SPORTS FEEVER – February 29, 2024

SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com

What is the bigger scam/joke in education?  E-Learning or MEA break?
Seriously, what happened to giving kids a good old-fashioned snow day? Every study shows E-Learning and online classes are not effective in teaching, and people don’t learn with online education. So why do colleges and high schools still do it? Teachers and parents are extremely important in a child’s education, and it HAS to be in person. Anything less has been shown to be sub-par.
MEA Break – nobody goes (statistically speaking), but we still get two days off of school?????

Anyway, there are more important things to worry about, but hats off to Crookston School District and others that give snow days instead of pretending to do something like E-Learning days.

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The Section 8AA Girls Basketball tournament seeds seeds were released Sunday morning. The seeds and schedule are below-

1. Perham
2. Pelican Rapids
3. Menahga
4. Barnesville
5. East Grand Forks
6. Hawley
7. Frazee
8. Park Rapids
9. Wadena-Deer Creek
10. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton
11. Roseau
12. Thief River Falls
13. Crookston
14. Warroad

FIRST ROUND – Thursday, February 29 at High Seed (7:00 p.m.)
#1 Perham and #2 Pelican Rapids have byes
#14 Warroad at #3 Menahga
#13 Crookston at #4 Barnesville (on KROX Radio)
#12 Thief River Falls at #5 East Grand Forks
#11 Roseau at #6 Hawley
#10 DGF at #7 Frazee
#9 Wadena-Deer Creek at #8 Park Rapids

Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 2 at High Seeds
Game 1 – WDC/Park Rapids winner at #1 Perham
Game 2 – TRF/EGF winner vs Crookston/Barnesville winner
Game 3 – DGF/Frazee winner at #2 Pelican Rapids
Game 4 – Warroad/Menahga winner vs Roseau/Hawley winner

SEMI-FINALS – Wednesday, March 6 at Concordia College Moorhead
6:00 PM – Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner
7:30 PM – Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner

CHAMPIONSHIP – Friday, March 8 at Concordia College Moorhead
7:00 PM

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The Section 8A Girls Basketball seeds have been announced, and the top seeds were Fosston in the east sub-section and Kittson County Central in the west. The seeds and tournament schedule is below.

WEST SUBSECTION SEEDS-
1. Kittson County Central
2. Sacred Heart
3. Northern Freeze
4. Badger/Greenbush-Middle River
5. Climax-Fisher
6. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo
7. Stephen-Argyle
8. Fertile-Beltrami
9. Red Lake Falls
10. Goodridge/Grygla
11. Red Lake County Central

EAST SUB-SECTION SEEDS
1. Fosston
2. Kelliher/Northome
3. Cass Lake-Bena
4. Blackduxk
5. Mahnomen/Waubun
6. Win-E-Mac
7. Bagley
8. Clearbrook-Gonvick
9. Red Lake
10. Lake of the Woods

FIRST ROUND GAMES – (Thursday, February 29)

West Sub-section-
Game 1 – Fertile-Beltrami at #1 Kittson County Central at UMC 6 PM
Game 2 – #5 Climax-Fisher at #4 Badger/Greenbush-Middle Riverat UMC 7:45 PM
Game 3 – Stephen-Argyle at #2 Sacred Heart at NCTC 6 PM
Game 4 – WAO winner at #3 Northern Freeze at NCTC 7:45 PM

East Sub-section- (at high seed at 7:00 PM)
Game 5 – Clearbook/Gonvick  at #1 Fosston
Game 6 – Bagley winner at #2 Kelliher/Northome
Game 7 – #6 Win-E-Mac at #3 Cass Lake-Bena
Game 8 – #5 Mahnomen/Waubun at #4 Blackduxk

QUARTER-FINALS at Ralph Englestad Arena in TRF
NOON – Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner
1:45 PM – Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner
3:30 PM – Game 5 winner vs Game 8 winner
5:15 PM – Game 6 winner vs Game 7 winner

SEMI-FINALS at Ralph Englestad Arena in TRF (Tuesday, March 6)
6:00 PM – West sub-section championship (on KROX TV)
7:45 PM – East sub-section championship (on KROX TV)

CHAMPIONSHIP at Ralph Englestad Arena in TRF (Thursday, March 10)
7:00 PM – West Champion vs East Champion (on KROX TV)

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SECTION 8AA BOYS BASKETBALL –

Here is the Minnesota-scores.net QRF as of Wednesday night going into the final three days of the regular season.

