Racine St. Cat’s Celebrates WIAA Title

By Gary Reistad

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RACINE - For the fourth time in five years, St. Catherines’ boys basketball team brought home a state championship trophy. "We! We are! The mighty, mighty Angels,” the school’s cheerleaders chanted as the team made a triumphant entrance at a school assembly in their honor Tuesday. The mighty, mighty Angels indeed. This small Catholic school in downtown Racine has a big winning tradition. “The entire St. Catherine's team displayed skill,” Racine mayor Tom Friedel told the student body. Friedel, an alum of this school, declared Tuesday St. Catherine's Day in the city. County supervisors made a similar proclamation, honoring the team by making St. Catherine’s Day in the county as well. Co-captain Javar Lawson gives the fans a lot of credit for the success. "Our fans,” said Lawson. “We have great fans. It's a good atmosphere. We pack the gym every night we play." Senior Jake Thomas plans to take his talents to college hard court in South Dakota. "I’ll just try to keep winning because I'm used to it,” he said. But this could be the end of era. The team’s head coach, Bob Letsch, hinted this season may have been his last after thirty years of leading the varsity squad. "I don't know if I have the strength to rebuild, and this would be a rebuilding after losing nine seniors,” Letsch told TODAY’S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray. It would be tough to top this season's finale with an encore next year. The principal says teams have won so many trophies, that St. Catherine's will need a new, larger display case.