SPORTS FEEVER – March 28, 2019

Sports Feever is written by Chris Fee of KROX Radio.  If you have any sports news, ideas, tips (besides “jump off a bridge”), send them to me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com.

We have officially wrapped up the winter sports season and we have already had a track meet to cover and I don’t see any high school baseball in Northwest Minnesota for a few weeks.  We look at a lot of awards that have been handed out, at UMC baseball’s great start and a lot more.

We have received a lot of emails, calls, text messages and personal thank you’s over the past couple of weeks (tournament time does that) and we appreciate the kind words from people in Crookston, northwest Minnesota, across the state and nation.  We love covering high school and college sports because you never know what you are going to get each night and it is a blast to watch kids compete for their school, town, and section.  We also love talking with the area coaches (some of the best characters – in a good way – you find).
We might not be the best announcers out there, but I know we aren’t the worst.  I do know one thing…..there aren’t many media people that will work harder and cover as much as we do between on the radio and on our website.

Thanks to everybody that listens to KROX and reads the website.  Without all of you paying attention to us at KROX, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do!

Enjoy this weeks column and thing spring!!

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The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Baseball team has started the conference season red hot.  They have gone 7-1 in their first eight games against quality opponents like Wayne State, Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State Mankato.
Mankato was picked to finish second, Concordia was picked fifth and Wayne State sixth in the preseason coaches poll so it is a solid start for Coach Steve Gust and the boys and all eight games have been played on the road.
UMC has the NSIC preseason offensive player of the year with Reed Hjelle (Sr. East Grand Forks) and all he has done is play in all 22 games thus far, hit .333 with 22 hits in 72 at-bats, including six home runs, two triples, and two doubles while knocking in 21 runs, walking 23 times and he has been hit by a pitch five times.  He is also seven of eight in stolen bases.
UMC has also had some stellar pitching in conference play with Jayden Grover, and Zach Rustad leading the way with some great performances so far.  Dalton Grose and Conner Richardson have been solid in their 19 total appearances too.  It will be interesting to see how the rest of the conference season goes for the Golden Eagles, but they have had their best start in D-2 history against quality and hopefully, they will be able to get some home games this year.

With the quick start the UMC baseball team received votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Central Region Poll. The Golden Eagles received three points in the poll, just one point behind Oklahoma Baptist University in 10th place.

St. Cloud State University was selected as number one in the Central Region poll, while they had eight first-place votes. Missouri Southern University was picked second in the poll.

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Four new members of the 2019 Crookston High School Hall of Fame Class and two members of the “Legends Hall of Fame” were announced today.  The Class will be Inducted Saturday, August 17 at 3:00 PM during Ox Cart Days.

Jenny Bruun was a graduate of the High School as well as a three-sport letter winner in tennis, basketball, and golf where she was the State Champion in 1996.  She played golf at the University of Minnesota and was Golf Coach at Memphis for a number of years.

Belinda Fjeld spent her entire career teaching Music in the Crookston Schools.  She was very active in the Pirate Fine Arts Boosters and the Disney trips for the Crookston Music Department.

Dave Kuehn was a long-time teacher, coach and athletic director in the Crookston Schools.  As the Athletic Director, he founded the Crookston High School Hall of Fame.  He is currently the Superintendent at Underwood.

Mike Geffre is one of the most successful coaches in the State of Minnesota.  He has coached over sixty seasons of tennis, winning twenty-two Section Championships as well as three Individual State Champions.

The two new members of the “Crookston High School Legends Hall of Fame” are Jim Brolsma and Herschel “Pepper” Lysaker.

Jim Brolsma was a graduate of 1964.  He was a Letter winner eleven times, five in hockey, four in baseball and three in football.  He was the “Willis Eide Memorial Award” winner after his Senior year.

“Pepper” Lysaker was a three-sport letter winner at Crookston Central High School, lettering in football, basketball, and track.  He graduated in 1957.  He coached for many years at Mesabi Range College, winning four state titles.

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Crookston High School’s Nick Garmen will be going to play basketball and tennis at Minnesota Morris next year.  Talking to Nick, he said IF he gets accepted and I think being on the Minnesota Boys Basketball Academic All-State team and having a pretty impressive scholastic resume, he won’t have a problem.

