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SPORTS FEEVER – October 14, 2021

  sports sportsfeever   sports, Sports Feever
We have our first Section champion with the Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team going back to state after a few years away from Reed Sweatt and soccer playoffs start October 14 and Football and Volleyball playoffs are right around the corner.  There are a lot of big football games in the final two weeks and it will be interesting to see what happens for seeding purposes.
Enjoy this week’s column.
— — —
I asked Mike Gullingsrud to give an update on his son Alex and his cancer treatment.   The community support of everybody across northwest Minnesota and I wanted to let people know how Alex is doing.  So here is Mike’s response below –
As an update, Alex just finished his fifth week of treatment, which included his third round of chemo. (Alex is on a 29-week treatment plan, but that doesn’t mean chemo every week)  The most recent treatment went pretty well as Alex wasn’t nauseous, had a decent appetite and his energy was pretty good.  That was great to see as his first two chemo sessions were tough on him, being nauseous and with no energy.
All of our chemo sessions are in Fargo and we have another round of chemo this week.  After that, we have two weeks “off” from the chemo sessions, but we will have an imaging session in Rochester to evaluate the tumor in his right hip/pelvis area.  When the tumor was first found, it was the size of a slow-pitch softball and we were told it was an aggressive tumor.  He also had two very small masses in his left lung that were concerning (but biopsies weren’t taken on them, so doctor’s will re-evaluate at the imaging session).
The imaging session will be VERY important as that will determine what doctor’s will need to do with his surgery.  Alex will have surgery in Rochester on his hip in early to mid-November.  Beyond that, we will have to see what the recovery process will be.  Chemo sessions are still scheduled after that, but we know doctors will give us more information after surgery.
That’s about it for now, but please feel free to keep in touch.  We greatly appreciate your support and the amount of encouragement/support Alex is receiving is truly tremendous! ❤
Thanks Chris!
Mike & Nikki

— — —

Congratulations to the Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team to become the first team in the area to win a Section Championship.  Crookston was ranked fifth in the state and stumbled in their last regular season match with a loss to Park Rapids.  That gave Park Rapids the top seed and Crookston the second seed.   It didn’t matter because Crookston came ready to play in the section tournament as they played some great tennis and beat Staples-Motley 5-2 in the semi-finals and then beat Wadena-Deer Creek 5-2 in the championship.

Crookston will advance to the first state tournament in six years.  They also have five of the six individuals left in the Individual tournament semi-finals.  The Pirates are rolling right now and it will be fun to see how they do down at state.

The Class A Section Champs are listed below –
1. Rochester Lourdes
2. Fairmont (beat St. James 4-3)
3. Morris (beat Benson 6-1)
4. Breck
5. Providence Academy
6. Litchfield (beat Osakis 6-1)
7. Pine City is playing Eveleth-Gilbert
8. Crookston

2021 State Girls Tennis Tournament Schedule
October 26-29, 2021
Class A: Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center, 4005 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55409
Class AA: Baseline Tennis Center, 1815 4th St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Team Schedule
Class A/AA
Quarterfinals – 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM Tuesday, October 26
Semifinals – 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM Wednesday, October 27
3rd Place – 2:00 PM Wednesday, October 27
Championship – 4:00 PM Wednesday, October 27
Consolation Semifinals – 4:00 PM, 6:00 PM Tuesday, October 26
Consolation Championship – 12:00 PM Wednesday, October 27

Singles Schedule  Class A/AA
1 st Round 8:00 AM Thursday, October 28
Quarterfinals 12:00 PM Thursday, October 28
Semifinals 8:00 AM Friday, October 29
3rd Place & Championship 11:30 AM Friday, October 29
Consolation 1st Round 12:00 PM Thursday, October 28
Consolation Semifinals 8:00 AM Friday, October 29
Consolation Championship 11:30 AM Friday, October 29

Doubles Schedule Class A/AA
1st Round 10:00 AM Thursday, October 28
Quarterfinals 2:00 PM Thursday, October 28
Semifinals 8:00 AM Friday, October 29
3 rd Place & Championship 11:30 AM Friday, October 29
Consolation 1st Round 12:00 PM Thursday, October 28
Consolation Semifinals 8:00 AM Friday, October 29
Consolation Championship 11:30 AM Friday, October 29

— — —

The Section 8A Girls Soccer tournament seeds and bracket has been released and they are as follows –

West Subsection –
1. Fergus Falls
2. Crookston
3. Hillcrest Academy
4. Pelican Rapids

East Subsection –
1. St. John’s Prep
2. St. Cloud Cathedral
3. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley
4. Melrose

Schedule –

Thursday, October 14
West First round –
#4 Pelican Rapids at #1 Fergus Falls  (7:00 p.m.)
#3 Hillcrest Lutheran at #2 Crookston (4:00 p.m.)

