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The 2018-19 Frazee varsity boys basketball team.
Graham set for year two at the Hornet helm By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com The Frazee High School boys basketball team begins the season with some stability at the helm with second-year head coach Hunter Graham leading the Hornets in a quest to make an improvement on three years of struggles in the Heart O’ Lakes Conference and Section 6A. Frazee has not won more than two games in the past three seasons and have had three different head coaches in that span. The Hornets are coming off a twowin campaign after only winning one the prior season and going 2-23 in 2016. The Hornets got a big jump on that effort earning a 59-49 victory over Sebeka in their home opener this year. It took seven games to land a first victory last season. Starting off in the win column is a big step in turning the program around for a team with only two seniors in forward Vincent Helmers and guard Brandon Carpentier. Frazee notched the first win thanks to a double-double from Helmers and were led in scoring by three underclassmen: sophomore Jack Courneya, junior Cole Fleisher, and sophomore
Broden Fleisher. Junior Caleb DeGroat brings experience from time on the floor in 2017 also. Being so young, the learning curve will come hard against the top of conference and section, especially playing a physical style of ball against more seasoned competition. Frazee will test itself mostly on the road during the first half of the season but finishes the year with seven of nine games at home and two at neutral courts at the Fargo Civic Center and Concordia College, the site of the section tournament. The Hornets were bumped from the Section 6A pigtail game last year by Lake Park-Audubon. It was the first season since dropping down from Section 8AA. The Raiders went on to reach the section semifinals and proved it matters most how a team plays at the end of the year. LP-A had only 10 wins on the season but factored in the biggest of the season in crunch time. Section 6A is highly-competitive come the end of the year, but defending champions Mahnomen-Waubun proved it takes a full team to advance to state. The Thunderbirds captured the 6A crown without a player over
six-feet tall defeating a favored Hancock Owls team from the south subsection. The state tournament has been a conundrum for Section 6A champions in recent years. Over the past three seasons no team has returned with a win in seven games. MahnomenWaubun lost to the top-seeded and eventual runners-up Mayer Lutheran and fifth-seeded Hinckley-Finlayson
BOYS BASKETBALL ROSTER NO. NAME 1 2 4 10 11 12 13 14 20 22 23 24 25 30 31 43
POS GRADE
Brandon Carpentier Jack Courneya Caleb Degroat Cole Fleisher Brandon Nguyen Lewis Helmers George Flynn Broden Fleisher Dylan Selly Nathan Johnannsen Jonny Parsons Keenan Trieglaff Sam Winn Vincent Helmers Reid Eckert Haven Fincher
G G G G G G C F G F F F C F C C
12 10 11 11 10 10 9 10 9 9 9 11 10 12 10 11
BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT 12/13 @ Menahga 12/18 @ Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 12/20 @ Breckenridge 1/3 NCE/UH Titans 1/4 @ Barnesville 1/10 @ Pelican Rapids 1/15 Wadena-Deer Creek 1/18 @ Perham 1/22 @ Ashby H.S. 1/24 @ Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S. 1/29 Hawley 2/1 Lake Park-Audubon 2/7 Breckenridge 2/9 Underwood @Fargo Civic Center 2/12 Pelican Rapids 2/16 Barnesville @Concordia College 2/21 Perham 2/22 Battle Lake 2/26 Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S. 2/28 New York Mills
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The 2018-19 Frazee varsity girls basketball team.
Injuries making life difficult for Frazee girls By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com
Much like the Frazee boys team, the Hornet girls basketball team will not start the year with a new coach heading into the season with second-year Jason Reierson in charge. Reierson’s job got a whole lot more difficult with injuries to star players really hurting the lineup. The remainder of the Hornet girls are under the gun early having played three games without the junior Heart O’ Lakes all-conference tandem of Paige Oswald and Paige Ziegler. Oswald has been the key to the offense providing stability at the point and Ziegler is a scoring threat from all over the court while loading up the stat book with double-double potential. Both players are multi-sport stars at Frazee and create big holes in the Hornet offense in their absence. Departed senior Natalie Nudell was a threat to score in double figures last year as she was frequently in the top three in scoring with Oswald and Ziegler. Unfortunately, playing without players due to injury has been too
common for the Hornets and has definitely hampered their ability to be successful on the court. According to Reierson, Ziegler is out for the entire season and Oswald is not on an exact timetable to return. She missed all of her freshman season due to a stress reaction in her back. In their place, senior Taylor Wilkowski and sophomore Ellie Reierson have stepped up early, but the bench is shortened with only five players other than Oswald and Ziegler on the varsity roster. Abby Hoehne is the only other senior on the varsity team with Wilkowski. In Reierson’s first year at the helm, Frazee went 11-16 losing in the first round of the Section 8AA playoffs to Breckenridge. The Hornets recorded a very respectable 8-8 record against section opponents in the regular season but struggled in the Heart O’ Lakes Conference winning only three of a dozen games. The 11 victories was a big jump for a 5-21 campaign the prior season and the best mark by the girls team since a 15-12 year in 2014-15.
The Hornets are off to an 0-3 start playing without their leading scorers and the start of the season was made more difficult with all three games on the road against Lake Park-Audubon, Staples-Motley and Hawley. Putting together consecutive wins was a struggle for the Hornets in 2017 against a demanding schedule. Frazee had one three-game win streak in January but struggled the rest of the year to compile wins in succession, although did finish the last six games at a .500 clip including the playoff loss. Section 8AA was represented in the Class AA state championship game by section champs Roseau. The Rams lost to Sauk Centre 63-52 in the title game
GIRLS BASKETBALL ROSTER NO. NAME 1 4 10 14 20 30 50
POS GRADE
Taylor Wilkowski Madison Starry Paige Oswald Paige Ziegler Talia Gabrielson Ellie Reierson Abby Hoehne
G G G F F F F
12 10 11 11 11 10 12
a year after claiming the title. Roseau has owned the section advancing to state each year since 2015.
GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT 12/13 Ada-Borup 12/17 @ Breckenridge 12/20 @ Menahga 12/28 @ Pelican Rapids tournament 12/28 Battle Lake 12/29 Pelican Rapids 1/3 NCE/UH Titans 1/4 @ Barnesville 1/8 @ Park Rapids Area 1/10 @ Pelican Rapids 1/12 Staples-Motley 1/15 @ Perham 1/22 Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S. 1/25 Hawley 1/29 Henning 1/31 @ Long Prairie-Grey Eagle H.S. 2/5 Breckenridge 2/8 Wadena-Deer Creek 2/12 Pelican Rapids 2/14 Battle Lake 2/16 Barnesville @ Concordia College 2/19 Perham 2/22 @ Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S.
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The 2018-19 Frazee Hornets wrestling team.
