Remsen Bell

LE MARS — For Remsen St. Mary’s, it was a rematch of last year’s state title game with No. 9 West Sioux, this time held in Le Mars, and just like in that contest, RSM came out as the winner, this time by a score of 8-1 on Tues., July 18. The Hawks had lost their previous two meetings with their War Eagle Conference rivals, just like they had last year, but came out on top with a solid night at the plate and a dominant performance from Jacob Wesselmann on the mound...

This year marks a special anniversary for the Life Skills Quilt Auction. The Life Skills Training Center will be holding their 20th Annual Quilt Auction at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 29, in Century Hall at the fairgrounds during the Plymouth County Fair. Doors will open at 1 p.m. for people to take a look around at all the items up for the auction...

PLYMOUTH CO. — As dry conditions continue across Plymouth County, water conservation is quickly becoming a key issue. Le Mars City Administrator Scott Langel put the issue on citizens’ radar at Tuesday’s city council meeting. “It’s purely voluntary at this point,” Langel said. “If we all do a few things, I think maybe we can curtail usage.”...

DES MOINES — The Remsen St. Mary’s baseball team say the rankings don’t matter. After Friday’s (July 21) state quarterfinal win, they’re probably right. After sliding down the rankings and finally being left out completely following a tough stretch during the middle of the season, the Hawks never got back into the IHSBCA top 10. Meanwhile, North Linn entered the tournament as the top-ranked team in Class 1A...

4-seed North Linn (41-2) vs. 5-seed Remsen St. Mary’s (27-7) Friday, July 21 at 1:30 p.m. Unranked Remsen St. Mary’s faced top-ranked North Linn in their opening round game as the Hawks will look to defend their state title from a year ago. North Linn leads the state with 41 wins on the season, but most of those came to smaller-sized schools which dropped their seeding down to the number-four seed at the state tournament...

OMAHA, Neb. - College of Saint Mary hosted its First Annual Physician Assistant White Coat Ceremony on Saturday, July 22. The inaugural event celebrated students who have earned entry into clinical patient care. Sarah Pettepier of Marcus took part in the ceremony...

Remsen St. Mary’s welcomes six new teachers, some familiar faces, to its staff for the 2017-2018 school year. Jeff & Emily Burkey Jeff began his position as Principal of RSM St. Mary’s on July 1, 2017. His wife Emily will also be part of the RSM staff as a high school math teacher. Jeff Burkey is a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa. He attended St. Albert High School (01). He holds a BSBA in business administration from Creighton University (05) as well as a BA...

The Remsen Chamber of Commerce will again be sponsoring their 19th annual Golf Outing on Wed., July 26, 2017. Play will be 4-person best ball (men and women) with door and flight prizes, three flights. Chamber businesses may have one or more teams of four players. Players need not be Chamber members, as long as they are represented by a paid Chamber business...

REMSEN — A major theme emerged from Remsen’s visioning session and community surveys sent out to help facilitate the update to the city’s comprehensive plan — the importance of economic development. According to SIMPCO Regional Planner Nicole Peterson, 73 community surveys were filled out along with the 26 citizens who attended a visioning session June 21, and the majority of those involved said economic development was a key issue...

ROCK RAPIDS — MMCRU scored a run in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as Harris-Lake Park won 2-1 over the Royals in the first round of district play on Tuesday night, July 11. It was a battle between the two pitchers as both teams managed just three hits in the game...

REMSEN — The battle of the two St. Mary’s teams ended with a four inning triumph for the Remsen squad as they beat the Storm Lake team 15-0 on Thursday, July 13. RSM scored multiple runs in each of their four at-bats. Jacob Wesselmann and Carter Kuchel led the offense as each homered in the game and had 3 RBIs apiece. It was the first home run for Wesselmann and second for Kuchel this season...

REMSEN — Just eight days after surviving a 10-9 game against Newell-Fonda, the Hawks showed they weren’t messing around in the second meeting, picking up a 9-0 win over the Mustangs on Saturday, July 15. The shutout marks the third such victory in as many district games as the team brings its overall winning streak to 12 games...

