SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
The first Winter Sports Tournament game will be on Thursday with Section 8A girls hockey getting underway. The section girls hockey seeds and schedule is below and we take a look at area student-athletes signing on National Signing Day, Section Boys Basketball, milestones, and more.
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The Section 8A Girls Hockey seeding meeting was held on Monday and the seeding went as expected. The seeds and tournament schedule is below.
1 Warroad
2 Crookston
3 EGF
4 Thief River Falls
5 Detroit Lakes
6 International Falls
Quarterfinals Games – February 6 (at high seeds)
International Falls at East Grand Forks 6:00 pm
Detroit Lakes at Thief River Falls 7:00 pm
Semi-Final Games – February 8 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in TRF
1. Warroad-vs-TRF/DL winner at 1:00 pm
2. Crookston-vs-EGF/IFalls winner at 3:30 pm
Section Championship – February 13 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in TRF
7:00 pm.
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Wednesday was National Signing Day and several area kids signed letters of intent –
Crookston High School senior Riley Helgeson signed a National Letter of Intent to play football at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, during National Signing Day at Crookston High School on Wednesday morning. Riley is the son of Kevin and Kelsey Helgeson.
Riley is a 6’4 “, 290-pound offensive lineman who has played varsity for Crookston since ninth grade, including on a team that was Section 8AA runner-up in 2022. He has also been a member of the wrestling team for the last three years and has 23 wins so far this year. He should be a second or third seed at Heavyweight in the Section 8A Individual wrestling tournament.
Helgeson is also on the Trap Shooting team, a member of the Leo Club, and an honor roll student.
Other area kids signing to play D2, D3, and NAIA football (If I missed anybody, email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com)
Bemidji State Football –
Heaton Hall (Moorhead)
Ryan Carroll (Park Rapids)
Broden Benson (Clearbrook)
Eli Klimek (Nevis)
Gavin Oelschlager (Walker)
Minnesota State Moorhead
Reign Battle (Moorhead)
Gannon Bolgrean (Barnesville)
Rylan Gravos (East Grand Forks)
Caleb Johnson (Glyndon)
Rufus Kermee (Moorhead)
Minnesota Duluth –
Isaiah Wright (Fertile-Beltrami)
Concordia-St. Paul –
Ryan Brinkman (Detroit Lakes)
Winona State –
Jacob Lane (Pequot Lakes)
Minot State –
Messi Kalenda (East Grand Forks)
Valley City State –
Jacob Foss (Grand Forks Red River)
Jack Miller (Fargo North)
Xander Moody (Fargo South)
Haiden Crow (Lake Park-Audubon)
Kade Swenson (Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton)
Mayville State University –
Will Christen (Fosston)
Carsen Corbit (Grand Forks Central)
Brayden Dirckx (Grand Forks Central)
Gage Hatch (Detroit Lakes)
Keagen Houser (Grand Forks Central)
Justice Kingbird (Cass Lake-Bena)
Latrell Murph (Grand Forks Central)
Blaine Smith (Stephen-Argyle)
Aidy Wadlow (Grand Forks Red River)
NON-FOOTBALL COLLEGE SIGNINGS –
Tyric Kennett, of Red Lake Falls, who plays hockey for the Niverville Nighthawks of the Mantiboa Junior Hockey League, has signed to play College Hockey at St. Scholastica (NCAA D-3) in Duluth. Ty has three goals and 14 assists this season.
Kali Knutson of Red Lake Falls and a member of the Thief River Falls Prowlers Girls Hockey team, has signed to play hockey at St. Mary’s University (NCAA D-3) next year.
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MILESTONES/HONORS – (If you have a milestone, record, or honor, email them to chrisjfee@yahoo.com)
Jayden Sonnenberg of Frazee became the school’s all-time leading scorer in January while recording 33 points in a victory over Park Rapids. Sonnenberg is only a junior and is averaging almost 25 points per game! She passed Alexis Tappe’s (2013) mark of 1,693 career points.
Asher Blaine of Frazee scored the 1,000 point of his career in a victory over Menahga on January 28.
Sara Pulk of BGMR Wrestling won the 100th match of her career last week.
Preston Hanson of Fertile=Beltrami scored 18 points and reached 1,000 career points in a big win over Park Christian on Friday.
Abby John of Barnesville reached 1,800 points in her career and broke the Trojan Boys and Girls Basketball career scoring record,
Kali Knutson of Red Lake Falls and a member of the Thief River Falls Girls Hockey team, recorded the 100th point of her career last week.