Team – record – QRF
1. Pelican Rapids 21-4 (116.7)
2. Park Rapids 18-8 (108.8)
3. Barnesville 18-7 (94.6)
4. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton 15-10 (92.3)
5. Wadena-Deer Creek 16-8 (83.3)
6. East Grand Forks 14-10 (82.5)
7. Hawley 12-11 (79.5)
8. Perham 9-16 (70.3)
9. Roseau 15-10 (64.5)
10. Thief River Falls 9-16 (63.8)
11. Warroad 14-10 (61.2)
12. Menahga 8-17 (48.8)
13. Crookston 5-19 (46.8)

Here is how I see seeding going (The projected head-to-head tie-breaker margin is 12.1) –

1. Pelican Rapids (has a head-to-head win over Park Rapids if the tie-breaker is close enough to matter)
2. Park Rapids
The next handful of seeds are still up in the air, depending on what happens in the final games of the season. It could drastically change with Barnesville playing EGF and DGF playing Wadena-Deer Creek. The results of those games will drastically change the seeds)
3. Barnesville (split with DGF, has the same Conference record but better overall record)
4. DGF
5. Wadena-Deer Creek would move up to #4 if they beat DGF on Thursday)
6. East Grand Forks (Beat DGF already but lost to WDC, so if DGF beats WDC and EGF beats Barnesville, EGF could be a four seed. EGF has a better overall record compared to Hawley)
7. Hawley will likely be stuck at 7
8. Roseau (they have a better overall record than Perham)
9. Perham
10. Warroad (beat TRF in the only meeting. They play on Friday – if Warroad loses, they would have the same conference record but a better overall record than TRF.
11. Thief River Falls
12. Crookston (beat Menahga in the only meeting)
13. Menahga

The Section 8AA tournament begins on Thursday, March 7, at the high seeds.

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SECTION 8A BOYS BASKETBALL

Here are the Minnesota-scores.net QRF rankings as of Wednesday morning)

WEST SUB-SECTION

Team-record-QRF
1. Red Lake County 24-2 (106.0)
2. Fertile-Beltrami 21-5 (102.5)
3. Goodridge/Grygla 19-6 (88.0)
4. Northern Freeze 15-10 (80.4)
5. Sacred Heart 16-10 (79.4)
6. Warren-A-O 14-11 (69.5)
7. Kittson County Central 11-12 (62.6)
8. Stephen-Argyle 7-18 (46.3)
9. Climax-Fisher 3-22 (32.2)
10. BGMR 2-23 (31.9)

This is how I see the seeding shaking up (Head to head tie-breaker is estimated to be 9 points)–

1. Fertile-Beltrami (has the head-to-head tie-breaker with RLC)
2. Red Lake County
3. Goodridge/Grygla (beat Northern Freeze twice)
4. Northern Freeze (beat Sacred Heart in only meeting)
5. Sacred Heart
6. Kittson County Central (split with WAO, but KCC has a better conference record)
7. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo
8. Stephen-Argyle
9. Climax-Fisher (beat BGMR in only one meeting)
10. BGMR

EAST SUB-SECTION
1.Cass Lake-Bena 19-6 (91.9)
2. Win-E-Mac 19-6 (84.7)
3. Red Lake 18-7 (73.7)
4. Fosston 9-15 (52.8)
5. Mahnomen/Waubun 8-17 (51.4)
6. Clearbrook-Gonvick 5-19 (43.1)
7. Northome/Kelliher 9-15 (41.7)
8. Bagley 9-14 (40.9)
9. Blackduck 4-21 (33.6)
10. Lake of the Woods 2-21 (19.9)

