Grads remember 2011 trip to State

This year’s trip brought back memories from 2011, the first time our boys basketball team made the WIAA final four. A couple alum who remember the first trip well responded to our emailed questions.

Craig Wilke, 6’4 , jersey #34, class of 2011

A senior on that 2011 team, Craig is now a church-planting WELS pastor in Brandon, So. Dak. He and Christina, married in 2017, have lived in Brandon for the past four years and have two-year-old Greta, and another child due in July.

What is your favorite basketball memory in general?

I deeply enjoyed the friends I made on several different teams at Lakeside. I also loved playing for Coach Jim Bauer for 4 years. His high-speed, pressure defense got me ready to play at the college level.

What is your favorite memory of your ride to State?

What I remember most was the excitement. Excitement on the team, of course, but the student section bringing a lot to the games. The atmosphere at those games was the best I’d ever played in. Although the outcome of the state game was not what we wanted, it was an awesome experience to play at the Kohl Center and to play against future Badger Bronson Koenig.

Jim Klug connected to both state basketball trips and then some!

Jim’s son Jeff (‘11) was on that 2011 team, and this ‘71 grad was connected to this year’s run as one of the announcers for games! He took some time to talk about his own time at LLHS. “Going to Lakeside kept me on the right track spiritually through my high school years. Many of the kids from St. John, Jefferson also attended, and I still see them on a fairly regular basis on Sunday mornings in church,” he said. “One of the nice things about Lakeside is the interaction you have with so many kids from different areas but with the same spiritual beliefs. I had friends from Madison, Columbus, Beaver Dam, Fort Atkinson and other places—people I would never have met except for Lakeside. When it came time to send my two sons to high school Lakeside was the obvious choice.”

Basketball, however, isn’t the main way Klug stays involved with LL

“This is my 15th year helping coach the baseball team,” he shares. He has coached under Gerry Hahn, Dan Kuehl, Phil Dretske, and now, Jake Ziel. “The best part of helping with the baseball team is working with the coaches and players,” he says. The highlight was being involved when his other son Brian was part of Lakeside’s 2009 state baseball team!