SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Holy Cow! We are in the thick of tourney time and still have a week and a half before Girls Basketball playoffs and just shy of three weeks before boys basketball playoffs! It is busy and KROX has you covered! It is the best time of year.
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We have been informed of an interesting development in the south! According to my sources, Breckenridge had a transfer from Wahpeton this year, and he played football and basketball. It was not a big deal until recently when it was found out that the transfer wasn’t eligible, and the Cowboy Football and basketball team had to forfeit games that he played in!!!! Now, this issue has our attention. (Insert your hockey transfer joke here NW Minnesota sports fans)
Breckenridge is currently 10-11 on the year, and they play in the Heart O’ Lakes conference, which involves a lot of teams in Section 8AA. Breckenridge has played Barnesville, DGF, Pelican Rapids, along with Perham (twice) and Hawley (twice)Beat the following – Barnesville
Lost to – Perham (twice), Hawley (twice), DGF, and Pelican Rapids.
With that said….you might think there is no reason to no use the QRF with Breckenridge only beating Barnesville (pre Bolgrean back). BUT, the QRF goes by how your opponents to against other teams. So now that causes a problem with using the QRF.
Right now…..no matter what formula is used, East Grand Forks will be the top seed if they keep winning. They beat Pelican Rapids, Perham, DGF, and Warroad! So there really is no way they can’t be the top seed. They have games against Warroad and Barnesville, and if they win that, there will be no possible way the Green Wave aren’t the top seed!!!!
The rest of the seeding….I would hate to be the coaches because this will be one of the hardest years to seed without the QRF.
With that said….you might think there is no reason to no use the QRF with Breckenridge only beating Barnesville (pre Bolgrean back). BUT, the QRF goes by how your opponents to against other teams. So now that causes a problem with using the QRF.
Right now…..no matter what formula is used, East Grand Forks will be the top seed if they keep winning. They beat Pelican Rapids, Perham, DGF, and Warroad! So there really is no way they can’t be the top seed. They have games against Warroad and Barnesville, and if they win that, there will be no possible way the Green Wave aren’t the top seed!!!!
The rest of the seeding….I would hate to be the coaches because this will be one of the hardest years to seed without the QRF.
But kudos to the Region 6A Committee and Marc Helmrichs on taking quick action and letting everybody know what is going on.
The letter from Region 6A is below –
6A, 8AA Boys Basketball Coaches and AD’s
I am reaching out to inform you of a situation that will impact you as we near the end of the basketball season. Earlier this week I was informed by the AD at Breckenridge that they will need to forfeit seven boys basketball games this season.
In consultation with the MSHSL, we determined that it would be best for all if we do NOT use QRF to seed our 6A and 8AA boys tournaments this year.
Therefore, we will be using a coaches vote to determine seeds this season. Chuck Evert will handle the 8AA and 6A NORTH seeding and I will coordinate the 6A SOUTH. We will send out more specific information as the seed dates get closer. At our most recent 6A committee meeting we set these dates for seeding; 6A-March 1 and 8AA March 2.
The girls tournaments will continue to seed with QRF as this situation has no impact on them.
Best of luck with the remainder of your season!
Sincerely
Marc Helmrichs
6A Secretary
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The Section 8A Girls Hockey championship game is tonight at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls at 7:00 p.m. The NINE time defending section champion and #1 ranked Warroad will take on the Crookston Pirates
Warroad beat Crookston 6-0 on December 26 in Warroad and the Warriors beat Crookston 3-1 (with an open net goal) on January 9 in Crookston.
Crookston is coming off one of the best games they have played in a 9-2 victory over East Grand Forks in the semi-finals, while Warroad had no problems in a 7-0 victory over Thief River Falls.
This will be the fourth straight meeting in the Section 8A Championship between the two teams.
2021-22 – Warroad won 7-0 (at EGF)
2022-23 – Warroad won 8-0 (at Warroad)
2023-24 – Warroad won 3-2 (at Crookston) Crookston led 2-0 in the third period.
2024-25 – The game is being played at Thief River Falls. Warroad is 21-3 on the year while Crookston s 14-10-1 on the year.