Hornets look to replace six state entrants By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com
Perennial state locks, the Frazee Hornets, start the year ranked seventh in Class A. The Hornets sent 10 individuals to the state tournament last season and finished as the Class A runners-up to Zumbrota-Mazeppa by a score of 31-19. The Hornets went to the state team tournament ranked No. 2 after cruising through the Section 8A bracket outscoring their opponents 197-23 in three matches. The victory was Frazee’s 25th section championship. The Hornets were senior-heavy in 2017-18 and will have a number of openings on the roster this season. Frazee had six individual section champions and of the 10 wrestlers who advanced to state only four return for the 2018 season. Michael Miller, Tanner Schermerhorn, Tanner Eischens, Tanner Tappe, Landon Byer and Hudson Hiemenz were all lost to graduation. Tappe finished as the Class A runner-up at heavyweight. Schermerhorn placed fourth at 126-pounds. Miller finished in fifth place at 113. The returning four state entrants begin the year ranked, led by junior Luke Tweeton No. 2 at 220-pounds. Sophomore Kaden Hiemenz is No. 5 at 138, followed by junior Brett Graham No. 6 at 182 and senior Gabe Drewes No. 7 at 195. Tweeton placed fourth at state indi-
vidually in 2017 after a section runnerup finish. Frazee has only four seniors on this year’s team with heavyweight Tony Malikowski anchoring the lineup. Drewes, Joby Giefer and Ricky Roforth are the three other returning upperclassmen for head coach Clay Nagel (353-73-2). The Hornets have been the section representative at team state every year since 2007 but one when Barnesville advanced in 2012. Frazee finished as co-state champions with Jackson County Central in 2011 after a 28-28 tie in the finals. The Hornets were finalists with runnersup finishes in 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016, placed third in 2008, 2017, fourth in 2014 and 2015 and fifth in 2009. The last state individual champion from Frazee was Jonah Lange, a 195-pounder who finished 39-0 in 2016. The Hornets opened the season with runner-up finish at the 12-team Dan Unruh tournament in Wahpeton and placed second at the Paul Bunyan tournament in Brainerd. Frazee is 1-1 in duals having defeated West Fargo and suffering an early loss to No. 3A Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/ Browerville in a state-ranked dual in the Hornet’s gym. FRAZEE HORNETS (Courtesy Mat Rats) Head Coach: Clay Nagel Enrollment: 208 Conference: Heart O’Lakes
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24-8 Overall Section 8 Champions Class A State Runner Ups 14 Section Placers/10 Section Placers/Four State Placers First Place: Wahpeton “Dan Unruh” Invite: 313 Pts. 14 Placers First Place: Brainerd “Paul Bunyan” Invite: 202 Pts. 12 Placers Second Place: Bemidji “Rick Lee” Duals: 5-1 Second Place: Heart O’Lakes Conference: 218 Pts. 14 Placers The Hornets of Frazee have back from 24-8 dual meet campaign and Class A runner-up honors, six section place winners, including four state qualifiers, of which won state honors. They will also return six with a wide range experience. They should make a challenge to defend their section honors. Luke Tweeton (39-10 @ 220) earned fourth place state honors, Kaden Hiemenz (34-15 @ 132), Brett Graham (29-10 @ 182) and Gabe Drewes (29-15 @ 195) were state qualifiers. Look for them to be their key leaders throughout the season. They did
WRESTLING SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT 12/4 LPGE-Browerville Wolves 12/8 @ Brainerd H.S. (2nd Place) 12/11 Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S. 12/11 Pelican Rapids 12/15 @ Blackduck/Cass Lake Bena Bears 1/8/ United North Central Warriors 1/17 Bemidji 1/22 @ Barnesville 1/26 @ Perham 1/29 @ West Central Area/ Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 2/1 Perham 2/5 @ Detroit Lakes
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graduate eight section place winners, including six state qualifiers, three of which earned state honors. Class A Preseason Teams (Rank, Team, Section) courtesy The Guillotine 1. Kasson-Mantorville (1) 1. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove (3) 2. Kenyon-Wanamingo (2) 3. LPGE-Browerville (5) 4. Goodhue (1)
FRAZEE WRESTLING: Page 10
WRESTLING ROSTER NO. NAME Xxx 106 106 106 113 126 132 152 152 160 160 285 113 120 132 132 145 152 170 170 182 195 285
GRADE
Mayfield, Kyler Hoehne, Roy Nagel, Jake Trieglaff, Karsen Isola, Toby Hockett, Trevor Rue, Max Hedlund, Nate Scott, Seth Giefer, Joby Graham, Daniel Kropuenske, Wesley Carlson, Christian Volstad, Lukas Barlund, Brock Hiemenz, Kaden Newling, Mason Roforth, Ricky Borah, Coleton Graham, Brett Drewes, Gabe Tweeton, Luke Malikowski, Anthony
10 8 8 8 8 9 8 10 11 12 8 11 10 11 10 10 11 12 11 11 12 11 12
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The 2018-19 defending state champion Frazee jazz team.
Fly girls defending both state titles By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com Head coach Ta Fett started the Frazee dance teams more than two decades ago as a noncompetitive sport, and in the 13 years as a competitive Minnesota State High School League program has brought the Fly Girls to the top of Class A. Frazee returns an experienced group of more than 20 letter-winners from a team that has swept the Heart O’ Lakes Conference three straight seasons and the Fly Girls are the defending Class A state champions in both High Kick and Jazz. Frazee’s jazz team earned six rank points to finish two points ahead of runners-up Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson Boyd as the state competition came down to a two-team battle. Zumbrota Mazeppa placed a distant third (19.5). Their northern rivals, the Aitkin All Starz were fifth and Fraze exacted some revenge having finished second to the Aitkin at the 2017 state competi-
tion. The Fly Girls have claimed three state titles in the last three season. Frazee’s first state championship came in 2016 jazz. On day two at state, Frazee’s High Kick dance team matched the Jazz effort to sweep both state championships and the Fly Girls took down the All-Starz again. Frazee’s performance of “Hamilton” took the title away from the four-time defending champions. The All-Starz placed third behind runners-up Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd. A dozen dancers are back from both state teams: Greta Nelson, Cecilia George, Kylie Totland, Alexa Osterman, Autumn Moe, Grace Jaroszewski, CallaBelle Nundahl, Ashley Johnson, Hannah Conway, Marcella George, Hailey Selly and Sophie Nelson. Frazee will be looking to replace their all-state high kick seniors from last year in Cassidy Nelson and Juliana and have two returning all-staters from jazz in senior Isabella Matejka and junior Greta Nelson.
The Fly Girls got off to their usual, strong start as both the varsity and the junior varsity jazz teams placed first at the DL Invitational. The high kick team struggled placing
FRAZEE DANCE: Page 10
DANCE SCHEDULE DATE TIME
SITE
12/14 6 PM Frazee Invitational @ Frazee high school 1/3 TBD Conference Jazz Tournament @ Hawley High School 1/5 1 PM Alexandria Invitational @ Alexandria Area High School 1/12 Rocori Invitational @ Rocori High School (Cold Spring) 1/18 7:30 PM @ Frazee High School 1/19 11 AM @ Pelican Rapids High School 1/25 5 PM HOL Conference Tournament @ Wadena-Deer Creek High School 2/9 Noon Section 4A Championship @ Wadena-Deer Creek High School
DANCE ROSTER NAME GRADE Abbey Miller Abbie Jepson Alexa Osterman Alexis Bauer Angela Kilde Ashley Johnson Autumn Moe Braylee Riewer Brenna Mahoney CallaBelle Nundahl Cassidy Shipman Cecilia George Grace Jaroszewski Greta Nelson Hailey Selly Hannah Conway Isabella Matejka Julia Witt Kim Conklin Kylie Totland Lori Glander Madeline Matejka Marcella George Mattison Grant Mckenzie Wake Natalea Maijala Sabrina Ruiz Sophie Nelson
10 8 8 11 11 11 10 9 11 10 12 11 10 11 7 11 12 10 10 7 11 9 8 11 8 10 10 9
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The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity and junior varsity hockey teams.