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The Henning Hornet Boys Basketball team won the Minnesota Class A Boys Basketball championship last weekend with an impressive three games in Minneapolis.  You have heard the story of their teammate Jacob Quam. (A side note – Quam is the nephew of Darin and Tammy Byklum of Fisher) He was killed in a car accident on his way to school when a truck/semi crossed over into his lane and hit him.  It was a devastating event in the small town of about 800 to 900 people.  How a group of teenage boys responded was amazing and one of the coolest things I have seen in my 20-plus years of covering the Minnesota State Boys basketball tournament.  Henning plays the game the right way.  They pass the ball extremely well, they go 100 percent the entire game, they attack the defense the entire game and I could go on and on, but they do all the little things extremely well.  Henning seemed to get better as they advanced in the state tournament and they won the semi-final game by 33 points (Quam’s basketball number) and they dominated the championship game. The team stopped by the grave of Quam before they left for state and they brought home Quam’s medal and visited his grave when they got home from state.
Kudos to Coach Randy Misegades and his coaching staff, the parents of the kids and the community.  Henning did it right and congratulations to everybody involved, especially the kids.

The Henning team visiting Quam’s grave after the trip to state

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The Roseau Rams will be looking for two new coaches for the next school year.  Head Football coach, Jeremy Lindemann has resigned and I don’t think it surprises anybody since his son will be playing football at the University of North Dakota next year.  We also heard that a wrestling coach is resigning.  There will be a couple of new faces in the Roseau Athletic Department and they will be tough to replace.  Both coaches did a great job with their programs.

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Crookston High School graduate Ryan Bittner and his #1 ranked University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Pointer Men’s Hockey team won the NCAA Division 3 Men’s Hockey National Championship this weekend with a 3-2 overtime thriller over Norwich on Saturday in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  In the semi-finals on Friday, Stevens Point beat Hobart College 5-3.
Stevens Point wrapped up an undefeated season with a record of 29-0-2.  It is the second national championship in four years for the Pointers and Bittner was on the team for both National Championships.
Bittner, a defenseman, scored three goals and added 13 assists during his senior year.  He had 51 shots on goal.

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The Crookston Pirate Boys Golf team has almost two weeks of practice under their belt and the numbers are steady with a pretty good crew of seventh graders.  There are currently 20 boys out for golf and they could add a few more in the next week.

Seniors – Brock Heppner, Jack Ricord, Trey Christopherson
Juniors – Ben Andringa, Quinn Westlake
Sophomores – Jaxon Wang, Easton Tangquist, Lucas Winger
Freshman – George French, Blaine Andringa
8th Graders – Gavin Winger, Drake Lord, Nathan Kelly, Dalton Dalude
7th Graders – David Threatt, Ashton Shockman, Wyatt Wilkens, Brennon Tangquist, Jackson Dauksavage, Jayden Steinbrink

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The Crookston Pirate Girls Golf team has 19 girls out 7-12 this year.  The girls are listed below –

Senior – Hannah Street
Junior – Dani Boyle
Sophomore – Catherine Tiedemann, Joslynn Leach, Sophia Rezac, Savannah Meine, Jasmine Haglund, Linnea French
Freshman – Bailey Cameron, Samantha Sanders, Ellie Nesseth, Aleah Bienek, Rylee Solheim  
Eighth Graders – Grace Fischer, Mackenzie Aamoth, Hannah Brouse, Samantha Rezac
Seventh graders – Morgan Nelson, Coral Brekken

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The Crookston Pirate Baseball team has some pretty solid numbers this year even though they don’t have a senior out this year.  They have 48 kids out this year in 7-12 with 15 eighth graders and 11 juniors leading the way.

Seniors – None
Juniors (11) – Sawyer Bernd, Brady Butt, Scott Cordova, Joseph Doda, Joseph Ramirez, Gavin Salem-Boman, Leyton Salentine, Nicholas Schulz, Jade Selzler, Quinn Winand, Walker Winjum
Sophomores (7) – Gavin Anderson, Carter Bruggeman, Cade Coauette, Zachary Daniels, Isaiah Facundo, Jacob Miller, Kaleb Thingelstad
Freshman (8) – Samuel Bosquez, Brooks Butt, Cade DeLeon, Gunnar Gunderson, Jacob Hesby, Ashton Larson, Justin Lindgren, Logan Melvie
Eighth graders (15) – Cayden Ames, Jaren Bailey, Ethan Boll, Ethan Bowman, Jackson Demarais, Jack Doda, Dokken Erdmann, Layten Fuentes, Hunter Knutson, Hunter Kresl, Alexander Longoria, Tatum Lubinski, Zachary Tahran, Braxton Volker, George Widman
Seventh graders (7) – Richard Burch, Carter Coauette, Koda Donarski, Blake Melsa, Lucas Miller, Spencer Ness, Anthony Reading

