saturday, January 20, in Albion beginning at 8a.m. Everyone is welcome to attend. There is no admission fee.

This week is a special week for our school, Mary, as we will have an all-school mass. This celebration will be held on Friday, January 19, at 8:15a.m. We look forward to our liturgy and hope that you’ll attend.

The halls of St. Mary’s are usually always filled with the sound of music. Many students in the seventh through ninth grades are preparing to audition for the annual Bloomfield Junior High Band Clinic’s honor band. The rest of the band is preparing for the Niobrara Valley Conference Clinic in March, as well.

The senior spotlighted this week is Dan Pribil. Dan is 17-years-old and has attended St. Mary’s for 12 years. He is the son of William and LouAnn Pribil of O’Neill. Dan is involved in FBLA and in his spare time he loves to go hunting. After graduation he plans to attend either Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska or another trade school. Dan is planning on majoring in auto technology.

So Amanda what’s the junior high been up to? The Jr. High Boys Basketball team participated in the Stuart Tournament on Saturday, January 13th. In their first game the Cards fell to Spencer-Naper with a score of 34-11. However; St. Mary’s proved victorious over the Butte Wildcats 28-9. Their next game is set for Thursday, tomorrow, January 18th when the Cardinals will take on Atkinson at home beginning at 6:30 p.m..

The Junior High is off to a good start. How about the girls basketball? The SMH Lady Cardinals ended the weekend pretty tired. The Cardinal squad went up against the Ewing Tigers on January 11, at St. Mary’s. The Cardinals played an intense game and came out victorious with a score of 54-33. Next the Lady Cards traveled to Spencer to compete with the Pirates. They started out the night a little slow, but picked up in the end. The game went into overtime but in the end the Cards came up a little short, the score was 41-45.

The Junior Varsity Girls also played Spencer/Naper. The team was defeated and the score was 11-25.

The next games for the Lady Cardinal team are Stuart, and Lynch. They will go to Stuart on Friday, January 19. These games will include the Junior Varsity girls and boys, and the Varsity girls and boys. The games will begin at 3:45. Then on Saturday, the 20th, the girls will head to Lynch and the games begin at 6:30.

So Amanda, are the boys still undefeated? Well the Varsity boys basketball team went up against the Ewing Tigers last Thursday and came up with their first loss of the season. They played a tough game with a score of 33 to 45. The following night they traveled to Spencer and lost their second game with a score of 66 to 49. The JV boys also played Ewing on Thursday and won 48 to 36. They also beat Spencer-Naper on Friday 66 to 49. The varsity boys will play again along with the JV boys in Stuart on Friday with the bus leaving at 2:30. The varsity boys will also play in Lynch on Saturday with bus leaving at 5:00. Good luck to all of you!

So I hear that the stores have a shortage of pins. Speaking of pins how about those wrestlers? The O’Neill wrestling team had a longer weekend than they expected when they were snowed in while attending the Elkhorn Invitational on Saturday. The team placed ninth. Tyler Cole placed sixth, and has a 7 and 8 record; Dan Ascherl placed fourth and has a record of 12 and 5; Tim Krugman went two and out, and has a record of 5 and 10. Tyson Cole placed fourth in the Elkhorn meet. The wrestlers also competed in the Ainsworth-Ord triangular last night here in O’Neill. Tyler Cole drew a bye against Ord and won over Ainsworth. Ascherl lost both of his matches. And Tyson Cole won over Ord and lost to his Ainsworth opponent. The next wrestling meet is the Neligh Jv Invitational on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Thank you to Torpin’s Rodeo Market and Pinnicle Bank for sponsoring this segment of St.Mary’s School News. This has been Mary Kersenbrock and Amanda Davis listen again next week.