Getting off to a strong start key for DL hockey Detroit Lakes opens the boys hockey season Saturday, Nov. 24 at home against rivals Fergus Falls in a matchup that has been less than kind to the Lakers the past half-decade. The Otters have won four straight season-openers - three straight on Laker ice. The two teams meet in the annual Fergus Falls holiday tournament as well. Since 2014, DL is 1-4-2 against Fergus Falls. Starting out the year with a win over the Otters is a big priority to both players and the coaching staff. “We’re just trying to come out and practice hard,” senior Jackson Carlblom said. “Obviously, we haven’t beaten
BOYS HOCKEY SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT
RECORD
11/24 Fergus Falls 4-1W 11/27 @ Grafton 6-2W 12/4 Pequot Lakes 5-2W 12/7 Prairie Centre 2-0W 12/11 Park Rapids Area 10 - 0 W 12/14 Red Wing 12/15 @ St. Paul Johnson 12/27 @ Fergus Falls tournament 12/28 @ Fergus Falls tournament 12/29 @ Fergus Falls tournament 1/4 @ Crookston 1/5 @ Warroad 1/8 Wadena-Deer Creek 1/12 @ East Grand Forks Green Wave 1/15 Crookston 1/18 @ Lake of the Woods 1/22 Jamestown High School 1/24 @ Long Prairie Grey Eagle 1/26 Kittson Central 1/29 Red Lake Falls 1/31 @ Wadena-Deer Creek 2/2 @ River Lakes 2/7 @ Pequot Lakes 2/12 @ Park Rapids Area 2/14 Little Falls
Fergus since I’ve been in high school so we’re trying to get that first victory.” The Otters will have a new face in net after losing Drew Luhning to graduation and come to DL with five seniors, led by Aaron Shelstad, who had a hat trick to down the Lakers in last year’s opener. “I think Fergus has outworked us the past couple years,” said DL head coach Todd Dwyer. The Lakers have been hampered by a slow start in those games against Fergus Falls and that has transpired to slow starts to the seasons. Dwyer has opted to combat that from day one of the preseason. “Not slow starting in practice,” Dwyer said. “It’s been a weakness of ours in the past.” The players want to get after the Otters right away and create momentum for the early portion of the schedule. Dwyer’s teams have started 0-4 the
BOYS HOCKEY ROSTER NO. NAME 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 22 28 30 35
Logan Burhans Lukas Justesen Maddux Kovash Eli Roe Braeden Wimmer Roland Cormier Nick Lund Alex Bren Will Stowman Hunter Burnside Jackson Fields Drew Schwan Trey Seebold Will Green Jake Green Jackson Carlblom Reed Benson Brady Morris Dominic Denardo Blake Itzen Jack Hines
POS GRADE W D D W W F W D C W D W W W W W D W W G G
12 10 11 12 10 12 11 11 12 11 11 11 12 12 10 12 11 12 11 11 10
past two years. “We have to come out right way and get a couple goals quick so we can get a nice jump,” said Carlblom. DL has 11 seniors on the team who are ready to make that change to start the year on the right foot. “We’re more confident,” Carlblom said. “Our first two lines are seniors that we’re rolling and our defense, some are sophomores but they’re pretty experienced. They’re coming in good.” Dwyer has a roster that will allow for some jockeying around when needed. “We’re deep with a lot of competition,” he said. “It’s going to change nightly and that’s good for us.” The Lakers will start by trying to replace three of their four top scorers from last year. All-Section 8A forward and leading scorer Trey Seebold (10g-17a) anchors the top line. Carlblom (10g-10a) and Will Green (12g-7a) return with scoring potential on the first two lines also. Jackson Fields (6g-13) and Reed Benson (1g-10a) head up the returning players on defense - a group that will have a large influx from bantams. Goalie Blake Itzen played in 19 games last year (10-8-1) and will battle last year’s Bantam A goalie starter Jack Hines, a six-foot-three sophomore, who led his team to 24 wins in 2017-18. “Jack Hines is a big guy so he takes up a lot of net and it will be good for Itzen to have some competition,” said Dwyer. DL will be without hard-hitting Brady Morris for the entire season after suffering a shoulder injury during football. In his fifth season as head coach, Dwyer is stressing the cohesiveness in this year’s locker room as one of the keys to success. “Our team unity is a really big part,” said Dwyer. “The last four years there was always bickering and fighting. This
Section 8A Coaches Poll by KROX Radio in Crookston (Rank, team, first place votes, points) 1. Warroad (6) 13 2. East Grand Forks (3) 15 3. Thief River Falls (1) 24 4. Crookston 32 5. Detroit Lakes 41 6. Kittson County Central 55 7. Lake of the Woods 58 8. Park Rapids 63 9. Red Lake Falls 68 10. Bagley-Fosston 81 Returning All-Section 8A players Forward Grant Slukynsky - Warroad Eric Delorme - Crookston Carter Beck - East Grand Forks Trey Seebold - Detroit Lakes Owen Meeker - Warroad Tanner Mack - East Grand Forks Defense Evan Bushy - Thief River Falls
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year, they’re truly all friends and we’re not pointing fingers. It about fixing it and getting better.” Finding ways to capitalize on the ice is equally as important. “We need to be good coming through the neutral zone and we need to score more,” said Dwyer. “We had a lot of chances last year and we didn’t score and it hurt us. Same goes with penalties.” The Lakers were voted fifth in the KROX Radio Section 8A coaches poll behind Warroad, East Grand Forks, defending champions Thief River Falls and Crookston. Crookston took DL out in a first round overtime victory last season. That loss handed Dwyer his first losing season (12-13-1) since taking over in DL. “Of course our goal is to get to the state tournament but our smaller goal is to get to that section final,” Dwyer said. “We’ve got to get over that hump, get to that section final and have a chance.”
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By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com
7
Experienced eight lead Laker girls hoops
GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT 11/27
RECORD
Ashby H.S./ Destiny Academy 68 - 49 W 11/29 @ Aitkin 57 - 56 W 12/4 @ Fergus Falls 71 - 42 L 12/7 @ Pequot Lakes 45 - 64 L 12/10 Staples-Motley 62 - 37 W 12/18 Bemidji 12/21 @ Sartell-Saint Stephen 1/4 @ Thief River Falls 1/10 @ Park Rapids Area 1/15 @ Crosby-Ironton 1/17 Perham 1/22 Thief River Falls 1/24 Pequot Lakes 1/29 Fergus Falls 1/31 @ Staples-Motley 2/7 @ Bemidji 2/12 @ Moorhead 2/14 Park Rapids Area 2/15 @ Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S. 2/19 Aitkin 2/21 Crosby-Ironton
File photo
The 2018 Varsity and junior varsity Detroit Lakes girls basketball team. wings with Price a consistent target in the paint. Cihak may be the lone underclassmen in the regular lineup but brings a full year of experience from last season. In the backcourt, seniors Lauryn Manning, Emily Larson and Matteya Borah have been handling the ball. Manning proved to be a leader on the floor last season and is adept at driving to the hoop for easy points or dishing off down low. Larson missed last year after suffering a knee injury during the fall soccer season and her ability to drive and use her speed up the floor were sorely missed and welcomed back for her senior season. Seniors McKinna Greggersen and Brianna Clem have filled in down low from the bench. Greggersen recorded her first double figure scoring game in the first six games. The Lakers have opened the season winning two of three Mid-State Conference games, which might seem mundane, but the past two seasons DL has not won more than three games against conference opponents. As the team from the largest school in the Mid-State, a return to the top half of the standings seems doable, but regaining the crown would be a boon to a program that has suffered since its last title in 2015-16 playing for two different coaches and having the learn
entirely new systems. Vagle’s return gives the team some stability to work around and he believes his team will contend in both the conference and the section. Pequot Lakes defends the Mid-State title this season and have already defeated the Lakers in Pequot by 20 points. The Patriots are on a roll against DL having won six of the last seven meetings. Staples-Motley won the Mid-State in 2016 and the Lakers put 30 up on the Cardinals in a victory at home in the fourth win of the season. The Lakers have split two early section games and the Lakers and six other teams in 8AAA are all looking up at No. 1 state-ranked Alexandria. The Cardinals took down Fergus Falls in last year’s title game by one point and advanced to the state tournament for the ninth time under head coach Wendy Kohler 1997-2018, including a
state title in 1997. Only eight coaches have led their teams to 10 or more state tournament appearances. Kohler is also a Minnesota Girls’ Basketball Coaches Association’s (MGBCA) Hall of Fame member after being nominated in 2003. While the Lakers are finding a groove with their new coach, it shows the level of competition in the section and the coaching credits of the teams at the top including Brad Strand in Fergus Falls who recorded his 500th coaching victory last season in the playoff victory over Detroit Lakes. Katie Martin is in her 10th season leading Sartell-St. Stephen. Vagle is not the newest coach in the section. Little Falls begins its first year under new coach Joel Youngberg. Bemidji is in the third year under head coach Steve Schreiber; Sauk Rapids-Rice begins the fourth campaign under Megan Foley.
i’m lovin’ it® try!