You can watch the game below, or listen to KROX Radio. The RiverView Health pre-game show is at 6:15 PM.
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The Section 8A Boys Hockey Tournament seeding meeting was held on Wednesday morning in Thief River Falls and we knew 3-6 was going to be interesting and unpredictable and it was!
Team seeds –
1. Warroad
2. East Grand Forks
3. Red Lake Falls
4. Detroit Lakes
5. Thief River Falls
6. Crookston
7. Bagley/Fosston
8. Park Rapids
9. Kittson County Central
10. Lake of the Woods
Section 8A Play-in games (Saturday, February 15)
Game 1 – #9 Kittson County Central at #8 Park Rapids (2:00 PM)
Game 2 – #10 Lake of the Woods at #7 Bagley/Fosston (at Bagley) (1:00 PM)
Section 8A Quarterfinals – Tuesday, February 18 at high seed)
Game 3 – Game 1 winner at #1 Warroad
Game 4 – #5 Thief River Falls at #4 Detroit Lakes (7:00 PM)
Game 5 – #6 Crookston at #3 Red Lake Falls (On KROX Radio and KROX TV) (7:00 PM – pre-game 6:15 PM)
Game 6 – Game 2 winner at #2 East Grand Forks
Section 8A Semi-finals (Saturday, February 22) at East Grand Forks
Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner (1:00 PM)
Game 5 winner vs Game 6 winner (3:30 PM)
Section 8A Championship (Thursday, February 27) at East Grand Forks
(7:00 PM)
Here is why the 3-6 seeds were unpredictable –
RLF – beat DL and TRF, lost to Crookston twice
DL – split with EGF, Beat TRF, tied Crookston, lost to RLF and lost to Warroad
TRF – Lost to EGF twice, Lost to DL, lost to RLF, lost to Warroad twice, beat Crookston twice
Crookston – lost to TRF twice, lost to Warroad, tied DL and beat RLF twice
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MILESTONES/HONORS – (If you have a milestone, record, or honor, email them to chrisjfee@yahoo.com)
Hunter Nicholas of Crookston grabbed the 1,000th rebound of his career this week.
Reegan Mortimer of Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Girls basketball scored the 1,000th point of her career on Tuesday night at RLCC.
Regan Hemberger, a Perham Girls Basketball player, made 11 three-pointers in a game last week. A new school record.
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Section 8AA Girls Basketball
The QRF standings as of Wednesday night are below. Compliments of Minnesota-Scores.net.
The seeding is still close for almost every seed. There are three teams fighting for the top spot with DGF and Pelican Rapids with Barnesville within reach.
DGF split with Pelican Rapids this year and beat Barnesville twice.
Pelican Rapids split with DGF and beat Barnesville the first time and they will meet on February 21.
All three teams are 10-4 in the HOL so every game in the final week and a half are huge!
Menahga, East Grand Forks, and Perham are all fighting for the fourth through sixth seed.
Hawley, TRF, Wadena-Deer Creek, and Frazee are fighting for the 7-10 seeds and the only seed left to be decided is the 11 and 12 seed with Crookston and Park Rapids meeting on Monday, February 17 to decided who gets the 11th seed.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton | 11-2 | 18-5 | 116.3 |
| Pelican Rapids | 11-3 | 17-5 | 112.3 |
| Barnesville | 10-4 | 14-6 | 103.9 |
| Menahga | 6-1 | 19-4 | 93.9 |
| East Grand Forks | 8-3 | 15-9 | 93.6 |
| Perham | 7-5 | 13-9 | 91.8 |
| Hawley | 6-7 | 11-11 | 84.5 |
| Thief River Falls | 7-4 | 13-8 | 78.6 |
| Wadena-Deer Creek | 3-6 | 16-8 | 77.2 |
| Frazee | 6-8 | 12-11 | 72.9 |
| Park Rapids | 0-14 | 5-16 | 49.5 |
| Crookston | 3-10 | 6-17 | 49.0 |
| Roseau | 2-6 | 6-17 | 40.8 |
| Warroad | 0-7 | 2-21 | 30.0 |
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Section 8A Girls Basketball- West
Kittson County Central will be the top seed as they continue to roll! Sacred Heart and Warren-Alvarado-Oslo are fighting for the second seed. The teams split in two meetings, but right now, WAO has a better conference record and that should give them the second seed in the tie-breaker criteria.
