BLC’s Geistfeld named D-III All-American in basketball

MANKATO -- For the third time in school history and the first time in program history, the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings have a women's basketball All-American.

Hanna Geistfeld navigated school, basketball, student-teaching and the ongoing pandemic to help lead the Vikings to a 9-1 record and the top spot in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference -- all while earning a spot on the Division III All-American second team.

"I was actually student-teaching at the time," Geistfeld said of finding out she had earned the honor. " I didn't see any of the messages or anything. A lot of people called, but our sports information director wanted to let me know before it was released or posted on social media. I didn't get to answer her call. So when I went to my phone at lunch at school, I had a bunch of text messages. I saw my coach's first that said, 'Congratulations,' and he was pretty excited, so I called my coaches right away."

Geistfeld said earning the accolade helps show the hard work she has put in during her four years with the Vikings has paid off. She said she wanted to express endless gratitude for those who helped her get to this point as a player.

In her time with BLC, Geistfeld has recorded incredible numbers, writing her name across the school record books.

She currently stands No. 1 in field goals made (605) and field goal percentage (.585), while holding the No. 2 spot in career points (1,577) and free throws made (353). She also holds the fifth spot in rebounds (735), is 10th in both assists (170) and blocked shots (36), not to mention her numerous single-season records.

Geistfeld might hold even higher spots in school history if her senior season hadn't been shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the uncertainty of the past season was the biggest change day-to-day.

"First of all, it took forever for us to get started. We couldn't practice and then we started having to practice with masks," Geistfeld said. "Then, we had some trouble with our COVID testing. I guess just the not knowing, are we gonna play tomorrow? OK, now we have a game Saturday, but not -- it's cancelled. It seemed like every day something could change. If it was a Friday and you had a game scheduled Saturday, you didn't know if it was going to happen."

Thankfully, the NCAA offered an extra year of eligibility for athletes whose seasons were affected this past year, including Geistfeld. She has decided to come back to play as a "super-senior" because she didn't think she could stop before she was forced to.

"I just couldn't leave a year on the table," Geistfeld said. "I still have a lot of goals I want to accomplish and I think one more year at that where I have a little bit more free time will be great. … I'm just excited to be able to play one more year, I just love basketball too much to quit when I have another year to play."

The extra free time will come from Geistfeld not student-teaching full time next year. She said she enjoyed her semester working with first-graders and is looking forward to her elementary education career after college, but she wanted to be able to focus on basketball more in her final playing opportunity.

Geistfeld said the extra time with teammates is what she is looking forward to most about next year's season, as well as continuing to grow the Bethany Lutheran basketball program.

"Coming to Bethany, I didn't know much about the program," Geistfeld said. "But when you get into it, your team becomes a family and you just want to do whatever's best for the program and we've done that a lot, my class. The program has changed a ton from when I was a freshman to now as a senior. … We were like, middle of the conference my freshman year, then I think sophomore year we were second. My junior and senior year, we've been first and I think maintaining that and staying at the top is important. The things we've been able to do for the program has been amazing and hopefully next year, we can just keep that up and keep going."

Geistfeld credited the growing program with the mentality of her and her teammates. She said knowing good things come from hard work has led to everybody working hard every day. She added everybody on the team having an equally important role has helped grow morale.

"Whether you play zero minutes and you're the loudest person on the bench, or you play all 40 minutes, everybody know that they're equally important on the team," Geistfeld said. "I think that's how teams become successful."

Geistfeld said she hopes to use her extra season as a way to continue the growth within the program, as she takes a shot as repeating as an All-American. She said with all the hard work, she is grateful to those who continue to come out in support.

"I'm just really grateful for my family's support in getting me to this point," Geistfeld said. "My family and my closest friends who never miss a game as well as my teammates and coaches."