GIRLS BASKETBALL ROSTER NO. NAME 1 5 11 15 23 31 41 55
Emily Larson Matteya Borah Lauryn Manning Anna Cihak Ellie Lunde Brianna Clem Breanna Price McKinna Greggersen
POS GRADE G G G F F C C C
12 12 12 11 12 12 12 12
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By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com Head coach Tom Vagle enters his second season as head basketball coach with a group of seven seniors and one junior making up his varsity lineup with all but one starting player back from 2017-18. Last season’s team battled through a rocky 0-8 start and dropped 13 of the first 14 games before figuring out how to win and nearly knocked off the No. 2-seeded Fergus Falls Otters in the opening round of the Section 8AAA playoffs. The Lakers fell victim to a 16-4 Fergus Falls run to erase a 12-point Laker lead late in the second half and the Otters went on to win by eight. DL’s six-foot, two-inch center Bre Price had a career game scoring 40 points, but the Otters found a way to advance and the Lakers found out what it takes to compete at the next level. Vagle’s final quote of the season was, “I told the girls in the locker room that I took on this coaching job because I knew it was going to be a challenge. It’s been a really challenging year in a lot of aspects, but they came to play on a night they had to come and play. For those kids, I wish they could have pulled it out. Those seniors, it was a hard year for them. We had a whole group that just became seniors 15 minutes ago on the basketball court.” The Lakers entered the playoffs as the bottom seed but walked away from the final game with their heads held high. This preseason, Vagle noted that it took until that final game for everyone to believe in what the team had been building upon all season. This year, he instituted a motto of being a hero every day, at home, in school and how it will translate to the basketball court. Unlike last year’s start, this year’s team has won four of six to open the season and with seven seniors have plenty of experience and leadership to greatly improve on last year’s six wins, possibly doing so before the end of the calendar year. The Lakers are strong in the front court with seniors Ellie Lunde and junior Anna Cihak attacking from the
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Dance teams off to a positive start to the season By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com The Detroit Lakes high kick and jazz dance teams are off to a promising start looking to move up the rankings in the always competitive Section 4AA. The Lakers will be replacing five graduated seniors in Megan Gilsdorf, McKenna Ruchti, Leiana LavetteWoodard, Cherish Johnson, and Natalie Nelmark. DL returns three dancers who earned Mid-State Conference distinctions: junior Trisha Gebhart and freshman Marit Engum from the all-conference team and junior Gracee Trauig was awarded honorable mention. Senior Elle Seaberg is back in her second year as captain of the team with fellow senior Emma Ortloff serving as the other team captain. The Lakers have performed with Ortloff out of the formation early as she recovers from a toe injury. Early in the year, the daily grind is focused on remembering choreography and the changes made daily in practice. Dancers from the junior varsity kick team did that and made a strong push at the end of last season and recorded the team’s best finish at the conference championship placing second. “All of a sudden, at the end of the year, it totally clicked,” head coach Britton Ramsey said after last year’s surge.
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The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity high kick dance team. The inclusion of those dancers to the returning starters this year has sparked the kick team to a win at their home invitational to start the season and that was followed up by a first-ever placing at Mid-State kick taking third behind Aitkin and CrosbyIronton. Both are important results early in the year to build confidence. Dancers talk about pushing through and keeping their spirits up early in the season, typically. Winning and making new strides as a program make pushing through kicks in practice and staying positive easier. The dance teams both have independent Mid-State competitions during the season before the conference final at the end of the year. The jazz team placed fifth last year
and had to make plenty of last-minute adjustments, re-work ing and sometimes re-learning their performances. DL hosted the jazz final last year placing fifth also and improved to finish in the middle of the 13-team section placing seventh. The kick team is looking to improve on an 11th place mark in 4AA. Detroit Lakes will have home-court advantage for conference jazz this season as they host the Mid-State tournament on Jan. 10. This year’s Mid-State final will be held in Pequot Lakes Jan. 26 and Alexandria hosts the 4AA championships Saturday, Feb. 2. This year’s team is building form the lower classes up, per usual, with four seniors on the squad. Joining cocaptains and seniors Seaberg and Ortloff are fellow upperclassmen Sammy
Maier and Kaitlyn Cameron. The junior class is represented by nine dancers: Alexis VanMaldegham, Bella Steffl, Erin Mulligan, Trauig, Hannah Hagen, Hope Hansen, Jessica Jensen, Maci Bellefeuille, and Gebhart. They are joined by five sophomores, nine freshman and one eighth-grader Jade Tolbert on the varsity roster.
DANCE SCHEDULE DATE TIME 12/15 11 AM 1/5 9:30 AM 1/10 7 PM 1/12 11 AM 1/19 TBD 1/26 Noon 2/2 11 AM
SITE @ Melrose Area High School @ Alexandria Area HS Mid State Jazz Conference Tournament @ Detroit Lakes High School @ Hawley High School @ Pelican Rapids High School Mid-State Final @ Pequot Lakes High School Section 4AA @ Alexandria Area HS
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The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity jazz dance team.
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Alexis VanMaldegham Bella Steffl Brailee Sgro Brittany Stearns Casey Canton Elle Seaberg Emma Ortloff Erin Mulligan Gracee Trauig Hailey Erickson Hannah Hagen Hope Hansen Jade Tolbert Jadyn McDougall Jessica Jensen Jocelyn Schur Kaitlyn Cameron Kallie Sweere Kyra Bahls Maci Bellefeuille Marit Engum Mercedes Jesness Peyton Eischens Sammy Maier Tori LaFriniere Trisha Gebhart
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The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity and junior varsity hockey team.
Piepkorn upping the ante for girls hockey NO. NAME 1 2 3 5 6 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 33
Leah Honer Sydney Brininger Josey Allen Hadlee Justesen Emma Coley Ella Hess Lily Burnside Madyson Melgard Payton Schiltz Abagail King Sara Freeman Olivia Cunningham Payton Carlblom Karrigan Hallisey Madison Olson Adisyn Strand McKenna Burhans Annie Campbell McKayla Engum Kyndra McDougall
tion to digest and translate to the ice. On top of that, their new coach is not one to set limitations on what can be accomplished in a season. “They’re working hard and there is a lot to learn,” said Piepkorn. “We’re going to play the best we can in order
GIRLS HOCKEY SCHEDULE
POS GRADE G D F F F F F F F F D F D F F F D D D G
10 12 11 9 9 8 12 11 11 12 11 10 12 12 9 9 10 11 7 12
DATE OPPONENT
RECORD
11/10 Fergus Falls 2 - 5 L 11/15 East Grand Forks 2 - 5 L 11/16 Thief River Falls 0 - 5 L 11/20 Northern Lakes Lightning 3 - 4 L(OT) 11/27 Park Rapids High School 4 - 0 W 11/30 Bemidji 2 - 5 L 12/6 Prairie Centre Blue Devils 0 - 3 L 12/8 Thief River Falls 2 - 6 L 12/11 Park Rapids High School 12 - 3 W 12/13 Crookston High School Pirates 12/18 @ Fargo Davies 12/20 @ Morris/Benson Area Storm 1/3 @ Northern Lakes Lightning 1/5 @ Warroad 1/10 Prairie Centre Blue Devils 1/12 Fergus Falls 1/15 @ Alexandria Area 1/18 Fargo North 1/19 River Lakes Stars 1/22 @ Bemidji 1/24 Moorhead 1/29 @ Crookston High School Pirates 1/31 @ East Grand Forks
to win and beat the big three...and try to get to state. Everybody smiles at that, but that’s our goal.” The top attacking lines are senior Abagail King with junior Josey Allen and freshman Emma Coley, along with senior Karrigan Hallisey cen-
tering junior Madyson Melgard and senior Lily Burnside on the right side. Burnside opened the season with a two-goal effort in a 5-2 loss to Sophie Rausch (hat trick) and the Fergus Falls Otters. According to Piep-
korn, his first two lines are interchangeable; it’s finding a consistent next line down the roster that is imperative for the Lakers. That showed against the Otters. “I was trying to match up the lines and they had a couple good players where if I got my third line out there I was in trouble,” Piepkorn said. Piepkorn is counting on time and experience to get the third set up to speed. “I’m working with five girls to find that third line,” he said. “It’ll work out in the end; that third line will show up.” Sophomore Leah Honer got the start in net to begin the year with experienced senior Kyndra McDougall likely to see the majority of time in goal as the season gets underway. Despite the road loss
on the road to start the year, the coaching staff liked the effort from the players. “I think they worked harder than they have in the past five, 10 years from start to finish,” Piepkorn said. “We had big, glaring breakdowns a man short and on coverages and backchecking. That’ll be fixed.” The top two defensive pairings are senior Payton Carlblom and sophomore McKenna Burhans along with junior Annie Campbell and senior Sydney Brininger. “We’re hoping another two can step right in because we just need a lot of players to play the big teams,” said Piepkorn. “The last few years they’ve just been running out of gas after the
GIRLS HOCKEY: Page 10
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The Detroit Lakes girls hockey program begins 2018-19 under new leadership in Scott Piepkorn, who was named the new varsity head girls hockey coach in September by activities director Rob Nielsen to replace Gretchen Norby, who resigned after last season. Piepkorn becomes the third head coach of the girls program all-time. “I’ve always wanted to do it and realistically, there aren’t many coaches around any more,” he said. “Rob came and asked and I went to Mike Schiltz and Bruce Raboin and talked to them. They were all on board with a change.” Piepkorn and assistant coaches Raboin and Schiltz are implementing new systems that the players are becoming accustomed to, along with a balanced set of six coaches. “We have three old school guys now trying to run the program and young girls Ali Dohmeir, who was here last year, Andrea Klug and Ally Nielsen, so we’ve got those three to overset us old guys.” Piepkorn’s message to his staff has been about providing a cohesive experience. “Like I told the parents, it’s six coaches doing everything together,” he said. “I have the head coach title, but we do everything together.” The Lakers begin the season with seven seniors, five juniors and a group of six freshman and sophomores. From upperclassmen on down, the DL skaters have plenty of new informa-
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FRAZEE DANCE From Page 5
second in a fashion that only a runner-up finish would be struggling for the state championship caliber performance Frazee dancers and fans are accustomed to. It did not take long for the kick team to get back in regular form as Frazee captured a second straight Heart O’ Lakes Conference kick title in Bagley less than a week later. The Fly Girls have a large group of 28 dancers on the roster ranging from seventh grade to the upper classes. Frazee is poised for the future with all but two of those dancers having one or more years of eligibility. The two seniors on the team are Cassidy Shipman and Isabella Matejka. Frazee has two chances to see the teams at home this year Friday, Dec. 14 at a home invitational and Friday, Jan. 18 in a 7:30 p.m. performance.