East First round –
#4 Melrose at #1 St. John’s Prep (at St. Ben’s 3:00 p.m.)
#3 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley at #2 St. Cloud Cathedral (at Whitney Field 5:00 p.m.)

Semi-finals October 16 – (at high seed)
West Championship (4 p.m. if no lights, 7:00 p.m. if lights)
East Championship (4 p.m. if no lights, 7:00 p.m. if lights)

CHAMPIONSHIP – October 19 at Sauk Centre at 5:30 p.m.

— — —

The Section 8A Boys Soccer tournament seeds and bracket has been released and they are as follows –

West Subsection –
1. Pelican Rapids
2. Hillcrest Lutheran
3. Fergus Falls
4. Crookston

East Subsection –
1. St. Cloud Cathedral
2. Central Minnesota Christian
3. Minnewaska Area
4. St. John’s Prep
5. Melrose

Schedule –
Tuesday, October 12 – Play-in – St. Johns Prep beat Melrose

Thursday, October 14
West First round –
#4 Crookston at #1 Pelican Rapids  (4:00 p.m.)
#3 Fergus Falls at #2 Hillcrest Lutheran (at Fergus Falls 4:00 p.m.)

East First round –
#4 St. John’s Prep at #1 St. Cloud Cathedral (at Whitney Field 7:00 p.m.)
#3 Minnewaska Area at #2 Central Minnesota Christian (at Willmar 4:00 p.m.)

Semi-finals October 16 – (at high seed)
West Championship (4 p.m. if no lights, 7:00 p.m. if lights)
East Championship (4 p.m. if no lights, 7:00 p.m. if lights)

CHAMPIONSHIP – October 19 at Sauk Centre at 7:30 p.m.

— — —

The SECTION 8A TRUE TEAM SWIMMING AND DIVING MEET will be Saturday, October 16, at Detroit Lakes.

The following teams have been invited to attend the True Team Section 8A Meet: Crookston, Fergus Falls, Fosston- Bagley, Park Rapids, Perham-New York Mills, Thief River Falls and Warroad-Badger-Roseau(The North). The host team is Detroit Lakes and the swimming & diving competition will take place at the Detroit Lakes Community and Cultural Center, 826 Summit Avenue, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501.

SWIMMING: This is a pre-seeded timed final meet. Each team will be allowed to enter four relay teams and four swimmers per event. Please mark your relays entries as A, B, C, & D. Note: Enter relay orders as A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3, C4, and D1, D2, D3, D4. The pool will open for swimming warm-ups at 12:30 PM (or immediately after diving).

The Swim Competition will start at 2:00 PM True Team Diving Policy: Divers will dive a six-dive list or an eleven-dive list (no cuts at section meets). Rationale: Diving is either a six-dive event or an eleven-dive event. DIVING Warm-up: 7:45 am-8:30 am DL and Fergus (8 divers) 8:30 am-9:15 am PR, Perham and Warroad (9 Divers) 9:15 am-10:00 open board SCORING: First place will be worth as many points as the number of possible entries in the event. For example: If there are eight teams entered in the meet, there are a possible 32 entries per event. Thus making first place worth 32 points, second place worth 31 points, etc., etc. Relay points are double the value of individual events.

For example: If eight teams participate in the meet the scoring would be as follows: Relays: 64, 62, 60, 58, 56, 54, 52, 50, 48, 46, 44, … 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
Individuals: 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 26, 25, … 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Awards: Trophies will be presented to the top three teams, and medals will be given to the top eight places. Advancement to State: The top-scoring team from the meet will advance to the True Team State Meet. The Wild Card Committee will use the HY-Tek results from each section meet to determine which teams will be invited as “Wild Card” teams into the True Team State Meet. Coaches must declare at the pre-meet coaches meeting if they will accept advancement to the True Team State Meet as the winning team and or as a wild card.

— — —

The 2021-22 National Hockey League (NHL) season kicks off today, and nearly all of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I teams have started their seasons. It’s great news for fans in Minnesota at they will have more reason than just the prospects of our home state teams to be excited for as more players from the State of Hockey will take the ice at these high levels of play this season than ever before.

For the first time ever, there are over 200 Minnesotans on both men’s and women’s Division I rosters as there are 225 men and 214 women set to compete at the highest levels of college hockey this season.

39 Minnesotans are listed on NHL opening night rosters, a slight increase from previous seasons. Six different NHL teams, including the Minnesota Wild, will feature three Minnesota natives on their team to start the year. A total of 190 American were listed on NHL opening night rosters.

Perhaps even more impressive, the players at these levels come from nearly 80 different community associations of all sizes and from across Minnesota, ranging from Luverne up to Roseau, from Red Wing to Duluth and every corner of the metro area.