This is how I see the seeding going –
1. Cass Lake-Bena
2. Win-E-Mac (beat Red Lake in only meeting)
3. Red Lake
4. Mahnomen-Waubun (beat Fosston in the only meeting)
5. Fosston
6. Clearbrook-Gonvick (this could change if they lost to Northome/Kelliher on Thursday and/or beat Fosston on Friday)
7. Northome-Kelliher (this could change if they beat Clearbrook-Gonvick on Thursday)
8. Bagley (They beat Northome Kelliher in the only meeting so they could possibly move up to 7 and NK move down depending on what happens in the final game of the year)
9. Climax-Fisher (beat BGMR in only meeting)
10. BGMR

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The Section 8A Individual Wrestling tournament was held on Saturday and the following awards were announced –

Section All-Academic team – (Must be a 10-12 grader and a 3.0 GPA or better)
Crookston – Gavyn Hlucny
Barnesville – Cameron Halverson
Fertile-Beltrami – Creed Tollefson
Fosston/Bagley – Zach Thompson, Aiden Wolfe, Ian Phrakonkham
Frazee – Preston Mayfield, Cade Nagel, Brady Borah, Tyler Moe, Jack Graham, Derek Zitzow
United North Central – Aaron Lake, Zach Davidson, Fordyce Johner, Cooper Rife

Academic Team Champion – Frazee (3.8 GPA)
Sportsmanship Award – Frazee
Head Coach of the Year – Jake Oyster (UNC)
Assistant Coach of the Year – Steve McMullen (MW)

Crookston’s Carter Coauette advanced to the Minnesota State High School League Individual State Wrestling tournament after winning the Section 8A Championship on Saturday.Carter is making his fourth state tournament appearance overall and third as a Section 8A Champion. Carter received good news on Sunday as he earned the #3 seed at 172 pounds. Coauette is 42-2 on the year and ranked in the top 10 all season.
In the Section 8A championship match, he dominated the #5 ranked Preston Mayfield of Frazee in a 7-3 score, with all three of Mayfield’s points coming from Coauette cutting him free. Mayfield received the #12 seed.

Carter will wrestle Nicholas Leibold of Royalton-Upsala in the first round of the state tournament on Friday at the Excel Energy Center. Leibold is 31-14 on the year.

SECTION 8A WRESTLERS AT STATE (Seed – Name – School – Record)

