SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
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We are officially into the winter sports season, as every team has had at least three practices already, and Girls Hockey has already had three or four games for most programs.
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The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team has 27 players out for the team this year. 16 of the 27 are seniors this year!!!!
Seniors (16) – Dexter Janek, Jay Reese, Evan Shockman, Gavin Aakhus, Greyson Ecker, Tate Hamre, Garrett Fischer, Liam Larson, Rylan Hanson, Cody Demarais, Isaiah Donarski, Masen Reitmeier, Wyatt Marsyla, Teegyn Johnson, Tony Elbinger, Brady Chandler
Juniors (6) – Hudson Rick, Aidan Weiland, Jackson Fritsch, Lukas Helgeson, Grant Funk, Hayden Mercil
Sophomores (5) – Collin Trudeau, Rowan Benoit, Braxton Miller, Dylan Larson, Noah Chandler
The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team has 10 girls out in grades 9-12. (The Crookston Youth Basketball Association has to take a deep look at how in the world this is possible. In Crookston, this is simply unacceptable, and they need to determine the cause. Was it coaching, was it kids not getting along, a lack of getting the word out to kids, families not willing or wanting their kids in sports because it is too much, etc? I know there is a new energy on the board now with some pretty good younger families involved, but all youth sports organizations should be handing out flyers to every student at Highland, Cathedral, and Our Saviors on information about coming out for the respective sport. If they aren’t already. None of the Pirate teams are loaded with numbers.
Seniors (2) – Chloe Boll, Halle Nicholas
Juniors (2) – Madi Bruggeman, Brooklyn Waldal
Sophomores (4) – Grace Boll, Teagan Fanfulik, Nora Groven, Alyssa Johnson
Freshman (2) – Morgan Boll, Brynna Kopecky
The Crookston Pirate Dance team has 9 out this year.
Seniors (5) – Mady Knutson, Avery Trudeau, Hayley Leckie, Zac Plante, Morgyn Larson
Juniors (0) – None
Sophomores (2) – Abigail Bruley, Isley Machado
Freshman (0) – None
8th Grade (1) – Hadleigh Bruley
7th Grade (1) – Miya Labelle
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Last week we told you about how some Pirate alumni are doing at the start of the college hockey season and this week we will tell you how some alumni did during the college football season!!
Teagan Lubinski, a freshman at St. Scholastica, played wide receiver after being a quarterback in high school. The adjustment went pretty well for Teagan as he played in all 10 games and started most of them after the first few games! He had 33 receptions for 479 yards and three touchdowns!!!!! He had some pretty impressive games. In the third game of the season he had eight receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown in a 37-34 OT victory over Macalaster. He also had six receptions for 90 yards and one touchdown in a 49-18 victory over Hamline. He also had two tackles on the year.
Ethan Boll, a sophomore at UND, has played in all 11 games on the defensive side of the ball. He has 5 solo tackles, 5 assisted tackles for a total of 10 tackles. He has one tackle for a loss of three yards and one fumble recovery (against Kansas State).
Ty Hamre, a senior at Bemidji State, played in all 11 games. He had seven solo tackles and seven assisted tackles for a total of 14. He also had two kick returns for a total of 24 yards. In his four-year career with the Beavers, he played in 37 games, made 14 solo tackles, 16 assisted tackles for 30 total tackles. 3.5 tackles for a loss and a half a sack. He had two blocks and also had three kick returns for a total of 46 yards.
Carter Coauette, a sophomore at Minot State, played in eight games for the Beavers. He is playing wide receiver and didn’t have a reception this season.
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Our friend Tom Miller had a story in the Grand Forks Herald about Chris and Amy Nelson, who are suing the Red Lake Falls school district and seeking a preliminary injunction, saying the district’s not approving a co-op with Red Lake County Central in girls basketball is a Title 9 violation.
As we covered a while ago, the Red Lake Falls school board voted against the co-op with Red Lake County Central 4-3, back in 2023.