BGMR and the Northern Freeze seem to be the leaders for the fourth seed. BGMR beat the Freeze in the first meeting, but they will meet again on February 20. Also right behind are RLCC, Stephen-Argyle, and Fertile-Beltrami.
Goodridge/Grygla has the tie-breaker on Climax-Fisher so the Knights will be the 10 seed.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kittson County Central | 14-0 | 20-1 | 97.2 |
| Sacred Heart | 10-3 | 16-6 | 86.2 |
| Warren-A-O | 15-2 | 18-4 | 85.9 |
| BGMR | 8-6 | 12-9 | 65.1 |
| Northern Freeze | 6-8 | 9-9 | 63.7 |
| RLCC | 10-10 | 11-10 | 58.9 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 5-11 | 8-13 | 54.5 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 9-8 | 10-12 | 52.2 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 5-12 | 8-13 | 45.7 |
| Climax/Fisher | 4-12 | 7-15 | 43.7 |
Section 8A – East Girls Basketball
It looks like Kelliher/Northome might be the top seed. They split with Cass Lake-Bena, but they have a better conference, Section, and overall record.
Fosston looks like they will be the third seed as they beat Mahnomen/Waubun in their only meeting this year.
Blackduck looks to have the five spot in control.
Bagley looks to have a beat on the sixth spot, but the seventh spot is up for grabs yet with Clearbrook-Gonvick, Lake of the Woods, and Win-E-Mac all in the hunt.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kelliher/Northome | 10-1 | 17-3 | 83.7 |
| Cass Lake-Bena | 7-1 | 18-7 | 83.3 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 8-3 | 13-10 | 65.1 |
| Fosston | 12-4 | 14-8 | 65.0 |
| Blackduck | 6-9 | 12-11 | 53.2 |
| Bagley | 7-9 | 11-13 | 43.1 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 4-12 | 6-15 | 34.4 |
| Lake of the Woods | 3-9 | 4-16 | 30.4 |
| Win-E-Mac | 1-15 | 2-20 | 29.6 |
| Red Lake | 0-9 | 1-16 | 22.3 |
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The Section 8A Wrestling Team tournament will have the semi-finals and championship on Friday at the Fertile-Beltrami High School gymnasium.
The semi-finals will have the following matchups at 6:00 PM
#1 Frazee vs #5 Mahnomen/Waubun
#3 United North Central vs #2 Fosston/Bagley
The Championship will be at 7:30 PM.
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The Pine to Prairie Conference Basketball championship games will be held on Saturday, February 15 at Park Christian School in Moorhead.
GIRLS – Park Christian (South Champ) takes on Fosston (North Champ) at 2:00 PM
BOYS – Ada-Borup-West (South Champs) takes on Fertile-Beltrami (North champs) 3:30 PM
Admission is $6 for adults and $4 for students.
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Congratulations to Hawley Nugget Volleyball Coach Kathleen Rustad on being named the Minnesota Class AA Volleyball Coach of the year.
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The Minnesota State High School League is scrambling a bit after President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring that no athletes born male can participate in female sports. The MSHSL and other state high school leagues in democratic-controlled states are scrambling for guidance. A press release from the MSHSL on February 10 is below.
The recent Presidential Executive Order interpreting Title IX has raised issues and questions for MSHSL Member Schools and the League.
This order affects the participation rights of transgender females in athletics.
Thus, this creates questions as to the interaction of this Executive Order and Minnesota law. The Minnesota Human Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Minnesota Constitution prohibit discrimination against any person in any protected class, which includes sexual orientation and gender identity. The Executive Order appears to conflict with current State law. The Executive Order requires a 60-day window for athletic associations to convene and take action implementing the order. Given the significance of the issue, the League is considering requesting a formal opinion from the Minnesota Attorney General for guidance on the issues involved. Although much remains unclear, the following reflects our current reality:
• Minnesota is not alone. A number of other states are similarly trying to reconcile existing statutes and policies with the Executive Order.
