eleva-strum state title meant more for carter gunderson
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Five minutes after the Eleva-Strum High School baseball team claimed its first state championship in program history, senior Carter Gunderson received a phone call that meant more than any other ‘Congrats’ he could ever receive.
Gunderson’s father, Ryan, was too excited to start with a ‘Hello’. Instead, the first words were congratulating his son and telling him how proud he was.
The 2024 WIAA Division Four state semifinal and championship last week were the first of Carter’s games that Ryan has seen in six years. Ryan was sentenced in 2020 to 15 years in prison for a 2018 domestic incident that ended with him being shot by police officers.
Carter was 12 at the time.
“I stayed up a little late thinking about it,” Carter said of knowing his dad was watching him. “It was awesome knowing that he’s going to be able to see this for the first time in a long time, and I think that really sparked motivation in me to have a good tournament. Every time I was up there I could feel him with me telling me, ‘Hey, this is you. You’re on a big stage, you’ve got to compete now.’”
“I could feel his presence with me the whole time.”
Growth through baseball
Baseball has always provided a bond for Carter and Ryan. The younger Gunderson first fell in love with the sport at his grandma’s house when he found a wooden bat and his father started throwing him a Wiffle Ball. That escalated into Tee Ball, and Gunderson was hooked.
In elementary school, Ryan often had the pair’s baseball gloves ready to head to the field when Carter was done with school. Pitching became a strong interest for Carter, so Ryan watched videos and read books on the topic to help his son learn.
“My dad is the reason I love the game the way I love it and the reason I play it the way I play it,” Carter said.
When Ryan was arrested, Carter said losing his personal coach and biggest supporter was difficult.
Eleva-Strum coach CJ Christianson watched Gunderson play in his youth and occasionally saw the Gunderson duo working on Carter’s game in the park. When Christianson took over as head coach before Carter’s sophomore season, Carter told his coach he wanted to play college baseball.
Gunderson wasn’t fully committed to schoolwork at the time, Christianson said, and he didn’t see as much extra work outside of practice anymore.
Gunderson kept prodding, asking at an open gym session about the day-to-day of college baseball. Christianson thought it was a good time to spook his player as motivation, telling Gunderson he didn’t have good enough grades and wasn’t working hard enough to make college a reality.
From that conversation forward, Gunderson’s approach flipped.
Gunderson is “the goofy kid who makes everybody laugh,” his coach said, but the player’s biggest growth has come in his maturity.
“His maturity level when I got around him as a sophomore was very low,” a laughing Christianson said. “He’s still the goofy kid, knows how to have fun and keeps everybody loose, but when he needs to turn it (maturity) on, he does.”
“He went from a low, low GPA to student awards. He increased it a ton, which where he was I didn’t know if he’d ever be able to get to this point. The work ethic, all that stuff was good, but I think his maturity really drove all that.”
‘He holds everything together’
Gunderson’s talents are visible on the field. The 2024 graduate delivered the game-winning double in the state semifinal and earned the win on the mound in relief. He is set to continue his baseball career at North Iowa Area Community College next year.
The 6-foot-3, 150-pound pitcher is throwing 88 mph as a senior with what his coach calls a “whippy” arm.
Multiple college coaches, including at the Division I level, called Christianson to ask about the senior. Christianson said Gunderson could be throwing in the 96 mph range by this time next year and believes he could develop into a high-level college player.
Christianson called Gunderson Eleva-Strum’s “glue”, saying he loves the player as family.
“I sometimes tell colleges too, people follow him left or right. It doesn’t matter what way he goes, people are going to follow Carter. … He holds everything together. Yesterday before the game he walked in the dugout and he was like, ‘What’s everyone all nervous about? It’s just a baseball game.’ Everybody loosened up after he said it. He’s just a special kid.”
One example came in this year’s playoffs.
Noah Martinson, the team’s sophomore third baseman, was struggling with fielding errors, Christianson said, and Gunderson pushed the sophomore to improve in practice.