GIRLS HOCKEY
FRAZEE WRESTLING From Page 4 5. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (4) 6. Minneota (3) 7. Frazee (8) 8. Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie (6) 9. Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (8) 10. Canby (3) 11. Blackduck/Cass Lake-Bena (7) 12. Minnewaska Area (5) Lean and Mean Ottertail Central (6), Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (5), GMLOS (1), West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville (6), KerkhovenMurdock-Sunburg (5), Zumbrota-Mazeppa (1), Blue Earth Area (2), Aitkin (7), Fosston/Bagley (8) Ranked Hornets 138 pounds 5. Kaden Hiemenz, Frazee (8) 10 182 pounds 6. Brett Graham, Frazee (8) 11 195 pounds 7. Gabe Drewes, Frazee (8) 12 220 pounds 2. Luke Tweeton, Frazee (8) 11 2017-2018 Wrestling Statistical Award Winners Statistical Leaders – Varsity Most Take Downs: Tanner Schermerhorn/Michael Miller 98 Most Pins: Tanner Tappe 23 Most Near Falls: Michael Miller 58 Most Reversals: Hudson Hiemenz 22 Most Escapes: Gabe Drewes 46 Statistical Leaders – JV Most Take Downs: Brock Barlund 28 Most Pins: Howard Solem 21 Most Near Falls: Brock Barlund 28 Most Reversals: Howard Solem 12 Most Escapes: Roy Hoehne 17 Team Awards-Varsity Most Outstanding: Tanner Tappe & Michael Miller Most Valuable: Tanner Schermerhorn Most Dedicated: Tanner Eischens & LukeTweeton Most Improved: Carter Shipman, Gabe Drewes & Luke Tweeton Rookie Award: Christian Carlson Team Awards-JV Most Outstanding: Brock Barlund Most Valuable: Howie Solem Most Dedicated: Danny Graham Most Improved: Coleton Borah & Scott Seim Rookie Award: Jake Nagel “Shorty” Award: Tanner Schermerhorn & Hudson Hiemenz Bob Kertscher Memorial Award: Lukas Volstad & Kaden Hiemenz Beast Mode Award: Varsity -Logan Wacker/Landon Byer, JV Mason Newling Fan of the Year: Peter Anderson
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From Page 9
second period.” The Lakers ended the season on a sour note last year when Park Rapids erased a 3-0 Laker lead after the first period and a 4-3 third period advantage to knock out DL 5-4 in the opening round of the Section 8A playoffs after Detroit Lakes swept the regular season series from the Panthers. DL (8-18) finished fourth in the 8A standings behind section champions and Class A state runners-up Warroad (24-2-2), Thief River Falls (17-7-2) and East Grand Forks (189-1). Both the Panthers (4-22) and Crookston (5-21) struggled to find wins. DL’s home-opener is Thursday, Nov. 15 against East Grand Forks. The Green Wave have started the season with two road, shutout victories at Bemidji 2-0 and Crookston 9-0. EGF held both teams to single digits in shots on goal. Freshman Kendra Emery leads the team with five points. Burnside, King, Hallisey and eighth-grader Ella Hess all got on the scoresheet for DL at Fergus Falls. Carlblom, Hallisey and
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and varsity assistant for the Spuds from 1982-84 under head coach Terry Shercliffe. After moving to Apple Valley, he was the Midget B head hockey coach 1985-86 while serving with the high school program, where in 1986 he became the JV and varsity assistant under Mark Decenzo until 1990. While in Apple Valley, he started the Junior Gold hockey program in 1989 and was an assistant on
the soccer team from 1988-90 under Chuck Scanlon. The Eagles won back-to-back state titles 1988-89. He retired from coaching in 1990 to concentrate on his business and returned to the coaching realm in 2007 at Detroit Lakes. He was a volunteer assistant for the Laker boys JV under head coach Dan Maloney 2007-09 and for head coach Chris Denardo from 2009-12.
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King were named this year’s team captains. More on the head coach: Piepkorn is a Moorhead high school and a Moorhead State University graduate with a coaching history in Moorhead, Apple Valley and Detroit Lakes in both hockey and soccer. His career began as an assistant of the Bantam and PeeWee programs in Moorhead in 1979. He was a junior varsity
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The 2018-19 defending state champion Frazee high kick varsity dance team.
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The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity and junior varsity gymnastics team.
Gymnasts title defense starts in Perham By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com The four-time defending Class A state gymnastics champions kick the season off at the Jackie Mann Invita-
NAME GRADE Bridgeman, Kennedy Disse, Alea Ehnert, Jordan Funk, Ava Gag, Lydia Greer, Priska Guck, Olivia Hegg, Jackson Hegg, Kennedy Horner, Jerzie Hultin, Ellie Jernberg, Peyton Lawrence, Justine Leitheiser, Ari Lindstrom, Anneka Mallow, McKenna Morey, Zoe Morris, Ava Nelson, Skylar Okeson, Cora Rhodes, Stella Strawsell, Maren Tulius, Kylie Weets, Alexis Wendt, Taryn Whitworth, Gabby Wouters, Ahzriel Yliniemi, Lexi
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roster and will run a second varsity team again this year as Zamzo noted he has plenty of gymnasts outside the starting roster that would be key contributors on many other teams in the state. More than half of the roster (18) consists of seventh, eighth-graders and freshmen with ninth-grader Ellie Hultin and eighth-grader Jerzie Horner expected to make contributions on both varsity teams.
