Student-Athlete is a term that is taken more seriously by some than others, but in the case of 2024 Greene County High School graduate Nathan Behne, it’s hard to imagine a much more complete description. His senior year of high school was filled with both academic and athletic accomplishments that many would not even dream of.

He was the Class of ’24 Valedictorian, an Iowa Governor’s Scholar, Academic All-State first team in football, soccer, and basketball, and likely first team academically in the other sports had they named All-Academic teams.

Behne took part in five sports as a senior including three in the Spring season alone, which fellow senior Jack Hansen also accomplished. Those were track & field, golf, and soccer, plus football in the Fall, and Nathan was a basketball starter for the Rams as well. All of this was after he had extensive knee surgery late in 2022 after being injured in a basketball game for the Rams.

As a football kicker, Behne was twice a Class 2A All-State selection. He was also named to multiple Class 2a soccer All-State teams as a senior, and he ran on a relay for the Rams at the 2024 State Track & Field Meet. He played in two Senior only postseason events in two sports this Summer; the Iowa Soccer Coaches Association High School Showcase, and the Iowa Shrine Bowl All-Star Football Game. In golf, Behne qualified for a 3A District Tournament as a junior, very soon after being medically cleared from rehabbing his surgically repaired knee.

He also showed a philanthropic side, raising $13,500 for Children’s Cancer research.

Behne leaves in early August for Upper Iowa University in Fayette to join the Peacocks’ football team as a kicker, and he plans on Pre Med as a course of study. Nathan is the son of Carl and Allison Behne of Jefferson.