Lexi Lawrence of Sacred Heart scored the 1,000th point of her career on Tuesday night.
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Section 8AA Boys Basketball
East Grand Forks is the top team according the QRF, which is the seeding method used in 8AA. Three of their five losses have been to North Dakota teams (Grand Forks Central and Red River, and Grafton) and those don’t hurt or help you in the QRF. They lost to Red Lake County and Sacred Heart.
East Grand Forks beat Pelican Rapids, Perham, and Warroad. They have three big Section games with Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Warroad, and Barnesville. If they win those two games, I am not sure how the Green Wave don’t get the top seed with tie-breakers with all the teams. If they lose to DGF, that would give the Rebels the tie-breaker. The final month of the regular season is going to be fun.
DGF and Pelican Rapids are seperated by 1.5 points. The teams split their two meetings this season. DGF has section games against Park Rapids, East Grand Forks, Thief River Falls, and Perham remaining so they could make some hay in those games.
Pelican Rapids has Section games left with Wadena-Deer Creek, Park Rapids, and Barnesville.
Warroad is currently in fourth place with their 18-1 record. They have Section games against East Grand Forks, Roseau, and Thief River Falls left, but they also have a game with Kittson County Central that could get them some points with a win. But they might have a tough time getting a top seed unless they win out!
Don’t look now, but Perham is moving up and playing some solid basketball. They are coming off a three point win over Pelican Rapids on Tuesday night. They have a good chance of moving up in the standings with a lot of big games left. They have section games against Wadena-Deer Creek, Barnesville, DGF, TRF, and Hawley. They also play solid non-section teams with Frazee and NCE/UH.
Barnesville is a team that will probably move up too. They have won 12 of their last 13 games with the only loss DGF by four points. They have section games against Perham, Pelican Rapids, Hawley, and East Grand Forks. A lot of big games that could give them some points to keep moving up!
The QRF standings as of Wednesday night are below. Compliments of Minnesota-Scores.net.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Grand Forks | 8-0 | 12-5 | 104.7 |
| Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton | 8-1 | 15-4 | 94.7 |
| Pelican Rapids | 7-4 | 15-4 | 93.2 |
| Warroad | 6-1 | 18-1 | 87.4 |
| Perham | 4-4 | 11-6 | 85.8 |
| Barnesville | 8-2 | 14-5 | 84.9 |
| Park Rapids Area | 2-7 | 7-9 | 63.0 |
| Thief River Falls | 4-5 | 8-7 | 59.8 |
| Roseau | 2-4 | 8-11 | 42.8 |
| Wadena-Deer Creek | 1-3 | 6-11 | 40.1 |
| Hawley | 1-8 | 4-15 | 39.1 |
| Crookston | 2-9 | 4-13 | 37.3 |
| Menahga | 0-5 | 1-19 | 25.3 |
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Section 8A Boys Basketball- West
The Red Lake County Rebels is well on their way to a #1 seed as they have a comfortable lead in the QRF ranking. They have Owen Chervestad who is an outstanding player that sets up everything on the offensive end and then you have Connor Duden who is a force in his own right. The rest of the Rebels do a great job of working as a team and they are a fun team to watch. Red Lake County is known for their offense, but it is the defense this year that has separated them this year. They have the complete package, but there are some other great teams that are right behind them with the always dangerous Fertile-Beltrami. NEVER count out a Neil Steffes coached team, especially this year. They have Preston Hanson at 6’5, Drew Gullickson at 6’7, and Gage Henrickson at 6’5. Then you also have Caleb Stoltman and Easton Petry. At guard you have Bryer Stream who is a fantastic guard and the Falcons are playing some pretty solid basketball right now and look to peak at tournament time.
Sacred Heart is only half a point behind Fertile-Beltrmai and they suffered a few losses without their leader Parker Erickson, but he is back and now they are going to use the last month of the season to get ready for a run at tournament time. Kittson County Central continued to play some very good basketball and is surging and is only two points behind Warren-Alvarado-Oslo who is in a bit of a slump right now. Stephen-Argyle just had a big win and never coundt out a Northern Freeze team.