The 2017-18 season will be tough to match and will include a number of streaks to continue, but that is nothing new to this team. The Lakers have won four straight True Team state titles and secured last year’s win at home behind a trio of top five all-around performances from Disse, Hegg and Okeson. Lawrence recorded top three scores on
GYMNASTICS: Page 16
GYMNASTICS SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT
RECORD
12/1 12/2 12/4
@ Jackie Mann Invite 147.95 W @ Morris Area Invite (Second varsity) Park Rapids/ Menahga/Nevis 147.9 W 12/13 @ Park Rapids/Menahga/Nevis 12/15 @ Brainerd Invite 12/18 Perham 1/18 @ Perham 1/26 Worthington H.S. 1/29 Park Rapids/Menahga/Nevis 1/31 Moorhead 2/2 Bemidji
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tional in Perham Saturday, Dec. 1, but according to head coach Steve Zamzo, the state title is the last thing on the minds of his athletes. Instead, the state champions will be concentrating on the many little things that go into the long haul to get back to the University of Minnesota in February. Detroit Lakes returns all but two gymnasts lost to graduation in Emma Disse and Alexis Ostlie. DL is led by an experienced group of five seniors: Cora Okeson, Lexi Yliniemi (captain), Peyton Jernberg (captain), Justine Lawrence (captain), and Anneka Lindstrom. Jackson Hegg leads a small group of only three juniors with sister Kennedy Hegg and Lydia Gag. DL has 28 gymnasts on the varsity
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File photo
The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity and junior varsity Nordic Ski teams.
Ski teams building on youth numbers By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com The Detroit Lakes Nordic ski teams remain in a rebuilding status with a vast number of underclassmen compared than seniors for head coach Dan Josephson’s teams. Aaron Oakes is the lone senior in the program. The Lakers are two years removed from their last state entrant Aaron Johnson in 2016. Johnson finished a streak of three seasons with a DL skier at state joining two-time entrant Austin Askelson and Zach Foltz. With youth comes experience and
SKIING SCHEDULE DATE TIME SITE 12/29 10 AM 1/5 9 AM 1/10 10 AM 1/15 2 PM 1/19 10 AM 1/24 10 AM 1/29 1 PM 2/2 10 AM 2/5 10 AM 2/14 TBD
@ Brainerd @ Mesabi, Giants Ridge, Biwabik @ Maplelag-Little Sugarbush Lake @ Alexandria Area, Andes Tower Hills @ Bemidji, Buena Vista Ski Area @ Little Falls, Camp Ripley North Star Classic, site to be determined @ Brainerd Section 8 @Little Falls State @ Giants Ridge, Biwabik
the boys team returns six of their top seven section finishers from last season. Oakes led the way with a top 50 finish in 47th place crossing the finish in front of John Bergum, Ryan Bergum, Jacob Trout, Casey Parks and Noah Borah. The team finished in pack formation between Oakes and Borah in 62nd place. The Lakers placed eighth out of 12 teams in the section. Cathedral-Sartell and Little Falls were Section 8’s state teams. Gone from last year’s team is graduated senior Jack Richards. Section individual champion Alex Nemeth of Sartell-St. Stephen returns for his senior year, while the girls will crown a new medalist to replace graduated senior from Bemidji Sadie Hamrin. The Laker girls placed 11th at sections, down only one spot from the year prior, competing with a team consisting of skiers freshman or younger last year, which makes hanging with regular varsity teams a near impossibility. Bemidji and Alexandria went to the wire and the final finisher with the Lumberjacks nabbing a one-point victory to claim the section title with both teams advancing to state. Ellen Teiken was DL’s last girl skier
to qualify for state individually doing so in 2016. The entire section team returns this season led by sophomore Katie McConkey who had DL’s best finish in 8A last season in 57th place. Joining McConkey are sophomores
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SKIING: Page 16
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File photo
The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes wrestling team.
Detroit Lakes ranked in preseason wrestling polls By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com Detroit Lakes wrestling ended the 2017 season in new territory with the school’s first-ever state champion Isaiah Thompson who captured the 170 pound Class AA title as a sophomore. Thompson heads the list of preseason ranked wrestlers from Detroit Lakes in Class AA. As a team the Lakers sit just outside the top 12. The four-time Section 8AA champions from Perham are ranked at No. 4. The Yellowjackets placed fourth at state last year and advanced to the state tournament after a slim five-point victory over the Lakers in the section final - a match that came down to the final bout. Fellow Lakers joining top-ranked, 170-pounder Thompson in the individual rankings are sophomore Brody
Ullyott No. 4 at 126, junior Blake Weber No. 4 at 132 and senior Fabyon Greer No. 4 at 138. Thompson commanded the 170pound state bracket in 2017 defeating Foley’s Justin Henry 7-5 in the final to claim the Lakers’ first-ever state wrestling championship. Thompson scored early and held Henry off to win convincingly. Greer ran the table after a first round loss winning four consecutive matches in wrestlebacks to claim third place at 138-pounds. DL sent six individuals to state last year and had two other podium finishes from graduated seniors Braydon Ortloff and Austin Baker. Ortloff was also the 2017 the Mid-State Conference and is wrestling at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Baker is seeing action at Concordia and fellow 2017 grad Payton Jackson is wrestling
his freshman collegiate season for the Northland Pioneers in Thief River Falls. Head coach Rob Ullyott is in his 27th season at Detroit Lakes and after a preseason team meeting the Lakers are aiming to repeat as Mid-State Conference champions and have their collective mindset aimed at knocking off the Yellowjackets to earn a state berth. Perham comes into the season with one of their best overall teams in school history, but the 2017 Lakers proved they were contenders. The Lakers return three all-conference wrestlers in Weber, Thompson and senior Noah Olds. Cade Jackson, Brody Ullyott, Greer and Henderson earned honorable mention. Thompson was the lone section individual champion in 8AA last year. Brody Ullyott, Weber and Greer advanced to state as runners-up.
WRESTLING SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT 12/14 @ Big Bear Tournament 12/15 @ Big Bear Tournament 12/21 Hibbing 12/21 Pierz 1/5 @ Foley 1/10 @ Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton H.S. 1/11 @ Bemidji Invite 1/12 @ Bemidji Invite 1/17 @ Perham 1/19 Thief River Falls Tournament 1/22 @ LPGE-Browerville Wolves, Fergus Falls 1/25 Pequot Lks/Pine River @ Park Rapids 1/29 United Clay Becker Badgers @ Lake Park 1/31 Thief River Falls 2/1 Badger/GB-MR 2/1 Fargo Davies 2/1 Simley 2/5 Frazee
Isaiah Thompson. File photo
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Olds and Jordan Skadsem just missed state berths with third place section finishes. Also placing in the section and back this year: Jackson and Henderson both reached the podium in fifth. Seven wrestlers return with winning seasons in 2017 led by Thompson’s impressive mark of 45-6. Olds was 39-6, followed by Weber 39-8, Greer 33-9, Ullyott 29-16, Jackson 26-17 and Skadsem was 25-21. As a team the Lakers put up a 20-6 record in duals, four of those losses coming at the Big Bear tournament in Bemidji and the other two at the hands of Perham. The Lakers defeated highway 10 rivals and perennial Class A state contenders Frazee for the second
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Swim numbers down to single digits to start season By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com The Detroit Lakes boys swimming and diving team will have to do more with much less as the program is at an all-time participation low of nine swimmers. Much of that absence is in the three top grades as there are no sophomores out, only two juniors in Micah Solberg and Elijah Kitzmann and just one senior in Tucker Strawsell. The remainder of the team consists of freshmen Jackson Zurn, John Gulon, Justin Biederman and Luther VanOffelen, along with eighth-graders Evan Thomas and Zane Weaver for secondyear head coach Justin Hingst. Hingst had a similar issue last season but the 2017 Lakers boasted a much more viable number of 15 swimmers and divers. Seven of those were lost to graduation. Also gone from this year’s team is girls head coach and assistant Carol Fischer. Assistant Bobbi Jo Koons is back to lead the diving team. Given the lack of numbers, team competition will be difficult is keeping enough swimmers fresh enough to compete in all three relays and the rest of a meet’s demands. The season may end up more about individual goals than team aspirations and relays were a strong suit for the 2017 team. The Lakers do bring back swimmers with postseason experience. One swimmer to watch is Strawsell, the team’s captain. He reached the Section 5A podium in 2017-18 with a
File photo
The 2019-19 Detroit Lakes varsity boys swimming and diving team. fifth place swim in the 500-freestyle. He is the defending Mid-State champion in the event and is DL’s only returning all-conference swimmer. Strawsell was also a part of two of three section qualifying relay teams swimming the third leg of the fifth
place 200-free team and he led off for the seventh place 400-free team. Kitzmann also returns with section experience having anchored the 200-medley team to a sixth place finish in 5A. The Lakers do return half of that team as Gulon was the lead swimmer. Strawsell also placed ninth in the 200-freestyle and Kitzmann was ninth in the 100-free, both swimmers winning their consolation section finals. Gulon added a 12th place mark in the backstroke in his first section appearance. While the regular season may be a battle, this year’s team can strive to return individuals to the state meet after a one-year absence. Zane Free-
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Senior captain Tucker Strawsell.
