August 2013

Precision Tank and Equipment has chosen Humboldt for a new 31,500 square foot manufacturing plant, which will be their third plant location. Based out of Virginia, IL, the company also has manufacturing facilities in Athens, IL, and Ligonier, IN. “We deal primarily with the ag industry and wanted to extend our geographic footprint to the western corn belt. Our Indiana plant is about 350 miles away from our headquarters and it is about 370 miles from the headquarters to Humboldt,” David Hemming, President and CEO of Precision Tank, said. “Humboldt has been very good to work with, from Alissa Reinholdt and Steve Long to Walter Jensen. They were very accommodating and put a nice package together to help us locate in Humboldt.” Groundbreaking was held in Humboldt on Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the Northwest Industrial Park. Sande Construction of Humboldt was selected from several firms as the general contractor on the project.

The cupboard is full – in more ways than one – for the Humboldt High School cross country program. The Wildcats, led by veteran head coach Dean Clasen, boast 49 runners overall, 31 boys and 18 girls. The girls return eight letterwinners while the boys have 11 lettermen back. With just about everybody back, the Wildcats appear poised to challenge for North Central Conference supremacy. “We lost only one varsity runner from last year’s squad. Not having to fill gaps makes this year easier, considering everyone comes back just as good or better from a year ago,” Clasen said. “We have a time of 19:30 for the boys. We have 11 boys that ran under 19:30 last year. What a great place to start. So we hope they can be 30-45 seconds faster to start off this year,” Clasen said. Senior Sam Larson will lead the Wildcat girls. Larson was the school’s only state meet participant last fall, placing seventh in the Class 3A state meet with a school record time of 14:58.

Despite heavy graduation losses, Humboldt High volleyball coach Connie Rasmussen feels her program is at a point where they can challenge for a North Central Conference title just about every year. Rasmussen, who begins her 14th season at the helm, is coming off a 2012 campaign in which the Wildcats went 21-9 overall in match play, 7-2 and second in the North Central Conference. “It will be a different look this year. We did graduate a lot of players off of last year’s team. But we have three girls coming back with varsity experience,” Rasmussen said. “We have seven seniors on the squad this year. We will be a little on the inexperienced side, but I think that will take care of itself.” “These girls have played a lot of volleyball since early in their careers. We will see how they handle the pressure when the first match comes. But I look for us to be very competitive again this year,” Rasmussen said. See complete story in the Aug.

There will be a little extra pride and emotion to the 2013 Corwith-Wesley-LuVerne football season. It will be the final season of CWL football as the school will be sharing with Algona next year. The Panthers and head coach Ryan Wagner are focused on making every Friday night count with hopes of returning to the Eight Man State playoffs. CWL has 11 lettermen back from last year’s squad that went 3-7 overall, 2-5 and sixth in rugged District 2. With just 14 squad members taking part in pre-season drills, staying healthy is clearly the key to the Panther season. “We don’t have a whole lot of depth because of our low numbers. We are going to have to stay healthy everywhere,” Wagner said. “In the game of football, you have injuries, and so that makes it difficult over the course of the season.” See complete story in the Aug. 29 issue of the Independent.2013 PANTHER FOOTBALL SCHEDULEAug. 23 at RicevilleAug. 30 at Harris-Lake ParkSept. 6 Clay Central-EverlySept. 13 CALSept.