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The Section 8A Boys Hockey All-Section team was announced earlier this month.  The team is listed below –

Here is the list of the all section 8A boys hockey team which was voted on by the coaches:

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The Minnesota High Performance 16 and 17 year old hockey teams have been announced and I have listed the Section 8 boys and girls teams below –

HP Boys 17’s Section 8 team
Zak Kennett – Red Lake Falls
Jens Richards – Northstar Christian Academy U18
Grant Slukynsky – Warroad
Calvin Hanson – Kittson County Central
Evan Bushy – Thief River Falls
Anthony Foster – Warroad
Tucker Skime – Thief River Falls
Luke Gramer – Moorhead
Anthony Menghini – Brainerd
Landon Parker – East Grand Forks
Carter Johnson – Moorhead
Joshua Nelson – East Grand Forks
Mason Poolman – East Grand Forks
Tate Hammitt – Bemidji
Cooper Holm – East Grand Forks
Nick LaMere – St. Michael-Alberville
Christian Kadolph – Brainerd
Tylan Johnson – Thief River Falls

Goalies –
Noah Rupprecht – Thief River Falls
Luke Saiko – Brainerd

 

Boys HP 16’s Section 8 team –
Max Strand – Roseau
Thor Byfulien – Roseau
Paul Huglen – Roseau
Haden Kruse – Brainerd
Gavin Gunderson – Roseau
Blake Norris – Warroad
Zach Miller – St. Michael-Albertville
Logan Spencer – East Grand Forks
Judd Ginther – Roseau
Brody Schultz – East Grand Forks
Max Rud – St. Cloud
Kole Chupka – East Grand Forks
Max Dronen – Moorhead
Blake Biermaier – Thief River Falls
Garret Beauchamp – East Grand Forks

Goalies –
Wyatt Olsonwski – Kittson County Central
Noah Dragseth – Crookston

 

HP Girls 17 Section 8 team –
Hannah Corneliusen – Warroad
Mackenzie Bourgerie – North Wright County
Genevieve Hendrickson – Warroad
Jada Habisch – Buffalo
Shelby Breiland – Red Lake Falls (TRF)
Anika Stoskopf – Roseau
Sydney Phaneuf – Warroad
Jordan Swingle – St. Cloud
Sophie Robinson – Brainerd/Little Falls
Rheo Johnson – North Shore High
Alexis Leitner – Bemidji
Brianna Krejci – Moorhead
Lauren Wensel – Sartell/Sauk Rapids
Abbey Hardwick – Warroad
Ava Kistner – Moorhead
Jordyn Bergstrom – Roseau
Catherine Lanctot – Warroad
MacKenzie Epema – Crookston

Goalies –
Gabby Steele – Thief River Falls
Nettie Kimble – Bemidji

HP Girls 16 Section 8 team –
Kendra Emery – East Grand Forks
Kate Helgeson – Roseau
Cassidy Mack – East Grand Forks
Karlie Meeker – Warroad
Allisen Carothers – Buffalo
Emma Booth – Brainerd/Little Falls
Taylor Larson – Brainerd/Little Falls
Sophia Helgeson – Roseau
Madison Lavergne – Warroad
Rachel Wieland – Sartell/Sauk Rapids
Mariah Huglen – Roseau
Cailey Davidson – St. Cloud
Morgan Cromwell – Sartell/Sauk Rapids
Kelly Carriere – Sartell/Sauk Rapids
Mackenzie Dunn – North Wright County
Celine Stroot – Roseau
Breanna Lee – Thief River Falls
Dorothy Benson – St. Cloud

Goalies –
Isabel Varner – Buffalo
Josie Johnson – Roseau

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The Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association recently announced the  “Coach of the Year” award recipients in each class:

Class A:
Head Coach of the Year Chad Johnston-Minneota
Assistant Coach of the Year- Kevin Sommers– Menahga

