This week's top stories

top stories
  • Aurora High School FFA chapter president Ellie Wanek serves with unparalleled passion, hoping to inspire and lead her peers and follow her FFA journey into college as a state officer.
    Aurora High School FFA chapter president Ellie Wanek serves with unparalleled passion, hoping to inspire and lead her peers and follow her FFA journey into college as a state officer.
  • Aurora senior Caden Svoboda was the first championship winner Saturday night, ending a nine-year drought at the top for the Huskies. Svoboda finishes behind teammate Trevor Kluck in all-time wins for the Huskies with 168, while going down as the first Aurora wrestler in school history to amass 100 career pinfall victories.
    Aurora senior Caden Svoboda was the first championship winner Saturday night, ending a nine-year drought at the top for the Huskies. Svoboda finishes behind teammate Trevor Kluck in all-time wins for the Huskies with 168, while going down as the first Aurora wrestler in school history to amass 100 career pinfall victories.
  • Aurora senior Trevor Kluck raises his arms in celebration after winning his first state championship Saturday night in front of a statewide audience. Kluck goes down as Aurora’s winningest wrestler, finishing with a 179-12 overall record.
    Aurora senior Trevor Kluck raises his arms in celebration after winning his first state championship Saturday night in front of a statewide audience. Kluck goes down as Aurora’s winningest wrestler, finishing with a 179-12 overall record.
  • Overall winners of the Hamilton County Spelling Bee include from left: champion -- Rylan Bartek; runner-up -- Lucy Gustafson; third -- Wyatt Heiss; fourth -- Jayden Betancourt.
    Overall winners of the Hamilton County Spelling Bee include from left: champion -- Rylan Bartek; runner-up -- Lucy Gustafson; third -- Wyatt Heiss; fourth -- Jayden Betancourt.
  • HPC’s Javier Marino scores a takedown during early round action at the state wrestling championships Feb. 17. Marino finished his junior season with a 32-16 record.
    HPC’s Javier Marino scores a takedown during early round action at the state wrestling championships Feb. 17. Marino finished his junior season with a 32-16 record.
  • Members of the M.O. Club pictured above include: Ruth Stewart, Annie Medaris, Josephine Mabon, Erma Beubaugh, Myrtle Hartnell, Laurine Kihn, Marces Kemper, Gladys Clyborn, Maggie Heuermann and Bertha Bremer.
    Members of the M.O. Club pictured above include: Ruth Stewart, Annie Medaris, Josephine Mabon, Erma Beubaugh, Myrtle Hartnell, Laurine Kihn, Marces Kemper, Gladys Clyborn, Maggie Heuermann and Bertha Bremer.

    Ellie Wanek’s life, passions transformed through FFA
    Ellie Wanek always knew she’d have a life surrounded by agriculture. After all, she grew up on the family farm. But she never could have imagined just how much it would transform, build her as a person and play into her future plans. 
    “My dad is a farmer,” Wanek began, set to summarize how ag is a part of her life. “So I’ve grown up my whole entire life on the farm. The summer before my freshman year I even helped on the farm, every single day. I would be out there 8 to 5 with my dad, irrigating and everything.” 
    This is where it all clicked for her, she said. This was when she realized “ag is cool.”

    Finally!!
    * After three seasons of coming up short, Trevor Kluck reaches mountain top
    For most of his high school wrestling career, Trevor Kluck has worn the same grey sweatshirt. 
    Even as the years went by and it became a bit tighter, Kluck always wore the same United World Wrestling top. 
    That sweatshirt and the young man wearing it were under the watchful eye of a statewide audience Saturday night as a lifelong dream came true. 

    * Caden Svoboda ends Aurora’s championship dry spell with picture-perfect run
    It only seemed fitting that Caden Svoboda was the one to break the ice. 
    A winning drought that lasted nearly a decade and an elusive achievement for one of Aurora’s best to ever do it culminated Saturday in Omaha. 
    As a four-year 106-pounder, Svoboda is always the first one competing in the lightest bracket at most meets and tournaments. At Saturday’s Nebraska state wrestling championship finals from the CHI Health Center, in the prime time slot, Svoboda was the first athlete to run through the tunnel. 

    Hamilton County Spelling Bee a stupendous success
    Tension could be felt in the air at the fairgrounds in Aurora as fifth through eighth grade students competed for the champion title of the Hamilton County Spelling Bee.
    Immanuel Lutheran, Aurora, Hampton, Giltner and Hampton Lutheran sent their best spellers to put their skills to the test.
    Event coordinator Beth Andrews noted that the fifth and sixth grades went to 11 rounds before determining who would move on to the final round.

    M.O. Club connects local friends through the decades
    Josephine (Littlefield) Mabon, born on June 13, 1896, grew up in Aurora. She went to school, worked, got married and raised children. During all that, she became a charter member of the M.O. Club.
    These are the facts of her life, but thanks in part to her own journal and research done by her grandson and his wife, Dave and Terri Mabon, people can get a glimpse into the lives of Josephine and the M.O. Club.
    The story began around 1918, though the exact date is unknown. Terri explained that a group of young women began getting together frequently to enjoy each other’s company.