This week brings the 2023-24 school year to a quick and abrupt halt, as all three school districts will close for the summer in the coming days, state track looms for athletes at Sutton and Sandy Creek this weekend, and as I write this, hot off the press, as they say, the Sutton boys golf team has advanced to the Class D State Championships as a team.
The state golf tournament will be in North Platte again this year. In addition to the Mustangs heading to the big tournament of the year, Sandy Creek’s Jake Dane, who was second in the D-1 District Tournament in Grand Island this past Monday, will have his final round of representing Cougar Nation in a Sandy Creek uniform, as he tries to claim yet another state golf medal, after placing 10th in the Class D meet a year ago.
As you will see in the sports section this week, and on page 10A, with our “good luck at state golf” page, there are a large number of student-athletes that will be busy at the highest level of action in the coming week. I bid you all the best of luck this Friday and Saturday at the 2024 State Track and Field Championships, and to the Mustangs golf team, and Dane as you all head to the Lake Maloney Golf Course, south of North Platte. Be sure to enjoy the ride in Omaha and in North Platte. For some of you, it’s your final run, savor the memories, soak in the feeling, and have fun.
For those of you underclassmen that return to school, remember the same, the memories, the feelings and the emotions of the big stage.
In the past two weeks, the staff at the Clay County News has witnessed a total of 68 students off into the realm of a new life, as two weekends ago, Harvard graduated 16 seniors, and Sandy Creek 28. This past weekend, 24 Sutton seniors were presented their diplomas.
To me, as I’ve grown older, soon to be starting my 17th year at the Clay County News, it always amazes me how time flies while following these kids in all of their activities, not just sports, whether it’s live, or through stories that I’ve written about many of them, I’m blown away how time flies with each graduating class.
I live just down the street from a few former graduates at Sutton, who to me are still “kids” playing sports, or simply goofing off, and now they have children of their own, and at times, that just takes me back.
I’m not going to lie, there are stretches through each school year, whether I was 45 years old when I came here in 2009, or as I approach 60 this year, that I do think (under my breath of course) that I wish the year would move a little faster, but then as I look back, I also wish, again under my breath, that time would slow down a little, as well.
I guess beggers can’t be choosers, and as I reflect on the 2023-24 school year, a lot of good has come out of what is now my 16th graduating classes in Clay County, and as much as I want things to move faster, I also know that I always enjoy the school year.
This year, at least since October, has been a little different, and the rat race of covering events and meetings has been at warped speed, as for the most part, I’ve written the lion’s share of local stories, including news, features, and sports among many other things, but I also know I have people out there that are trying to help get information to me so I have stories to write, and fit them into crazy busy days.
It has truly been a hectic past six and a half months, and while the school year is about the be over, the summer months don’t change much by way of the “rat race pace,” as all community celebrations, and events, beginning here in a couple of weeks with Memorial Day Services will that kick off a new wave of “busy times,” for the Clay County News staff...there’s never a dull moment, that is for certain.
