HAXTUN ATHLETIC DIRECTOR Rich Gerk threw the first pitch of the District 5 Baseball Championship in Fort Morgan on Friday afternoon. Gerk's youngest son Michael, a senior on the Bulldog baseball team, was on the catching end of the strike.

Organizers honored Gerk for his dedication to the Haxtun School District over the past 30 years. Gerk began his teaching career covering a maternity leave in Merino in the spring of 1992 and in 1993 he began teaching in Haxtun. That same year, he took his first coaching assignment as an assistant basketball coach.

Gerk has earned some impressive accolades in his tenure with Haxtun Schools: boys basketball: assistant coach one year and head coach for 15 years with a sixth place consolation championship in 1996 at the age of 26, a third place finish in 2004 and a State Championship in 2005; girls basketball: head coach for six years including a fifth place finish in 2017 and a State runner up title in 2019. He also coached junior high girls volleyball, junior high football, junior high boys basketball and junior high girls basketball.

For the past six years, Gerk has lead the Haxtun athletic department as director. He plans to retire from his position at the end of this year's athletic seasons.