When Bangor loaded the bases in their regional final playoff game after an error by Martinson, Gunderson called a timeout with the umpire and walked over to Martinson to give him a hug and tell him not to worry about it.
After that win, Martinson was “perfect” the rest of the playoffs, Christianson said.
“That one will stick with me probably for the rest of my life,” the coach said. “He called time, went over there. I’ve never seen that before.”
Christianson said Gunderson has made him a better coach because Gunderson is always seeking more information on the finer details of the game and its strategies.
“He’s a special kid. He’s not afraid of anything, that’s for sure. He might come across as that kid that doesn’t care or is too free or easygoing, however you want to put it. … The smile isn’t cockiness, the kid just loves life. He’s enjoying every moment.”
Carter and Ryan still talk every day over the phone or through visits. Carter said he feels his father’s love even when he can’t be around physically.
Carter said their shared love for baseball — and each other — has made them both better.
“I’m always going to make time for my dad no matter what. He’s a very, very special person in my life and I appreciate all he’s done for me when he was present and even now when he’s not. I know he went through struggles, but that really doesn’t define him as a person,” Carter said.
“Everybody makes mistakes and he made one and that happens, but I really feel like he’s persevered as a man and he’s going to come out when he does a much better person.”
Indy teacher hopes time with younger students helps break cultural barriers, raises awareness
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Shortly after Ryan Jennings graduated high school, he made a substantial change.
Jennings lived for five years—or as he recalls, grew into an adult—in Mexico City after moving to Mexico’s capital immediately after high school.
Jennings was equipped with two years of high school Spanish and assumed he would be able to communicate sufficiently in his new home. He was hit with a “rude awakening” that Spanish was still a foreign language and culture.
He struggled with an adjustment period and the immersion process of pointing at objects, admitting he initially made noises and acted toddler-esque as he learned how to speak and assimilated into a new country.
“I was just an 18-year-old kid, and when I came back five years later I was a man. I left a lot of my best friends there and fell in love with the culture, and that’s how I learned Spanish. … through that struggle I gained an appreciation for the language, an appreciation for the culture, for all my friends and those I now consider family,” Jennings said.
That same appreciation for hispanic culture brought Jennings to the Independence School District, where he currently teaches Spanish and English to middle and high school students in a district that is 50.7% hispanic or Latino, according to its 2022-23 Department of Public Instruction enrollment data.
Jennings decided to go back to college as a nontraditional student to earn his degree in Spanish education. He is in his first year at Independence, where he sometimes spends his prep periods teaching elementary students Spanish, kids he otherwise wouldn’t teach.
He spent Dec. 7 behind the curtains of the auditorium at Independence High School educating young students on Spanish culture.
As Jennings instructed the kids through a game of ‘Profe Says’ in which they learned the names of different body parts, one Spanish-speaking first-grader smiled and shouted an answer as he recognized one of the words. An English-speaking fifth-grade boy who said they didn’t speak the language ended up winning their game of ‘Profe Says’.
Jennings often turns to music and fun learning such as games with young students, and the first year teacher said he tries to find ways for Spanish-speaking students to feel like they belong while also furthering education for all kids.
“The reason I’m doing this really is I’ve found that it helps both Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers make connections together. It bridges that gap that they have in language because it provides the non-Spanish speakers with similar language they can use with their Spanish speaking classmates but also allows the Spanish speaking students to feel represented, which is super important,” Jennings said.
Whenever Jennings passes the younger students in the school, they are quick to shout ‘Hola!’ to the teacher they now know as ‘Profe’.
“They crave opportunities to speak Spanish,” Jennings said, "which is a good sign that in future classes they will be able to make more connections with Spanish speakers and have a shared culture.”
Jennings: Cultural exposure can help students outside foreign language
Jennings gives up one prep period every other week to spend time with the younger kids. Jennings has his degree in Spanish Education and also teaches English. He teaches a class called Spanish Language Arts for students who don’t speak sufficient academic English and instead earn credits in language arts through Spanish language and literature.
District Administrator Paul Franzwa said Jennings’ want to impact more students is a welcomed trait.
