CSB Athletic Facility To Be Named After Its Number One Fan

(KNSI) – The College of Saint Benedict will be naming one of its newest athletic facilities after a long-time fan and supporter of girls’ athletics.

On Saturday, CSB athletic director Kelly Anderson Diercks and CSB transitional president Laurie Hamen will present the newly named Sister Lois Wedl Athletic Center.

“Sister Lois has been, and continues to be, an incredible supporter of CSB athletics. She brings a smile to the face of everyone she meets,” stated Anderson Diercks. “Sister Lois has impacted hundreds of female student-athletes throughout the years and we could not be more grateful and honored to recognize her in this way.”

The Center houses locker rooms for both CSB’s soccer and softball teams, a team room, an athletic training room, an alumnae lounge, restrooms, and ticketing, concessions and a press box for the soccer field.

Submitted by College of Saint Benedict

The building was completed in 2018 and is a part of the Outdoor Athletic Complex that includes turf and natural soccer and softball fields, the Sister Lois Wedl Athletic Center, ticketing and concessions for softball and several grass intramural fields. Wedl blessed the fields at the groundbreaking in May 2016, and again at the field dedication in September 2018.

According to a press release, the naming of the Athletic Center continues to build on Wedl’s legacy with the Saint Benedict athletic department. When she started teaching at Saint Benedict in 1986, a volleyball player asked her to come to a game. She always tells people that she had no idea where the gym was, but she found it – and she’s been a regular at Bennie athletic events ever since.

The title of No. 1 fan came about not only for Wedl’s religious attendance at athletic events – both home and away – but for her support of the teams. She regularly hops on the bus with teams to cheer them on at road events. She is invited to preseason meetings with players and their families so that everyone knows who she is, and so that she can meet everyone face to face. After each and every athletic event, Wedl sends an email to her extensive email list that reaches around the globe to let faithful fans, friends and supporters know how every Bennie squad did. She also sends words of encouragement to teams and coaches before and after contests.

Wedl received the CSB athletic department’s Inspirational Award in 1997, the Breaking Barriers Award at National Girls and Women in Sports Day Minnesota in 2005, and she was inducted into the Saint Benedict Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. Wedl is also one of four Benedictine Sisters to have a townhome with her name on it at Saint Benedict’s Centennial Commons.

The dedication ceremony will take place at halftime of the Saint Benedict soccer team’s 3:30 p.m. game against Gustavus on Saturday.

A Livestream of the ceremony – and the entire soccer game – will be available here.

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