“Our daughter has worked for years toward her dream of playing college basketball,” the statement said. “Last season, when she was denied the chance to play varsity basketball on the cooperative team, she was heartbroken. Watching her friends compete while she sat on the sidelines was devastating, especially knowing that boys from Red Lake Falls High School have been allowed to play on co-op varsity teams at Red Lake County Central High School. After trying every possible way to resolve the situation, we finally had no choice but to take legal action so our daughter could have the same opportunity as her peers.”
A court motion hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 20.
This is interesting, and we will keep an eye on this. I hope for Nelson’s sake that something can be figured out and she can play basketball. I have talked to people on both sides and it is a position neither side wants to be, but it is the way it ended up. I still think Crookston should have reached out last year since they only have 10 out 9-12 in girls basketball.
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The University of Minnesota Crookston athletic department announced Monday morning that head volleyball coach Nick Meseck’s contract has not been renewed, effective immediately.
Meseck just finished his fourth full season as head coach and was in his fifth year at Minnesota Crookston. Minnesota Crookston recently closed out the 2025 season with a 6-22 record and 0-20 in the NSIC. In 2024, UMC was 7-19, but 4-14 in the NSIC. In 2023, UMC Volleyball was 4-22 overall and 2-16 in the NSIC. In 2022, they were 5-23 overall and 4-16 in the NSIC.
A search for the next head coach will begin immediately.
It was a tough year for UMC Volleyball and UMC Soccer again. Volleyball was 0-20 in the NSIC and Soccer was 1-12-2 in the NSIC.
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The 2025 Valley Plains West Football sub-district awards have been announced. The award winners are below.
Mahnomen/Waubun was the team champion with a 5-0 record.
ALL-DISTRICT TEAM –
Mahnomen/Waubun – Blake McMullen, Tanner Stech, Brody Lhotka, Manny Johnson, Zach Zima, Hudson McArther, Colton Stock
Red Lake County – Oliver Melin, Connor Duden, Ethan Johnson, Ben Gullingsrud, Kegan Schmitz
Ada-Borup-West – Ames Fassino, Casper Kritzberger, Connor Nelson
Polk County West – Nic Edwards, Parker Bernhoft, Jace Motl
Crookston – Tate Hamre, Jose Arriaga
Red Lake – Demetrius Harris
ALL-DISTRICT HONORABLE MENTION TEAM –
Mahnomen/Waubun – Tatum Bement, Kaden Barnes, Gavin McArther
Red Lake County – Gunnar Halverson, Masen Pahlen, Riley Broden
Ada-Borup-West – Braxton Hendricks, Lucas Mertz, Luke Finney, Kelby Kujanson
Polk County West – Reez Eckherdt, Ty Torrance
Crookston – Casey Weiland, Jaron Knutson
Red Lake – Isaiah Oakgrove
SPECIAL AWARDS –
Defensive Lineman of the Year – Kegan Schmitz (Red Lake County)
Linebacker of the Year – Manny Johnson (Mahnomen/Waubun)
Defensive Back of the Year – Connor Duden (Red Lake County)
Special teams player of the year – Tanner Stech (Mahnomen/Waubun)
Offensive Lineman of the Year – Oliver Melin (Red Lake County)
Receiver of the Year – Ethan Johnson (Red Lake County)
Back of the Year – Brody Lhotka (Mahnomen/Waubun)
Quarterback of the Year – Blake McMullen (Mahnomen/Waubun)
Player of the Year – Brody Lhotka (Mahnomen/Waubun)
Assistant Coach of the Year – Jake Sele (Polk County West)
Coach of the Year – John Clark Jr. (Mahnomen/Waubun)
All-ACADEMIC TEAM –
Red Lake County – Kole Kleven, Ben Gullingsrud, Avery Knott, Wylie Lehrer, Boe Nelson, Ivan Delorme, Aadin Gagner, Connor Duden, Gavin Rolland, Benji Bramer
Polk County West – Ty Torrance, Jace Motl, Skyler Berg, Parker Bernhoft, Alex Reitmeier, Izic Edwards, Dustin Carl, Tristen Schwarz, Nick Satterlund, Kalder Smith, Roman Zimprich
Mahnomen/Waubun – Tate Houdek, Cade Walz, Chase Stock, Blake McMullen, Zach Zima, Ayden Johnson, Owen Hoban, Evan Warren, Aksel Askelson, Hunter Lefstad, Jamoson LaDuke, Tagen Hazelton, Thor Askleson, Brody Lhotka, Gabe Demere, Dylan McMullen, Hudson McArthur, Xavier Oshkinowe, Kaden Bartnes, Hadlyn Bement, Tristan Jackson, Reed Jirava
Ada-Borup-West – Connor Nelson, Lucas Mertz, Ayden Peterson, Caspar Kritzberger, Tyler Catlett
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The 2025 Section 8A All-Section team award winners have been announced.
Mahnomen/Waubun was the team champion and advanced to the state semifinals.
ALL-SECTION TEAM –
Mahnomen/Waubun – Blake McMullen, Brody Lhotka, Tanner Stech, Zach Zima, Manny Johnson
Red Lake County – Kegan Schmitz, Masen Pahlen, Oliver Melin, Gunnar Halverson
Ada-Borup-West – Ames Fassino, Casper Kritzberger, Connor Nelson
Park Christian – Logan Giese, Gavin Giese, Jayden Hanson
Bagley – Micah Tramm, Ethan Rud
Polk County West – Parker Bernhoft, Izic Edwards
Red Lake – Dimitrius Harris, Isiah Oakgrove
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JOKES
An elderly man lay dying in his bed.
In death’s agony, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed.
Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled down the stairs.
With labored breath, he leaned against the doorframe, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven: there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.
Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?
Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture. His parched lips parted: the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.
The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.
“Stay out of those,” she said, “they’re for the funeral.”
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There were these two elderly people living in a Florida mobile home park. He was a widower and she a widow. They had known one another for a number of years. Now, one evening there was a community supper in the big activity center. These two were at the same table, across from one another. As the meal went on, he made a few admiring glances at her and finally gathered up his courage to ask her, “Will you marry me?”
After a dramatic pause and precisely six seconds of ‘careful consideration,’ she answered. “Yes. Yes, I will.”
The meal ended and with a few more pleasant exchanges and they went to their respective places.
Next morning, he was troubled. “Did she say ‘yes’ or did she say ‘no’?”
He couldn’t remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. Not even a faint memory. With trepidation, he went to the telephone and called her.
First, he explained to her that he didn’t remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the lovely evening past. As he gained a little more courage, he then inquired of her, “When I asked if you would marry me, did you say ‘Yes’ or did you say ‘No’?”
He was delighted to hear her say, “Why, I said, ‘Yes, yes I will’ and I meant it with all my heart.”
Then she continued, “And I am so glad that you called, because I couldn’t remember who had asked me.”
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A wife comes home late at night from being out of town and quietly opens the door to her bedroom.
From under the blanket she sees four legs instead of two. She reaches for a baseball bat and starts hitting the blanket as hard as she can. Once she’s done, she goes to the kitchen to have a drink.
As she enters, she sees her husband there, reading a magazine.
“Hi Darling”, he says, “Your parents have come to visit us, so l let them stay in our bedroom. Did you say ‘hello’?”
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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
Teagen Lubinski is a freshman playing football at St. Scholastica
Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a freshman playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a freshman playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a sophomore playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Blake Melsa is a sophomore playing soccer and baseball at Alexandria Tech
Jackson Reese is a sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Matt Contreras is a freshman playing baseball at Concordia College.
Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Sophomore 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 Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University
Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion 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
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
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.