The district used to offer an elementary Spanish class but has not in recent years due to staffing, Franzwa said.
“As a nontraditional teacher, as a first-year teacher, it’s important that he has time to prepare, reset and catch his breath,” Franzwa said of Jennings, “but we also want to support people in things they are passionate about, especially when they benefit our students. It says a lot about him being here for the right reasons, and he has such a strong student-centered approach to education.”
When Jennings started at Independence he saw that students in the district were inclusive, but students tended to self segregate, he noticed. Sometimes in the lunch room he saw the Puerto Rican students together while the Mexico-native students sat elsewhere and the Wisconsin born-and-raised kids were in another area.
“What I wanted to kind of combat was the self-segregating mentality among cultures, and I figure the only way to combat that is to start early. If we’re able to create a common cultural language they can share from a young age, they can make more connections. And the more connections they make, the more friendships they can hold onto.”
The exposure Jennings gives students helps them understand each other, Franzwa believes.
“From the pure form of just being able to communicate with each other and exposing them to some cultural traditions and how things are different—and then through the language, too—it helps understanding each other and exposing students to diversity. We’re fortunate our students have these opportunities,” the administrator said.
Jennings referenced an idea of code-switching in the brain, a scientific term which refers to the way a bilingual student’s brain switches back and forth between languages and processes new information.
“I think one thing most people don’t understand is that the benefits of being bilingual aren’t just social benefits. A lot of people point out, ‘If you’re bilingual you can get a job, you can put it on your college applications, you can get into good colleges.’ Those are benefits for sure, however there is also an intellectual and mental benefit to being bilingual as well that speaking two languages trains your brain to increase your ability to think faster,” Jennings said.
He believes cultural and foreign language education should be a priority in schools.
“The English, math, science, sometimes history, those are usually considered the big, essential classes, right? But my thought is being bilingual can help you in every single one of those classes, so sometimes I feel like learning a second language should be just as important because it benefits you in so many other aspects of your life.”
Capouch honored with 2023 Ettrick citizen of the year award
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When Gary Capouch designed the massive sign that greets visitors into the Village of Ettrick off Highway 53, he wanted to make sure it showcased the community’s special bond.
Capouch scribed the words ‘For life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ on the bottom of the sign, which have since been replaced with a reminder of the upcoming Ettrick Fun Days celebration.
Capouch said Ettrick is all about those qualities, mostly because it truly is a tight-knit community, he said. That same community has honored Capouch with the Ettrick Lions Club naming him the 2023 Citizen of the Year.
A few Lions Club members told the longtime farmer he was receiving the honor recently, and he said he always thought of himself as more of a Lion than a citizen.
“’No', they said, 'That's because of all the things you've done in the community in the past,’” Capouch remembered of the conversation as he tended to the family vegetable stand along Highway 53 last week. "And I said, 'Well yeah then it is a good honor because I've done a lot.’”
And “a lot” might even be selling it short—Capouch helped build the pulling track in town, the community center, Game Time Park, worked on projects at the golf course and more. He was the Lions Club President twice in 32 years of service, served on the volunteer fire department for 24 years and was also elected to the village board.
He used to work in landscaping in town, completing entrepreneurial projects for locals as well as at the high school.
He bought his current home in Ettrick with his wife, Bonnie in 1990 after moving with nothing more than his pickup truck and a few hundred dollars in his pockets, he said. He first moved to Wisconsin in 1983.
Capouch continues to live on that same farm three decades later. The family raised three children in Courtney, McKenzie and Lee on the property and continues to grow vegetables that are hand-picked, a collection that ranges from kohlrabi to tomatoes, melons and sweet corn.
He now orders, buys and transports livestock for a job, also still farming crops, vegetables and raising beef cattle instead of opting for retirement. His work as an entrepreneur has always kept Capouch busy, and it continues today.
"My wife loves raising the cattle. She's a very important part of this, and my kids, we all work together. And I've never had anybody squabble, but we've learned discipline here and respect because farming is a seven-day job, 24 hours a day.”
