photo by Mike Simmons

Lake Mills head volleyball coach Jim Boehmer looks over his team before its match Thursday night against Mason City Newman. With the win Boehmer collected his 401st win at the start of his 17th year in coaching. He also owns 424 softball wins at Lake Mills.

Lake Mills coach reaches another 400 wins

Staff

Published Saturday, September 13, 2008

LAKE MILLS, Iowa — Lake Mills head volleyball coach Jim Boehmer continued his assault on the Bulldogs record book Tuesday in Forest City when he won for the 400th time in his 17 years of coaching, all in Lake Mills.

Boehmer started coaching the Bulldogs in 1992 and has had just two losing seasons. The two seasons were 1994 when LM finished 10-13-7 and 1999 with a 14-18-2 mark. It might also be noted that in 1994 Boehmer’s Bulldogs went on to become district champions and in 1999 were district runner-ups and a regional qualifier.

Boehmer set the tone for LM volleyball with the school’s first 30-plus win season in 2001 when his team finished 32-7-1. Under Boehmer the Bulldogs have failed only twice to win 30 or more games, in 2002 and 2003 when they went 19-14-2 and 25-11.

Starting in 2004 Boehmer and the Bulldogs put together a string of great seasons that pushed his win total to 400 and climbing. In the last four years Lake Mills has won 34, 30, 34, and 34 games, a total of 132 wins in just four short years.

The Bulldogs are now in the middle of a 53-match unbeaten streak in the North Iowa Conference; they have won the regular season crown four consecutive years and eight of the last 12. They have been district champions 11 times in Boehmer’s tenure, including the last five in a row.

“The secret to our success is that we have kids that believe in what we’re doing,” Boehmer said. “When they walk through those doors, they believe they can win. I think they believe they should win, and the biggest thing is that the kids take ownership of the program. It’s theirs and they take a lot of pride in that.”

Lake Mills is a town that fully supports its athletics. Not only is Lake Mills one of the best around when it comes to financial support, but every Bulldog event is typically standing room only — boys and girls.

“You have to have a group of people that buy into what you’re doing,” Boehmer said. “That goes way beyond the volleyball team and its coaches. The people in the community deserve a lot of credit also. They are so supportive, they’ve given us the opportunity to be successful every year.”

This season Boehmer’s Bulldogs are well on their way to yet another 30 win season and are hands down favorites to take another NIC title. Lake Mills is now 9-0 overall and after a 3-0 victory over Mason City Newman Thursday in Lake Mills; the Bulldogs are 2-0 this year in the NIC.

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