The West subsection is the dominant section once again with the top seed in the East, Red Lake would be the sixth team in the west.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Lake County | 12-0 | 16-1 | 93.1 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 12-0 | 16-3 | 71.0 |
| Sacred Heart | 10-6 | 13-9 | 70.5 |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 9-4 | 11-8 | 60.7 |
| Kittson County Central | 11-4 | 12-6 | 59.8 |
| Northern Freeze | 7-5 | 10-9 | 52.4 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 6-9 | 7-11 | 47.0 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 5-10 | 5-13 | 33.5 |
| Badger/Greenbush-Middle River | 2-13 | 2-17 | 26.8 |
| Climax/Fisher | 2-10 | 3-16 | 25.9 |
Section 8A – East Boys Basketball
The East sub-section is wide open with six teams all within five points for the top seed! There are a lot of big games left.
Cass Lake-Bena has a challenging schedule in the final month with Fertile-Beltrami, Nevis, and Red Lake County in the last four games! Red Lake has a favorable schedule the rest of the way. Clearbrook-Gonvick has a lot of big section games coming up that could catapult them into the top seed. They have KCC, Sacred Heart, WAO twice, Mahnomen/Waubun, Red Lake and Fosston.
The east is way to close to call at this point, but the final month has a lot of big games with the top seed up for grabs!
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Lake | 3-3 | 8-7 | 54.1 |
| Cass Lake-Bena | 7-2 | 11-9 | 53.8 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 7-7 | 9-7 | 51.6 |
| Northome/Kelliher | 4-2 | 9-7 | 48.4 |
| Fosston | 8-4 | 9-9 | 48.2 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 4-4 | 6-11 | 42.7 |
| Win-E-Mac | 5-11 | 7-13 | 36.5 |
| Bagley | 4-6 | 6-13 | 30.8 |
| Blackduck | 1-13 | 2-17 | 21.7 |
| Lake of the Woods | 0-6 | 2-13 | 17.2 |
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The Section 8A Wrestling Team tournament seeds will be announced on Friday. and it is going to be interesting to see who gets the #1 seed.
There are three teams that are in the fight for the top seed. Fosston/Bagley, United North Central, and Frazee.
Fosston/Bagley beat United North Central in a dual and I am thinking they might be the top seed with UNC and Frazee fighting for the second seed.
One thing is certain that Crookston will be the #8 seed and it looks like Barnesvile will likely be the 7th seed.
Fertile-Beltrami will take on the Mahnomen/Waubun on Thursday and the winner could be the fourth seed. We will know on Friday.
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JOKES
A trucker came into a truck stop cafe and placed his order. He said, “I want three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running boards.”
The brand new blonde waitress, not wanting to appear stupid, went to the kitchen and said to the cook, “This guy out there just ordered three flat tires, a pair of headlights and a pair of running Boards. What does he think this place is, an auto parts store?”
“No,” the cook said, “Three flat tires mean three pancakes, a pair of headlights is two eggs sunny side up, and running boards are 2 slices of crisp bacon.”
“Oh, OK!” said the blonde. She thought about it for a moment and then spooned up a bowl of beans and gave it to the customer.
The trucker asked, “What are the beans for, Blondie?”
She replied, “I thought while you were waiting for the flat tires, headlights and running boards, you might as well gas up!”
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An old farmer got pulled over by a young state trooper for speeding. The trooper, fresh on the job, decided to throw his weight around and started lecturing the farmer about his speed. He did his best to make the farmer feel uncomfortable but eventually got around to writing the ticket. As he wrote, he had to swat at several flies that were buzzing around his head.
“Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya?” asked the farmer.
The trooper stopped writing the ticket and looked up. “Well yeah, if that’s what they are,” he said. “I never heard of circle flies, though.”
“Oh, they’re pretty common on farms,” said the farmer. “We call ’em circle flies because they’re always circling around the back end of a horse.”
“I see,” said the trooper as he continued writing the ticket. All of a sudden, he stopped and looked up at the farmer. “Hey…wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse’s ass?”
“Oh no, officer,” replied the farmer. “I have far too much respect for law enforcement and police officers to even think about calling you a horse’s ass.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” said the trooper as he resumed writing the ticket.
After a long pause, the farmer continued. “Hard to fool them flies, though.”
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A woman and her son were taking a cab in New York City. It was raining and all the hookers were standing under the awnings.
“Mommy,” said the little boy, “what are all those ladies doing?”
“They’re waiting for their husbands to get off of work,” she replied.
The cabbie turns around and says, “Geez lady, why don’t you tell him the truth? They’re hookers. They have sex with men for money.”
The little boy’s eyes get wide and he says, “Is that true, mommy?” His mother, glaring at the cabbie, answers in the affirmative.
After a few minutes, the kid asks, “Mommy what happens to the babies those ladies have?”
“They mostly become cab drivers,” she replied.
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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
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.