Just down the road from the vegetable stand is the Village of Ettrick sign encased in bold, red brick with a mounted model eagle on the top. The sign was designed by Capouch and greets everybody that enters the small Trempealeau County community.
It was a group effort, but the design is one he is proud of.
"I live right here. This is part of the village,” he said of the sign. “When I pass on, every time my kids come home and they drive by that, for 100 years anybody that's related to me will remember that I did it. But everybody helped build it and kind of put their ideas toward it too."
Capouch fought a bad bout with pancreatitis two years ago in which he was given a 10% chance of surviving. After a month-long coma and 90 days in the hospital, he got a new appreciation for enjoying life.
He’s glad he gets to enjoy said life in Ettrick, a place that means so much to him and his family.
"I landed in Ettrick, and I’m probably about as happy as I could ever be in a town I really like. There’s very good people in town, and it pretty much has everything simple that you want.
“It’s a family town and a good place to live, and it’s too bad there aren’t more towns like it.”
Family tradition: Steien breaks father’s school, county scoring records
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Lindsay Steien isn’t one to make a big deal over personal accomplishments.
Steien hit a 3-pointer early in the second half of a Tuesday game against Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran to become the school’s all-time leading scorer in boys and girls basketball, and the humble Blair-Taylor senior gave the credit for the accomplishment to others when asked about it.
She also became the most prolific scorer in the history of Trempealeau County prep basketball with the milestone.
The person she overtook atop the school and county leaderboards, however, wasn’t shy about giving Steien props on Tuesday as he watched on from the corner of the Blair-Taylor High School gymnasium.
“She’s not a real big person who loves the spotlight, but we’ve talked about it and joked about it,” her father, Eric Steien, said. “I’ve told her, ‘If I’m going to lose it to somebody, I might as well lose it to you.’”
Eric, a 1990 graduate of Blair-Taylor, held the previous record with 1,985 points. Lindsay Steien sat at 2,001 after Tuesday.
Steien finished the game with 31 points and is the first county player ever to reach 2,000 points as the Wildcats, now 11-0, continue their undefeated season.
“It’s kind of cool that I get to do this,” Lindsay said, “but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates, coaches, family, everyone.”
Teammates and fans have mentioned to the senior throughout the year that she was approaching the record, and she tried not to give it too much thought. While proud of the achievement, Steien’s focus has always been on playing her best on any given night.
“You’ve just got to focus one game at a time, not individual points. And if it happens, it happens,” she said.
Eric first thought his record could be in peril last winter when he saw how quickly his daughter hit 1,000 career points. Teams play more games now than back when he played, so he knew that Lindsay was coming for his record with her efficiency as a scorer.
Lindsay uses a dominant shooting stroke and perimeter attack but isn’t afraid to get to the rim, either. Her father conceded he was more of an interior threat.
“When she hit that 1,000 as early as she did, I thought there was a chance to make a run at it. And obviously she did.”
The family has cracked jokes back and forth over the last several weeks as the points continued to rack up and the record started to teeter.
While Lindsay avoids giving herself too much credit, the elder Steien said the record was earned the right way—through hard work.
“It’s a pretty proud moment. You like to see any kid do it, but it’s kind of cool because its my own kid. She works very hard on it. She works so hard for everything, not just sports, and her mom and I couldn’t be more proud,” Eric said.
Now that the record is firmly in his daughter’s grasp, Eric said he is readying himself for the occasional jab from Lindsay about who the better player is.
As for who would win a 1-on-1 if both players were in their prime? That’s a debate for another day.
“We play different positions. If he was down low maybe he’d get a bucket, but if he’s on the wing, I don’t know. It could go either way probably,” Lindsay teased.
Her father reluctantly gave the shooter the upper hand.
“I’d probably just take her down low and she wouldn’t have a chance,” Eric playfully jeered.
As soon as the shooting from deep would start, though, Eric admitted he would be in trouble against the best scorer in Blair-Taylor and Trempealeau County hoops history.
“I don’t know about that part, but I’d try.”