• At least one media report has inaccurately claimed that the MSHSL confirmed that transgender student-athletes in Minnesota will continue to be able to participate in school sports consistent with their gender identity despite the Executive Order. Instead, the MSHSL is seeking guidance to better understand how to proceed in the future.
• During this 60-day window as we seek clarification and direction from the state, the MSHSL’s current bylaw remains in place at this time allowing transgender student participation. T
he bylaw is based on the [Minnesota] Human Rights Act and the State Constitution.
The MSHSL released another press release on February 12 –
Earlier today, the Minnesota State High School League was notified by the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights of the initiation of an investigation of the League’s compliance with the recent Executive Order. The League and its legal counsel are reviewing the recent communication and intend to fully cooperate with the investigation. The League’s current statement regarding the recent Executive Order and applicable state laws is posted to the League’s website. https://www.mshsl.org
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The semifinalists for the Jori Jones Senior Goalie of the Year Award have been announced by Let’s Play Hockey.
The Jori Jones Award is given to the state’s top senior goaltender based on criteria that includes: academics, community/extra-curricular activities, citizenship, coachability and, of course, on-ice performance.
Coaches nominate their players for consideration and panel of high school and college coaches and select members of the media vote on the top 10 semifinalists. A second vote will determine the five finalists and the winner of the award.
The award will be presented to the winner at the annual Ms. Hockey Banquet at the Saint Paul RiverCentre on Sunday, Feb. 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Previous winners include: 1999 — Katie Beauduy, Blaine; 2000 — Shari Vogt, River Lakes; 2001 — Jody Horak, Blaine; 2002 — Amber Hasbargen, Warroad; 2003 — Robin Doepke, Chaska; 2004 — Emily Brookshaw, Hill-Murray; 2005 — Johanna Ellison, Cloquet/Esko/Carlton; 2006 — Alannah McCready, Centennial; 2007 — Ashley Nixon, Blaine; 2008 — Alyssa Grogan, Eagan; 2009 — Laura Bellamy, Duluth Northern Stars; 2010 — Kallie Billadeau, Hopkins; 2011 — Julie Friend, Minnetonka; 2012 — Erika Allen, Roseville; 2013 — Sydney Rossman, Minnetonka; 2014 — Erin O’Neil, Hopkins; 2015 — Frances Marshall, Thief River Falls; 2016 — Jenna Brenneman, Breck; 2017 — Breanna Blesi, Maple Grove; 2018 — Alexa Dobchuk, Eden Prairie; 2019 — Calla Frank, White Bear Lake; 2020 – Anna LaRose, North Wright County; 2021 – Brynn Dulac, Minnetonka HS; 2022 – Maggie Malecha, Northfield HS; 2023 – Uma Corniea, Edina HS; 2024 – Grace Zhan – Hill-Murray.
| Player | School | W/L/T | GAA | Save% | Shutouts | College |
| Nora Hannan | Edina | 11-2-0 | 1.04 | .933 | 5 | St. Thomas |
| Mallory Hartl | Moose Lake | 11-13-1 | 1.91 | .948 | 3 | Providence |
| Ashlynn Hazlett | Minnetonka | 8-1-1 | 1.02 | .926 | 4 | Bemidji State |
| Layla Hemp | Minnetonka | 15-1-0 | 0.91 | .953 | 6 | Minnesota |
| Ida Huber | Dodge County | 20-3-2 | 0.79 | .960 | 11 | Long Island U. |
| Taylor Kressin | Moorhead | 16-7-1 | 1.49 | .949 | 6 | Undecided |
| Reese McConnell | Edina | 10-1-1 | 1.11 | .935 | 5 | Undecided |
| Jayda Moyer | Albert Lea | 21-4-1 | 1.13 | .947 | 10 | Undecided |
| Zoe Rimstad | Holy Angels | 11-6-3 | 1.76 | .931 | 3 | Lindenwood |
| Kaydence Roeske | River Lakes | 13-12-1 | 2.11 | .932 | 4 | MSU-Mankato |
Honorable mention-
Ericah Folden (Brainerd/Little Falls), Kambelle Freije (Crookston), Lily Peterfeso (Roseville/Mahtomedi), Ava Brennan (New Ulm), Addison Moudry (Farmington), Sydney Ries (Simley), Abby Thurmer (Northern Tier), Erin Eilers (Willmar), Alli Olson (Osseo/Park Center), Victoria Steinke (Hastings), Nola Kwiatkowski (Rock Ridge), Annika Olson (Anoka), Lauren Lafferty (Anoka), Abby Huselid (Elk River/Zimmerman), Macy Mueller (Northfield), Maya Pena (Waconia), Britlyn Rasmussen (East Grand Forks).