REMSEN — The Hawks began their title defense with a blowout win over South O’Brien on Tuesday night, July 11. In a five inning rout, Remsen St. Mary’s defeated the Wolverines 13-0. “We had a good night offensively with 14 hits,” RSM Co-Head Coach Dean Harpenau said. “We did a great job of hitting the ball and putting the ball in play. Played some good defense. Real happy with all facets of the game.”...

REMSEN — When students return to Remsen St. Mary’s in August, they may notice the high school gym looks a little different. “The gym was painted. We added a new stripe, along with painting the crow’s nest and the basketball standards,” RSM Athletic Director Brenda Ortmann said...

REMSEN — A massive restoration project has recently earned St. Mary’s Parish in Remsen a prestigious award. It was in June when the parish was named one of six recipients of preservation awards from the State Historical Society of Iowa. For St. Mary’s Parish it was the Margaret Keys Award, which recognizes outstanding historic preservation of projects totaling more than $500,000...

IRETON — Meeting up for the fourth time this season, Remsen St. Mary’s and West Sioux were quite familiar with each other. The Falcons took the first two meetings of the season, the first at Ireton and the second at Gehlen’s Spalding Tournament. Then the series switched in favor of the Hawks with RSM winning at home and then winning the most important of the four, the postseason matchup on Friday night, July 7, by a score of 7-4...

CLEGHORN — MMCRU had beaten Sioux Central earlier this season by a score of 5-4, but could not repeat with another win against the Rebels as they fell 8-5 in regional softball play on Monday, July 3. Sioux Central built up a 6-1 lead on Monday before the game was suspended in the third inning due to lightning...

REMSEN — There was a storm brewing on Monday night, July 3 and not just in the skies as Remsen St. Mary’s hosted Whiting for the first round of softball regional play. After a scoreless first two frames, RSM poured down for nine runs in the third inning en route to an 11-1 win over the Warriors in five innings...

REMSEN — Jacob Wesselmann got the win on the mound on senior night as the Hawks beat Alta-Aurelia 7-1 to hand Jim Wesselmann career victory No. 600 on Wednesday, July 5. The elder Wesselmann is now 600-249 for his coaching career. Currently the co-head coach for Remsen St. Mary’s, he also coached in stints with Okoboji and Corwith-Wesley...

MARCUS — MMCRU picked up a walk-off 5-4 victory over Trinity Christian on Thursday, July 6, in eight innings. The Royals used a squeeze bunt from Jordan Marks to score Travis Weiler, who was running for Drew Staab as Staab started the inning with a leadoff walk...

FONDA — Remsen St. Mary’s came away with a 10-9 win over Newell-Fonda in the final game before the Hawks start what they hope is another long postseason run. The Hawks have now won nine consecutive games as they enter the postseason. RSM scored one in the first, but saw the Mustangs answer for five runs in the bottom of the inning. The Hawks put up five runs of their own in the top of the third and added three more the next inning to take a 9-5 advantage...

SLOAN — Westwood made solid contact all night and put the ball in places Remsen St. Mary’s couldn’t get to as the Rebels advanced to the state tournament with a 13-1 victory on Monday, July 10. The 12-run deficit was the most lopsided of all eight 1A regional final games...

REMSEN — It was a cakewalk of a win for Remsen St. Mary’s against Woodbine on Wednesday, July 5 in the regional quarterfinal game as the Hawks won 15-4 in five innings. RSM capitalized on 13 walks issued by the Tigers’ pitchers including 10 free passes given by starter Sydnee Jensen...

REMSEN — Remsen St. Mary’s has found a new principal. Jeff Burkey takes over for interim principal Les Douma and officially begins his duties Monday, July 3. Burkey, a native of Council Bluffs, graduated from St. Albert High School in 2001, and holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in business administration from Creighton University...

PLYMOUTH CO. — A free nature program may soon be coming to a park near you. Plymouth County Conservation Naturalist Victoria DeVos is hitting the road for five traveling programs throughout communities in Plymouth County during the first week in July...