By Barbie Porter

Editor

At the start of the season the Frazee High School basketball  program had 16 members in the 1,000 career points club. Of those, seven are from the boys team, which recently added a new member to the club. 

Jack Courneya joined the elite 1,000 point club that dates back to 1957 on Tuesday, Feb. 2 in a game against the Hawley Nuggets.

When he entered the game he knew he was closing in on the goal, but he wasn’t sure how many points he needed to reach 1,000. Luckily, there were stat takers keeping track the whole way. 

Courneya was fouled and he lined up at the free throw line in the first half with about four minutes on the clock. At the free-throw line the pressure can mount as all eyes are on the single player. When the ball left his hands, Courneya was not pleased. 

“I thought it was way short, actually,” he said. 

Being wrong may have never felt so good. As the ball tip-toed on the rim and fell into the net, a goal Courneya set in ninth grade was achieved. He was met with excitement from everyone in the gym, many of which helped him achieve his long-term goal.

Courneya recognized his parents as being instrumental in his success on and off the court, stating they pushed him every day to “be the best player and person I can be.”

The four-year varsity guard for the Hornets basketball team plans to attend the University of Jamestown to play basketball in the fall.

The 1,000 point club at Frazee High School, includes:

• Rodney Newling, 1,148 points collected by 1957.

• Cheri Beyer, 1,504 points made by 1983.

• Nathan Merseth recorded 1,209 points by 1993.

• Mitch Anderson, 1,301 points collected by 1993.

• Tara Heston, 1,049 points made by 2002.

• Katie Stearns, 1,540 points recorded by 2005.

• Courtney Kallis had 1,541 points by her career end in 2008.

• Abby Berven sunk 1,043 points by 2009.

• Dan Jany made 1,229 points by 2012.

• Ashley Bachmann earned 1,001 points by 2013.

• Alexis Tappe joined the club with 1,603 points by 2013.

• Josi Tappe recorded 1,177 points by 2015.

• Brady Bellefeuille had 1,000 points by 2015.

• Cole Fleisher and his brother Broden reached 1,000 points last season. Broden is now a senior while his brother gradauted last spring.

• Paige Ziegler also ended last season with 1,000 points.

It shold be noted with Fleisher and Ziegler, the final tallies were not noted, just that the three students had reached the 1,000 point benchmark.