Class AA:
Head Coach of the Year Matt Pryor- Minnehaha Academy
Assistant Coach of the Year Scott Scholl- Minnehaha Academy

Class AAA:
Head Coach of the Year  Tanysha Scott- DeLaSalle
Assistant Coach of the Year  Gary Rufsvold- Holy Angels

Class AAAA:
Head Coach of the Year Brian Cosgriff- Hopkins 
Assistant Coach of the Year Dean Stambaugh- Stillwater

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The Minnesota Boys Basketball Coaches Association has announced the State coaches of the year.  The coaches, listed by class are listed below –

Class A – Wade Grinde – Spring Grove
Class AA – Dave Cresap – Perham
Class AAA – Brett Cloutier – Princeton
Class AAAA – Ken Novak Jr. – Hopkins

Assistant Coaches of the year –
Jacob Anderson – Eden Valley Watkins
Tony Ball – Mankato East
Jerry Chiabotti – North Woods
Mark Harstad – Concordia Academy
Craig Johnson – Prior Lake
Pat Merrick – Westbrook-Walnut Grove

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The Minnesota Boys Basketball team Academic Champions have been announced and the area sections are listed below –
Section 8A – Win-E-Mac Patriots
Section 8AA – Staples-Motley
Section 8AAA – Bemidji Lumberjacks (also state participant)

MINNESOTA BOYS BASKETBALL ACADEMIC ALL-STATE 2018-19 CLASS A/AA
Athlete – School
Nick Garmen – Crookston
Noah Glad – Hawley
Eric Hoffer – Roseau
Brekken Lindberg – Win-E-Mac

Jonas Baune – New York Mills
Brady Bauck – New York Mills
Brock Bangasser – Howard Lake/Waverly/Winsted
Eli Campbell – Minneapolis North
Griffin Doughty – Plainview/Elgin/Millville
Nate Everson – Murray County Central
Isaac Fink – Springfield
Sam Fisher – Henning
Parker Freeburg – Westbrook-Walnut-Grove
Carter Hansen – Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
Cooper Hansen – Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
Nick Hansmann – Pine City
Alex Hillesheim – New Ulm Cathedral
Mitch Hoistad – Maple Lake
Trey Hungerholt – LeRoy-Ostrander
Zakary Irsfeld – Browerville-Eagle Valley
Parker Jones – Saint James
Reegan Nelson – Melrose
Baden Noennig – Mayer Lutheran
Anders Prater – Hinckley-Finlayson
Wyatt Pruter – Kingsland
Jayden Ruberg – Two Harbors
Andrew Quade – Westbrook-Walnut-Grove
Mason Tapp – Hayfield
Damon Trump – Bethlehem Academy
Marcus Pocernich – Cromwell
Eli Samuelson – Comfrey
Justin Schrupp – Renville County West
Joseph Stokman – Crosby-Ironton
Drew Wyffels – Mabel-Canton

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Forty of the state’s outstanding Senior boys basketball players will compete in the 37th annual Minnesota High School All-Star Basketball Series on Friday, March 29 at St. Cloud State University and Saturday, March 30 at Macalester College in St. Paul.
Friday’s event will be tipped off by a contest between the Blue and Green teams at 7:00 p.m. The Gold and Maroon teams will culminate the evening’s activities with an 8:30 p.m. contest. Saturday’s schedule will include games at 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. A half-time 3-point shooting contest will take place on both dates. The 2019 MBCA McDonald Award will be presented in a between-games ceremony on Saturday.
Tickets at the door are $8 for adults and $6 for senior citizens and students (5 & under are free).

Rosters of the teams are enclosed. *** Selections were made from nominations provided by each athlete’s coach (must be a member of the MBCA) and includes athletes who are available and have committed to participate in the event.
*** Due to McDonald’s All-American Game travel logistics, Matthew Hurt will only be able to play in Saturday games at Macalester.