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man was the last to make the trip to Minneapolis finishing a stellar career with a third place diving finish in 2016. The Lakers opened the season with a fourth place finish at the Fergus Falls invitational and will host their first meet at the DLCCC Friday, Dec. 14 in a dual against the Moorhead Spuds. Also on the home schedule is this year’s Mid-State Conference meet Friday, Feb. 8.
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The 2018-19 Detroit Lakes varsity boys basketball team.
Lakers attacking from the perimeter in 2018 By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com Last season’s Detroit Lakes basketball team found some truth in the adage that it is not how a team starts the season that matters, but how they finish. The Lakers got off to a 2-8 start under first-year head coach Markus Okeson but mid-season found their form and finished the year winning 14 of 18 games to reach the Section 8AAA semifinals. DL led the semifinal game against Sauk Rapids-Rice 29-22 at halftime but the Storm rallied by doubling up the Lakers in the second half to advance with a 63-49 victory. The 2018-19 campaign has begun with an eerie similarity to last year with an 0-2 start losing in the waning seconds of the opener versus Hawley and in overtime to Sartell-St. Stephen. Turnovers late in the game have doomed both early contests but Okeson has liked what he has seen from the team so far, despite two tough notches in the loss column. “If we can get that turnover percentage down that’ll translate to wins because I love our effort and we’re working as hard as we possibly can,” he said. “So those are all positives. We just have to clean up our execution a little bit.” Back from last year’s starting lineup are leading scorer, senior Jacob Bettcher and junior Gabe Hanninen who was fourth in scoring in 2017.
One key loss was six-foot, seveninch center Logan Pratt, now a freshman at the University of Jamestown. Max Gunderson, a six-foot, fourinch junior has stepped into Pratt’s roll and has been a needed force in the paint for a Laker team that is running four guards most of the time and competing with a height disadvantage against most teams. Junior Drew Markuson has a similar frame and Okeson has worked him on to the floor in both games looking for some backup to Gunderson. The Lakers also graduated shooting guard Tanner Doppler, point guard Conner Froke and forward Jake Kerzman. Jake’s brother Tate Kerzman, a junior, has stepped into Froke’s roll at the point and Hanninen and senior Ben Stearns join Bettcher around the perimeter. Freshman Nate Cihak has been first off the bench and has lined up as mainly a three-point threat. DL is playing without senior guard Sam Spry who is injured and will be without junior Reed Mace, who suffered a knee injury in the section football final that will keep him out the remainder of the basketball season. The Lakers are looking for a second straight Mid-State Conference title. DL shared the crown with Pequot Lakes last season. Both teams finished with 8-2 marks and split the season series with both teams winning on their home floors. In Section 8AAA play, the Lakers
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DL had not been to state prior to that season since 1918. The last losing season was a 12-15 campaign in 2009-10. Sauk Rapids-Rice returns as the defending Section 8AAA champions after defeating two-time defending champs Fergus Falls last season. Albany advanced to state by knocking off the Lakers in 2014-15.
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won only two of eight games and were seeded sixth drawing a first round playoff matchup with No. 3 Bemidji. The Lakers defeated the Lumberjacks at home in the final game of the regular season to split the season series and took Bemidji out on their home floor in the first round of the playoffs 60-48. Bemidji won the first game of the series in mid-December at home 67-49 which shows the growth Okeson got out of his team as the season progressed. The teams are slated for the season finale again this year at the Ralph Anderson Gymnasium. The Lakers have recorded winning seasons since 2010 with four years of 20+ victories in that span, including only the second state appearance in school history in 2012.
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16 DETROIT LAKES LAKERS (Courtesy Mat Rats) Head Coach: Rob Ullyott Enrollment: 737 Conference: Mid-State 20-6 Overall, 5-0 Mid-State Section 8AA Runner Up Eleven Section Placers/Six State Qualifiers/Four State Placers Second Place: Fosston “Alfred Olson Memorial” 207 Pts. 9 Placers Eighth Place: Cass Lake “Big Bear” Invite: 112.5 Pts. 5 Placers Eighth Place: Bemidji “Rick Lee” Duals: Third Place: Minnewaska “Lakers” Invite: 151 Pts. 9 Placers Fourth Place: TRF “Arm Forces/
DL WRESTLING From Page 13
straight year. The Lakers started off the 2018 season with a tournament victory in Fosston with eight wrestlers grabbing titles in their respective weight classes and a pair of blowout victories in a triangular at Benson over the host Braves and section opponents Sauk Centre/Melrose.
National Guard” Invite: 114.5 Pts 7 P First Place: Alexandria “Big Ole” Invite: 239.5 Pts. 14 Placers The Lakers have back from a very good 20-6 dual meet campaign eight section place winners, including four state qualifiers, of which two earned state honors. They will also return nine with a wide range of experience. They could challenge those dual meet marks from last season. They will have four 30-plus match winners and five 20-plus match winners back. They will challenge for Mid-State Conference and they could possibly challenge for section honors, with the right matchups. Isaiah Thompson, Noah Olds, Blake Weber, Fabyon Greer, Brody
Ullyot and Cade Jackson should be their key leaders throughout the season. Class AA Preseason Teams (Rank, Team, Section) courtesy The Guillotine 1. Kasson-Mantorville (1) 2. Simley (1) 3. Fairmont/Martin County West (3) 4. Perham (8) 5. Scott West (2) 6. Foley (6) 7. Waconia (2) 8. Totino-Grace (5) 9. South St. Paul (4) 10. Grand Rapids (7) 11. Pierz (8) 12. Marshall (3)
SKIING
Lean and Mean Detroit Lakes (8), Hutchinson (2), Litchfield (6), Mora (7), Delano (2), Princeton (7), Thief River Falls (8), Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran (2) Ranked Lakers (Rank, Name, School, Section, Year) 126 pounds 4. Brody Ullyott, Detroit Lakes (8) 10 132 pounds 4. Blake Weber, Detroit Lakes (8) 11 138 pounds 4. Fabyon Greer, Detroit Lakes (8) 12 170 pounds 1. Isaiah Thompson, Detroit Lakes (8) 11
SKIING ROSTER
From Page 12
Joining the varsity team is fellow sophomore Taylor Brend. The girls outnumber the guys with seven varsity skiers and 12 participants at the junior varsity and junior high levels. The only other male skier on the opening day roster was eighth-grader Zach Carlson skiing this season at the junior high level. The boys have a full lineup with the current roster good for three more seasons with the Bergum brothers, Borah, and Trout just sophomores and Parks a freshman but could certainly use some backup. Both teams hosted the seasonopener at Detroit Mountain but will have to wait until the end of 2018 to get back into competition. Three meets in Bemidji, Grand Rapids and Erhard have all been canceled. Next on the schedule is Saturday, Dec. 29 in Brainerd. DL is home on Jan. 10 at the 25th
Robert Williams / Tribune
Head coach Dan Josephson and the Laker ski teams at Detroit Mountain. Detroit Lakes Invite held at Maplelag, one of the state’s longest running high school Nordic events. The section final is again scheduled for a Camp Ripley in Little Falls,
but that venue has failed to provide enough snow in February to hold the competition for years and Section 8’s actual home for the state qualifier has become Maplelag Resort.