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JOKES
A husband says to his wife, “My Olympic condoms have arrived. I think I’ll wear gold tonight.”
The wife replies, “Why not wear silver and come second for a change?”
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All of his life Len from Cape Breton had heard stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 21st birthday. On that day, they’d walk across the lake to the boat club for their first legal drink.
So when Len’s 21st birthday came around, he and his pal Corky took a boat out to the middle of the lake. Len stepped out of the boat and nearly drowned!
Corky just managed to pull him to safety. Furious and confused, Len went to see his grandmother. “Grandma, it’s my 21st birthday, so why can’t I walk across the lake, like my father, his father, and his father before him?”
Granny looked Len straight in the eyes, and said, “Because, you idiot, your father, grandfather and great grandfather was born in January, you were born in July.”
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The famous Colonel called up the Pope and asks him for a favor. “What can I do for you?” Said the Pope.
The Colonel said, “Holy father, I need you to change the daily prayer from, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ to ‘Give us this day our daily chicken’. If you do that, I swear I will donate $10 Million Dollars to the Vatican.” The Pope replied, “I am very sorry. That is the Lord’s prayer and it isn’t something I can just change the words for.” So the Colonel, disappointed, hung up.
After another month of bad sales, the Colonel panicked, and called again. “Listen your Excellency. I really need your help. I’ll donate $50 million dollars if you change the words of the daily prayer from ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ to ‘Give us this day our daily chicken.'”
And the Pope responded, “It is very tempting, Colonel Sanders. The church could do a lot of good with that much money. It would help us to support many charities. But, again, I must decline. It is the Lord’s prayer, and I can’t change the words.” So the Colonel gave up again. After two more months of terrible sales, the Colonel got desperate. “This is my final offer, your Excellency. If you change the words of the daily prayer from, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ to ‘Give us this day our daily chicken’ I will donate $100 million to the Vatican.” The Pope replied, “Let me get back to you.”
So the next day, the Pope called together all of his bishops and said, “I have some good news and I have some bad news. The good news is that KFC is going to donate $100 million to the Vatican.” The bishops rejoiced at the news. Then one asked about the bad news. The Pope replied: “The bad news is that we lost the Wonder Bread account.”
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A teacher is teaching a class and she sees that Johnny isn’t paying attention, so she asks him, “If there are three ducks sitting on a fence, and you shoot one, how many are left?” Johnny says, “None.” The teacher asks, “Why?” Johnny says, “Because the shot scared them all off.” The teacher says, “No, two, but I like how you’re thinking.” Johnny asks the teacher, “If you see three women walking out of an ice cream parlor, one is licking her ice cream, one is sucking her ice cream, and one is biting her ice cream, which one is married?” The teacher says, “The one sucking her ice cream.” Johnny says, “No, the one with the wedding ring, but I like how you’re thinking!”
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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
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a freshman playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a freshman playing football at Minot State.
Isabelle Smith is a freshman playing Tennis at Concordia College.
Isaac Thomforde is a freshman playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Emilee Tate is a Sophomore playing Softball at Northland Community and Technical College.
Halle Bruggeman is a Sophomore on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Red-shirt Freshman on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Sophomore playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Junior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Joslynn Leach is a Senior playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.
Brooks Butt is a Junior playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Ty Hamre is redshirt Junior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
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.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
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 North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
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 a grad of West Point and currently serving in the U.S. Army.
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.