The rosters and coaches are listed below –

GOLD All-Stars-
Coaches – Neil Steffes and Jeff Gullickson of Fertile-Beltrami
Players –
Eli Campbell – Minneapolis North
Connor Bich – Hermantown
Tommy Chatman – Park Center
James Flicek – Princeton
Jason Kaul – Blaine
Maleeck Harden-Hayes – Moorhead
Baden Noenning – Mayer Lutheran
Sam Fisher – Henning
Sam Schwartz – White Bear Lake

MAROON All-Stars –
Coaches – Terry Techam and Jamie Longstreet of Delano
Players –
Jeremy Beckler – White Bear Lake
Matthew Johnson – Fergus Falls
Jalen Dearring – Hopkins
Mitch Hoistad – Maple Lake
Logan Nagorski – Big Lake
Bennett Otto – Champlin Park
David Roddy – Breck
Derek Techam – Delano
Malik Willingham – Waseca
Hunter Nielsen – New Prague

GREEN All-Stars –
Coaches – Ryan Dusha and Daryl Oja of Melrose
Players –
Owen Boerema – Litchfield
Khari Broadway – Park Center
Daveonte Davis – St. Paul Central
Isaac Fink – Springfield
Cade Goggleye – North Woods
Drew Gustafson – Kimball
Jackson Jangula – St. Cloud Cathedral
Robert Jones – Prior Lake
Jack Middleton – Edina
Noah Christensen – Breckenridge

BLUE All-Stars
Coaches – Omar McMillan and Matt Mullenback of Richfield
Players –
Brandon Adelman – New London-Spicer
Jared Rainey – Maple Grove
Charlie Gorres – Park-Cottage Grove
Jake Kettner – Minnesota Valley Lutheran
Matthew Hurt – Rochester John Marshall
Antwan Kimmons – Tartan
Jaeden King – Cretin-Derham Hall
Jon Stimmler – Princeton
Jack Thompson – St. Thomas Academy
Mason Zick – Northfield

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University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s Basketball junior guard Harrison Cleary (Oak Creek, Wis.) was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II All-Central Region second team.
Cleary averaged 22.2 points per game on the season and shot 43.3 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the three-point line. Cleary was almost automatic from the charity stripe, where he missed just 10 free throws the entire season, shooting 153 of 163, good for 93.9 percent.
Cleary ranked in the top 10 of the NSIC in a variety of offensive categories this past season, including scoring, three-point percentage, three-point makes per game, assists and finished first in minutes played in the conference.  Cleary also finished 18th in the nation in scoring and finished first in the entire nation in free throw percentage.
The NABC coaches voted on the best 88 basketball players across all of the eight Division II regions.
The NSIC also had Gage Davis of St. Cloud State and Ryan Bruggeman of Southwest Minnesota State were named to the All-Central Region first team, while Brandon Myer of Minnesota-Duluth and Ian Smith of Northern State were named to the second team along with Cleary.

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“LACE ‘EM UP” BASKETBALL CAMP

Make plans now to attend the 26th annual “Lace ‘em Up” basketball camp to be held in Red Lake Falls high school at the Robert Matzke Gym from June 3-7, 2019.

The camp is open to any boys or girls who are currently in grades K-11.  The camp is set up to run from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 for grades 6-11 each morning, and from 12:00 noon until 3:30 p.m. for grades K-6.  The cost of the camp is $60 with a maximum cost per family of $100.  If you register before May 25,  you will also receive a camp T-shirt.  After May 25, ALL SINGLE REGISTRATION FEES WILL BE $70 AND THE MAXIMUM COST PER FAMILY WILL BE $120, DUE TO CAMP PREPARATION AND AWARD ORDERS.

NOTE: by request, sixth graders may come in the morning, afternoon, or both for one price.

Cut on the dotted line and return the following to: Steve Philion, 518 Champagne Ave., Red Lake Falls, MN 56750.  (218-253-2499). E-mail: sphilion@rlfedu.org

Make checks payable to: Steve Philion

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Name____________________________________
Grade in 2018-2019________________(grade just completed)

I was a 6^th grader this year and would like to come:
(circle one) MORNING    AFTERNOON    BOTH

T-shirt sizes:     Please circle one:

Youth sizes:       EXTRA SMALL           SMALL            MEDIUM             LARGE

Adult sizes:        SMALL     MEDIUM     LARGE      X-LARGE        XX-LARGE

Address:____________________________________________

MALE____________              FEMALE____________

I, the parent of the above student agree to allow my child to participate in the 2019 “Lace ‘em Up basketball camp in Red Lake Falls.  I also understand that the camp director, the City of RLF, and the RLF school district are not responsible for any injuries or accidents that my child might occur.

SIGNATURE OF PARENT OR GUARDIAN:_____________________________

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JOKES

HOW TO START A FIGHT –