107 POUNDS –
#6 seed Trevor Neisen (Mahnomen/Waubun) 35-8
#9 seedChase Hauck (Barnesville) 28-19

114 POUNDS –
#4 seed Keegan Vonende (BGMR) 30-8
#14 seed Cooper Rife (United North Central) 24-18

121 POUNDS –
#5 seed Ian Phrakonkham (Fosston-Bagley) 35-3
#9 Liam Hamm (Frazee) 30-14

127 POUNDS –
#8 seed Aaron Lake (United North Central) 32-6
#10 Drew Rasch (Fertile-Beltrami) 35-9

133 POUNDS –
#5 seed Ayden Hauck (Barnesville) 36-7
#14 seed Zach Hendrickson (United North Central) 32-12

139 POUNDS –
#6 seed Zach Thompson (Fosstob/Bagley) 33-3
#12 Manny Johnson (Mahnomen/Waubun) 28-19

145 POUNDS –
#3 seed Bailey Peichel (Frazee) 26-5
#6 seed Aiden Wolfe (Fosston/Bagley) 35-3

152 POUNDS –
#7 seed Tyler Moe (Frazee) 36-10
#12 Zach Davidson (United North Central) 25-10

160 POUNDS –
#5 seed Cameron Halverson (Barnesville) 34-5
#16 seed Cade Nagel (Frazee) 23-18

172 POUNDS –
#3 seed Carter Coauette (Crookston) 42-2
#12 Preston Mayfield (Frazee) 37-7

189 POUNDS –
#6 seed Eli Roiko (United North Central) 27-5
#15 seed Jack Graham (Frazee) 27-16

215 POUNDS –
#13 seed Ryan Peterson (United North Central) 28-13
#16 seed James Flynn (Fertile-Beltrami) 37-6

285 POUNDS –
#3 seed Tristan Nichols (BGMR) 36-5
#16 Jonathan Rose (Fosston-Bagley) 13-4

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The Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association announced the Class A All-State team on Sunday.  Crookston’s Reese Swanson and Kambelle Freije were named to the All-State honorable mention team. The full list is below –

All-State from Section 8A –
Katy Comstock of Warroad
Jaylie French of Warroad
Blake Schultz of East Grand Forks

All-State from the rest of the state
Lily Pachl of South St. Paul
Grace Bickett of  Orono
Mika Cichosz of Albert Lea
Ilsa Lindaman of Duluth Marshall
Nora Carstensen of Dodge County
Zoe Lopez of Orono
Macy Rasmussen of Orono
Izy Fairchild of Proctor/Hermantown
Morgan Goskeson of Albert Lea
Maysie Koch of Dodge County
Audrey Garton of Academy of Holy Angels
Ida Huber of Dodge County
Ana Jyrkas of Fergus Falls

All-State Honorable Mention –
Reese Swanson of Crookston
Kambelle Freije of Crookston
Kaiya Sandy of Warroad
Nora DeVries of Chisago Lakes
Avery Lian of Duluth Marshall
Abby Simons of Dodge County
Elizabeth Callahan of Mound Westonka
Isabella LaMere of Academy of Holy Angels
Greer Hardacre of Mound Westonka
Maddy Kimbrel of Orono
Mollie Koch of Dodge County
Eva Bentley of Academy of Holy Angels

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The Minnesota All Sports Alliance announced the Top Ten Candidates for the 40th Annual Mr. Hockey Award are Hagen Burrows (Minnetonka), Javon Moore (Minnetonka), Jackson Nevers (Edina), Carson Pilgrim (Warroad), Nolan Roed (White Bear Lake), John Stout (Minnetonka), Gavin Uhlenkamp (Chanhassen), Noah Urness (Roseau), Rhys Wallin (Wayzata) and Louis Wehmann (Providence).

The Minnesota All Sports Alliance also announced today that Hunter Bauer (Minnetonka), Kam Hendrickson (Chanhassen) and AJ Reyelts (Proctor) are the finalists for The Frank Brimsek Award, in recognition of the state’s top senior goaltender.

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MILESTONES –

Hunter Nicholas (Crookston) scored the 1,000th point of his career in a loss to Roseau last week.

 

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The latest Minnesota High School sports rankings are available by clicking the link below.

Minnesota High School Rankings – KROX (kroxam.com)

JOKES

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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

Halle Bruggeman is a freshman on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Tennis team.

Grace Fischer is a freshman on the Concordia College (Moorhead) Women’s Golf team.

Ethan Boll is a Freshman on the University of North Dakota Football team.

Breanna Kressin is a Sophomore on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.

Emma Osborn is a Sophomore playing basketball at Northland Technical and Community College in Thief River Falls.

Jacey Larson is a Sophomore playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.

Aleah Bienek is a Sophomore playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.

Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND..

Kaleb Thingelstad is a junior playing golf at Kansas Wesleyan.

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

Brady Butt is a Junior playing football at the University of Jamestown.

Ty Hamre is playing football at Bemidji State University.

Aleece Durbin is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Womens Track and Field team.

Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.

Crookston School District Coaches
Todd Miner is a Pirate Football assistant coach.
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Emily Meyer is the Pirate head girls hockey coach and softball assistant 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
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach and assistant girls golf 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/Admin/etc

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.

Katy (Westrom) Horgen is the 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 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.

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.