Cyclone 8th Grade Basketball Retires No. 15 of Mia Schwieso

Cyclone 8th Grade Basketball Retires No. 15 of Mia Schwieso -

(2-1-24) – The No. 15 will forever be for Mia.

On Tuesday, Harlan Community’s 8th grade girls’ basketball team retired the jersey of Mia Schwieso, who passed away unexpectedly a year ago at the age of 13.

The Schwieso family has deep roots in Harlan and it was important to many, including Harlan Community girls’ basketball Coach Zach Klaassen that Mia be honored.

“She passed getting ready to do the thing she loved and like they talked about the last uniform she put on, the last thing she wore was her basketball uniform. And I was very fitting and for that family.”

Players like Mia have made coaching enjoyable for Klaassen.

“For people who love the game the way they do, like me, I love the game, it's special, especially to me as being a basketball coach and when you have kids like her come through and (Mia’s older sister) Aubrey and everybody else that's just come through this program and just love the game, it makes coaching a lot easier and it makes it more special.”

Mia’s personality was infectious to everyone who knew her, including Klaassen.

“She's a bubbly young lady. Smiled a lot. She's got the dimples and all that stuff. But when she got on that floor, she was a super competitive young lady and she was going to compete and win no matter what. So, that competitive drive is pretty awesome.”

Mia’s parents, Chris and Ann Schwieso, have set up a scholarship fund in memory of Mia that provided $14,000 in scholarships to the community last year.

Mia’s No. 15 jersey will be retired until her younger sister reaches middle school, where she’ll be allowed to wear that number, if she so chooses. When Mia’s class graduates middle school the jersey will transition to high school. Currently, Mia’s sister, Aubrey, wears the number for the Cyclone varsity team.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats