Editorial: Let’s hear it for the girls

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When the inaugural Wildcat Hall of Fame class is inducted at the high school’s Wildcat Open Golf Tournament next month, Brenda Simone, Kate Peterson and Karyn Bye Dietz will be among the eight athletes honored while Deb Timmerman will enter the hall in the coachs’ category.

All four women are being recognized for their achievements and contributions in their respective sports — Simone and Timmerman in gymnastics; Peterson in basketball; and Bye Dietz in hockey.

There was a time when girls’ high school sports were looked at as secondary, playing “second fiddle” to the boys’. But thanks to the hard work and dedication of women like those mentioned above, girls at River Falls High School today not only compete, but excel in a wide variety of sports.

This school year alone, the Wildcat girls’ golf team won the Big Rivers Conference championship while the girls’ cross country team won its second straight BRC title and placed fourth at the WIAA state meet, its highest finish ever.

The Wildcat gymnastics team has been a state powerhouse for years, winning five of the last 10 state titles while qualifying for state all 10 years.

And the St. Croix Valley Fusion, the girls’ hockey team that includes players from River Falls, Baldwin-Woodville, St. Croix Central and Spring Valley high schools, has created a dynasty of its own with three straight state championships despite only being in existence since 2005.

The latest team to raise itself to the elite level is the Wildcat girls’ soccer team. The Cats won their second straight BRC championship this spring and qualified for the WIAA State Tournament for the first time in school history.

The numbers posted by the team this year are mind-boggling. Going into the state tournament, it was undefeated with a record of 20-0-1 and had scored 85 goals while allowing a total of just one! That kind of success doesn’t just happen by accident.

Back when Simone, Peterson and Bye Dietz were Wildcats in the late 1980s, girls’ golf, girls’ hockey and girls’ soccer didn’t exist at RFHS. Today, there is a whole new crop of highly motivated, dedicated and talented female student-athletes making their mark in these and other sports. They are playing second fiddle to no one.

And who knows? Maybe someday they will also find themselves in the Wildcat Hall of Fame.

The Journal’s poll question this week asked: The thought of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann as a presidential candidate makes me:

--Optimistic that Democrats and Obama may yet prevail in 2012, 31.3%

--Fired up, finally, for an electrifying true-blue conservative who could become the first American woman president, 27.1%

--Eager to see how her bizarre, amusing blunders will be sliced and diced for the late-night TV comedians, 27.1%

--Fearful for the future: Go Mitt Romney, go Tim Pawlenty, go anybody, 14.6%

To vote, go to www.riverfallsjournal.com. A new question goes up Friday.

Tags: opinion, editorials, sports, wildcats, prep