SPIRIT LAKE – Girls and boys ages 10 to 14 participated in the 2012 Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship last weekend, and six earned the right to compete at the district level. Iowa Great Lakes Council 5043 in Spirit Lake sponsored the local competition at Spirit Lake High School. All youngsters ages 10 to 14 were eligible to participate.
Karly Berkland was the 10-year-old girls’ champion and Payton Schuchert won the 10-year-old boys’ division. Ally Morriem was the winner in the 11-year-old girls’ competition. Hannah Jennings was the 12-year-old girls’ champion and Nathan Davis won the 12-year-olds boys’ bracket. The fourteen-year-old winner in the boys’ division was Logan Backhaus.
Each contestant was allowed 15 free throw attempts. Several tiebreakers made for an exciting competition.
Each winner will receive a plaque and certificate, and is eligible to compete in the district competition February 19 at the Spirit Lake High School gym, with an eye toward moving on to the state and international levels. Spirit Lake’s Kaisha Brown won the international level competition several years ago.
The Knights of Columbus is an international Catholic family fraternal service organization with 1.8 million members in more than 14,000 local councils. Last year, Knights donated 69 million volunteer hours and $151 million to charitable and benevolent causes, sponsoring projects to benefit their church, councils, communities, families and youth.
Iowa Great Lakes Council 5043 sponsors other youth events including the Soccer Shootout and the Knights of Columbus Spelling Bee. They also run the Soup and Pie Supper in November, and the Tootsie Roll Drive for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities on Labor Day weekend, benefiting local organizations.
