Dorchester Times: Lawver Captures Gold At State -- Again

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Lawver Captures Gold At State -- Again

Dorchester's Karmen Lawver has again captured gold at the Nebraska State Track and Field Meet.

At the state meet held this past weekend, the DHS senior successfully defended her Class D discus title with a winning toss of 131'-4".

(Correction: Last year, Lawver made history by becoming the first DHS athlete to win a gold medal at the state meet since 1976, winning the discus event with a toss of 124' 6".)

In the shot put contest, Lawver fell only 10 inches short of repeating as state champion. Lawver took third place with a toss of 39' 1". Aundrea Jorgensen, Medicine Valley,won the gold with a throw of 39' 11". Last year, Karmen was crowned state shot put champ after her throw of 41' 7", beating the second place participant by nearly two feet.

Thanks to Lawver's two medals, DHS finished No. 12 in the the Class D team standings at the state track meet, beating conference rivals McCool Junction (No. 15) and Exeter-Milligan (No. 18). Lindsay Holy Family was No. 1 in team scores.

(FLASHBACK: In May 2007, Lawver placed 16th in the Class D discus event at the state track meet. In the hours after her performance, Dorchester track coach Joshua Vacek told The Crete News that Lawver has "all the attributes a state champion needs" and that "she will win the girls state discuss before she is done here" at Dorchester. "I'd almost bet on it," Vacek said. For the second year in a row, we say good call, Mr. Vacek.)

5 comments:

AnonymousMay 26, 2010 at 1:14 PM
did the crete news bother to cover this or were they only covering teams from tobias, daykin and exeter/milligan? great job karmen!!!!
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AnonymousMay 26, 2010 at 2:07 PM
KOOL. Kudos Karmen. Keep Kickin' Kid.
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AnonymousMay 26, 2010 at 4:19 PM
Last Friday night, I saw you on 10/11 News throwing the Discus. It's not everyday someone from a small town get some TV time. Good job, Karmen!!
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Joyce KarlMay 28, 2010 at 4:42 PM
Congratulations Karmen. You've represented our school and our community very well. Thank you! Continued success at Doane.
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AnonymousJune 7, 2010 at 10:37 AM
I just read the letter to the Times from Donald Johnson. I, too, am a member of the graduating class of 1976. I remember Don and Jeanne winning the gold in shot and discus. Proud moment for the school!!!
Congratulations to Karmen in her amazing accomplishments as well. Keep up the good work!!

PS If Don reads this, I would love to get in touch with you. I haven't seen you since we graduated and always wondered where you ended up. I heard Texas. Anyway, can you leave me a message here and maybe we can email or facebook? Thanks.
KR
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."