Players from Section 8A/8AA that are in the pros are as follows –
Will Borgen (Moorhead)  Buffalo
Josh Archibald (Brainerd)  Edmonton
Brock Nelson (Warroad)  New York Islanders
Tucker Poolman (EGF)  Vancouver
TJ Oshie (Warroad) Washington

— — —

Our friends at the Grygla School will be hosting a fundraiser for the Ryan and Jennifer (Saurdiff) Wichterman and the Mike and Nicole Gullingsrud families on Saturday, October 16th, beginning at 8:00, in conjunction with the Frostbite Volleyball Tournament.

Both families have children, Dylan Wichterman, 13, and Alex Gullingsrud, 8, who are battling Cancer.  They both face several trips to the Mayo Clinic for treatment and appointments.

We ask that you come out to support these area families by supporting the Bingo, silent and live auctions, Beef Brisket dinner and bake sale.  You can order t-shirts at:

https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSePEZ…/viewform……

T-shirts are $20.  $8 per t-shirt will go directly to the two families.

— — —

The University of Minnesota Crookston volleyball team will have their annual ‘Cancer Awareness’ weekend October 15-16.

The Golden Eagles will host MSU Moorhead on October 15 at 6 p.m. and Northern State on October 16 at 2 p.m.

This year, the Golden Eagles will be wearing ‘Aces For Alex’ shirts during warmups for Alex Gullingsrud, a young boy from Red Lake Falls, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Head coach Sarah Morgan and assistant coach Nick Meseck will be wearing shirts for Alex during the match.

The Minnesota Crookston Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will also be having a free-will donation outside the gym for Alex. All funds raised will go to the Gullingsrud family.

— — —

JOKES

GOD to ST. FRANCIS:
Frank, you know all about gardens and nature.  What in the world is going on down there on the planet?  What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago?  I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan.  Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon.  The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds.  I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now.  But, all I see are these green rectangles.
St. FRANCIS:
It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord.  The Suburbanites.  They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD:
Grass?  But, it’s so boring.  It’s not colorful.  It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms.  It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord.  They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green.  They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn
GOD:
The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord.  As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.
GOD:
They cut it?  Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS:
Not exactly, Lord.  Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD:
They bag it?  Why?  Is it a cash crop?  Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite.  They pay to throw it away.
GOD:
Now, let me get this straight.  They fertilize grass so it will grow.  And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS:
Yes, Sir.
GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat.  That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS:
You aren’t going to believe this, Lord.  When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD:
What nonsense.  At least they kept some of the trees.  That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.  The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer.  In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes.  It’s a natural cycle of life.
ST. FRANCIS:
You better sit down, Lord.  The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle.  As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD:
No!?  What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch.  They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD:
Enough!  I don’t want to think about this anymore.  St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts.  What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE:
‘Dumb and Dumber’, Lord.  It’s a story about ….
GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis…

— — —

How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at  chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Ben Trostad is a senior playing Men’s Golf at UMC.  Ben shot a 74 and an 80 at Missouri Western State Invite in St. Joseph, Missouri.  UMC will wrap up the fall season at the Fort Hays State Classic October 17-19.

Kaleb Thingelstad is a freshman playing golf at Kansas Wesleyan University.  Caleb shot an 87, 87, and 81 for a 255 and finished 90th place at the NAIA Memphis shootout.  KWU is done for the fall season.

Joslynn Leach is a freshman playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead.  The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season already.

Brady Butt is a sophomore playing football at the University of Jamestown.  Brady didn’t play in a 24-17 loss to Concordia University of Nebraska.  The Jimmies play #2 Northwestern Iowa College on Saturday.

Rachel Hefta, is a junior playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.  Rachel didn’t play in a 3-0 victory over Briar Cliff and will host #13 Dakota Wesleyan on October 15 and #1 Jamestown on October 16.

Ty Hamre is playing football at Bemidji State University.  He didn’t play in a 4Concordia St. Paul.

Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Sweden.  He is the only American playing for Mora IK of the Allsvenskan league.  (Scoring and stats are difficult to find)

Gretchen Theis is a sophomore at NDSU on the Equestrian team.

Kate MacGregor is a senior swimming at Minnesota State Moorhead.

Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.

Nick Garmen is a junior playing tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.

Crookston School District Coaches –
Sue Tiedemann is the Pirate head girls tennis coach
Emily Meyer is the Pirate head girls hockey coach and softball assistant coach.
Lacia Hanson is the Junior High softball coach.
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Brock Hanson is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Ben Halos is a Pirate Baseball assistant coach.
Alex LaFrance is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach

Non-Crookston High School coaching –

Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida

Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown

Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.

Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park

Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.

Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.

Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.

Matt Harris, is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.

Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming

Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men’s head Hockey coach

Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School

Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations

Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College

Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies

Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis

Ben Andringa is serving our country with the Army in New York.

Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy

Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.

Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.

Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.

Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston High School.  He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.

Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome

That’s it for this week.  Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call.  Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.

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