Lady Comets Celebrate 85 years with Historic Seasons

Katie Holzner warming up for the State cross-country meet.

It’s likely that organized sports at Hillcrest started with the Lady Comets. Girls sports started in 1937, under supervision from Martha Kilen. Kilen founded the Girls’ Athletic Association (GAA) to provide physical conditioning, spiritual discipline and athletic competition for female students at Hillcrest. 85 years after their founding, Hillcrest girls sports hosted a fall season to remember.

Sophomore Katie Holzner led Hillcrest cross-country this year by dominating the field of runners. At nearly every meet she boarded the bus with a medal, coming home with first place medals numerous times. Bolstered by a supporting team and experience from her family, Katie followed in her brother Hans’ footsteps in earning a trip to the State cross-country meet. 

Katie ran an incredible 20:12:00 race in the Section meet to blaze her own trail to the State meet. Fighting adverse conditions, Katie placed 50th out of over 160 runners. Her determination, hard work, and joy-filled attitude united her team in a sport traditionally known for individual performance. 

The soccer team also had a historic season, marching through the regular season to a 5-9 regular season record before turning a corner in the playoffs. The Comets won their first playoff game ever, a 1-0 win over Crookston in the quarter final, before earning a 2-1 win over cross-town rival Fergus Falls. That win bolstered the Lady Comets to their first section finals game in the history of girls’ soccer. They fell to a strong team from St. Cloud Cathedral to close their season. 

They were led by outstanding performances from Hannah Radzwill, who had over 200 saves for Lady Comets this season, and Marie Elise who scored 15 goals. The Comets boast a young team, where the seniors and Danielsen students inspired underclassmen to step into the moment and improve throughout the year.

Girls soccer gathers at the pep-fest before they journeyed to the section championship.

Additionally, Comet Volleyball had one of the most successful seasons in history. This is marked not only by the fact that four Comet players received all-conference designations, that head coach Debi Foss was named conference coach of the year, or that the team finished with an amazing 21-win season while rarely losing a match. The Lady Comets set a number of records this year, as well. They had the most all-conference selections, with Madi Foss, Emily Adams, Hope Adams, and Madison Balleweg all receiving the honors. Junior Ruby Peterson also set the Hillcrest single season set assists record this year and is on pace to break 1000 set assists in her high school career, an accolade rarely achieved in volleyball.

But to consider the impact girls sports has had on the year at Hillcrest is to move beyond the statistics to reflect on the unity in the community. Girls sports were well supported by fans this year, with teammates and fans traveling to watch Katie Holzner compete in the state cross-country meet, to Comet faithful venturing to watch the section final for Comet soccer, to the final volleyball game of the season where many are reflecting the largest crowd of fans ever gathered to watch the final volleyball game of the season. The Lady Comets reflected much of what Martha Kilen intended with the GAA.

Ruby Peterson celebrates a kill after setting-up a teammate.

Comet fans packed the gym for a playoff volleyball game hosted at Hillcrest.

Kilen’s clubs provided great entertainment and built a community for Hillcrest spectators and players alike. The GAA would host competitions, selling candies and popcorn to raise funds for gatherings. They used these gatherings to draw closer in community to each other and to Christ.

The GAA created a poem to unite their competitive gatherings. It’s one that could echo the successes of this year’s seasons for the Lady Comets.

We are the G.A.A.

Athletes are we

Sports is our motto,

Red and White our banners be.

Red stands for bravery

Long may it wave:

And white, our last club color

Stands for everlasting loyalty

We are grateful for the long tradition of training students in a Biblically-based environment for lives of eternal significance. The lessons students learn in their sports seasons are similar, even if 85 years separates the students; building camaraderie and developing resolve to the glory of Christ. 

The GAA poses after a game of basketball