Irish Insights

Big news offers reason for celebration

As Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School students head into spring break, the school celebrates major achievements in academics, athletics and extracurriculars. From national recognition to championship pursuits, hard work and dedication continue to make an impact in the Irish community.

National Merit finalists
After progressing through the semifinals, seniors Coffey Collier and Ben Willis have been named National Merit Finalists. The nomination for Nationals Merit comes when students receive high scores on their PSAT and then are allowed to progress with high ACT and SAT scores. 

“I'm really honored and excited,” Collier said. “It's just another hook under my belt.”

French Exchange
Beginning March 13, the foreign language department sent French language students to France over spring break to practice speaking and to learn more about French culture.

“It encouraged me to want to better myself in the language and continue learning it so that one day I can go back as an adult and blend it,” said Junior Courtney Lomoro, who took the same trip last year.

While in France, students stayed with host families. Junior McKellyn Johnson, who also repeated the trip, said she learned the most while staying with her host family and attending a French secondary school.

“It was more authentic,” Johnson said.

Senior headed to Naval Academy
After an extensive application, congressional nomination and physical and mental health tests, senior Jack de Keratry has been accepted to the United States Naval Academy. 

He said the aspiration to attend the Naval Academy stems from his desire to serve the country and the example of his grandfather. 

“The Naval Academy develops people morally, mentally and physically, which was awesome to me,” de Keratry said. 

As a part of his application, de Keratry was nominated by U.S. Representative Stephanie Bice.

NSDA Tournament
After months of preparation, the speech team will be sending qualifiers Taylor Davidson, Mary Krodel and Jayden Southerland to the National Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, this summer. 

“Our team works so hard, so even the students that didn’t qualify for nationals still gave a good fight and really practiced so hard,” speech and debate Coach Brett Young said. “I do know they have really good pieces, and the three students that did qualify, I think they’ll do very well, so I am excited to see how it goes.”

Golf scoring averages coming down?
Coach Mark Veneklasen said he’s not sure if the golf team will be able to defend its state title, but believes it will be able to bring down scoring averages with the implementation of new scoring parameters for regional and state qualifications.

This year, the OSSAA has transitioned scoring to the “iWanamaker” golf app. Through the new system, golfers will compete based on both course difficulty and individual player scores. 

“What they're doing is they're taking the course rating into account, so if you play easy courses and you score well it works to your disadvantage almost,” Veneklasen said. “So, if you play well on a difficult course, obviously it's a bonus.”

The app will allow both players and their supporters to view athletic directors, coaches and student-athletes, schedules, live leaderboards, player scorecards, rankings and more.

“I think it will work to our advantage, but it's really kind of a wash in that things have a tendency to equal out by the time you get to regionals,” said Veneklasen, who will field a veteran squad dominated by upperclassmen.

The girls team will play next at the Guthrie tournament on March 27, while the boys will play next at the Shangri La Tournament March 28-30. 

Katherine Menz is a junior at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School.


Photo: Senior Jack de Keratry stands for a photo with U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice. Photo BMCHS Advancement.