NAME
TEAM GRADE
Aaron Oakes Ryan Bergum John Bergum Noah Borah Jacob Trout Casey Parks Zach Carlson Taylor Brend Katie McKonkey Emma Teiken Maren Hoban Lexi Lundeen Madi Walz Rena McLeod Shelby Busker Gabrielle Heide Eleni Schmitz Julia Teiken Luisa Walz Kira Wolf Mady Gerdes Lexi Gerdes Edda Krug Kaitlyn Jorgenson Morgan Kvebak Julia Steffl
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GYMNASTICS From Page 11
beam, bars and vault and the Lakers saw the emergence of Hultin, who appeared in varsity meets with a strong bars routine all the way to the state tournament. DL broke the team scoring record and set a new school record in capturing their fifth consecutive section 8A championship at Perham breaking 37 points on each apparatus for a total of 152.375 points. Yliniemi is the defending section vault champion; Hegg captured last season’s 8A beam title. Perham will be the Lakers’ main competition in the section again this year led by returning section all-around champion Jada Olsen. According to Zamzo, he expects Perham to tighten the gap between the two teams this season and expects a stiff challenge from Olsen and the Yellowjackets. To do that, scoring more than 150 points is mandatory. That number has gone from being a Laker goal to a distant
Robert Williams / Tribune
Peyton Jernberg. achievement for DL teams. The Lakers scored 150.925 to win the state title by more than three points over Watertown-Mayer/Mound-Westonka. DL’s team score was 0.75 points off their state record mark of 151.675 set in 2016.
Individually, Hegg claimed a state silver medal in the allaround and Jernberg (beam) and Okeson (floor) were gold medalists. The Lakers will look to continue chasing the all-time marks in pursuit of their
fifth state team championship. Mahtomedi holds 10 state championships overall in Class A since 1975. Consecutively, Perham holds the top mark of eight straight state titles from 2004-11. Mahtomedi had seven 1987-
93 in a row; Lakeville six 1995-2000 and Roseville Area (AA) won four in a row twice: 2006-09 and 2012-2015. The 2008 Roseville squad set the all-time team score of 154.650. By the midway point of last season, Laker coaches and team members talked about how the squad was built for going after scores of 153 and 154. Laker gymnasts have just started the 2018 path of consistently striving to get better. In fact, that’s the whole conversation at this part of the season. There is no talking about winning the section or a fifth state title. It’s about getting better today and seeing what is next to work on after the first meet. The Jackie Mann Invite in Perham is the place to start and the first streak to try to continue as well. The Lakers won a fourth straight seasonopener on their section rivals’ floor in 2017. The meet begins at 12:15 p.m., and will be held at a new venue inside ‘The Hive,’ Perham’s new high school gymnasium. DL’s second varsity team opens the season the same day, Saturday, Dec. 1, at Morris.
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The 2019-19 Lake Park-Audubon Raiders varsity boys basketball team.
Raider boys look for earlier success this year By Robert Williams rwilliams@dlnewspapers.com Despite struggling to gain 10 wins last season, the Lake Park-Audubon Raiders boys basketball team reached the section semifinals in an attempt to capture a third consecutive 6A championship. The Raiders proved it matters most how a team plays at the end of the year but ultimately fell short to the eventual section champions MahnomenWaubun in a game the Raiders led at halftime. Gone from that team are three starters, point guard Garret Frank, forward Carter Raaen and leading scorer and Pine to Prairie Conference first-teamer Grant Pederson. The Raiders marched through the
Section 6A playoff bracket as the seven-seed with a upset victory over 20-win and No. 3-seeded Henning 62-49 in which Tyler Bjerke joined Pederson and Raaen in double figures with 17 points. Coming into that game owning the last two 6A titles, the Raiders used their experience in the moment and winning on the big stage to pull off the wins. Head coach Kyle Haberman noted, “There’s something to be said about those older guys who have been in that moment before and it ended up paying off.” It will be interesting to see if that translates to a team one year removed from a championship. LP-A needed two victories just to
get to Henning game, a road victory at Pelican Rapids in the subsection quarterfinals at Pelican Rapids after losing to the Vikings in the season finale in the same gym. They opened the run with a nine-point victory at home in the pigtail round over Frazee - a game in which Bjerke scored 20 points. LP-A has a big man in the paint in junior center Henry Jaster who saw plenty of playoff action and joins Bjerke in the starting lineup. Also bringing some postseason experience to the scoresheet are sophomore guard Garret Cossette and junior forward Cody Wolfswinkel, who did hit double figures in scoring in the second game of this season. The key to the Raiders success offensively will be replacing Pederson’s points. He was a difference maker and the team leader on the floor.
The Raiders have three seniors on the roster in Ryan Voge, Tyler Svare and Nick Donovan. LP-A’s season has started with a road loss to Fertile-Beltrami and backt0-back home losses to tough Class AA teams in the Hawley Nuggets and Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. The team is becoming seasoned with three of the first four games against AA teams before beginning the always treacherous section schedule with section semifinalists from last year Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal.
BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE DATE OPPONENT
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Win or lose, the Raiders’ bench is always fired up. Robert Williams / Tribune
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The 2019-19 Lake Park-Audubon Raiders varsity girls basketball team.
Positive start propelling Raider girls hoops
Off the court, the 2017-18 girls basketball season was one to forget. Despite matching the 2016-17 win total and scoring a school record 89 points in a victory over Bagley in late January, a firestorm ensued between then head coach Jay Peterson, administration and parents. Peterson was placed on paid administrative leave during an investigative process, then reinstated days later and he finished the season as the Raiders wound up 11-16. Peterson resigned from the head coaching position prior to this season. Also gone is former Raider standout and assistant coach Ashley Tingelstad. On the court, the Raider girls showed
a lot of promise and stopped a playoff skid in the process. LP-A won their opening round Section 6A playoff game over Hillcrest Lutheran Academy before falling to Pelican Rapids. The victory over the Comets was a milestone win garnering the Raiders their first positive playoff outcome since 2014. A new group of coaches takes this seasoned group over under head coach Beau Kirkwood and assistants Brian Benscoter, a 1989 Detroit Lakes graduate and basketball player, with fellow assistants Connor Waselk and another former Laker in Mckenzie Oistad. Kirkwood’s hire was approved at an October meeting of the school board. He is a graduate of Minnesota State
University Moorhead, as is Waselk, and has been a high school instructor and lower level basketball coach at Lake Park-Audubon since 2016. Kirkwood has a big benefit inheriting most of his starting lineup back. Seniors Maria Schauer and Grace Bowers, along with junior Kay Pederson bring back the scoring nucleus around the perimeter. Carlie Ecker is the third senior on the roster and brings plenty of experience to the floor as well. Junior Etta Miosek got the job done last season in the paint at the center position. The biggest group on the team is the future in six freshman, compared to one sophomore and four juniors. The Raider girls are well on their way to erasing last year’s drama and are doing so in the win column starting the season 3-1 through four games. LP-A threatened the all-time scor-
ing mark right away by posting 85 points in the season-opening road victory at Rothsay. The girls followed that up with their first victory at home defeating Frazee before losing for the first time to state-ranked No. 5A Pelican Rapids at home. LP-A polished off a three-game home stand with a 74-45 victory over Bagley. Given the strong start, the Raiders definitely look to improve on a 6-8 section record and a fifth place Pine to Prairie South record of 5-9 in conference play. The simplest way to do that is outscore the opponent, something the Raiders are doing successfully so far this year averaging 69 points per game while allowing only 55.
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Maria Schauer (2). Robert Williams / Tribune
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More to the falling numbers of Minnesota high school officials than crowd noise
David Samson / Forum News Service
“You want to give kids the best opportunity they can have to have a fair game and safe game and there’s a lot of satisfaction in getting that for them,” Martin said. Ellingson, Mjoness and Martin are from all walks of life. Ellingson is 41 years old, grew up in Borup, Minn., and has four kids ages 18, 10, 8 and 5. Martin, 59, grew up in Pelican Rapids, Minn., and has a daughter and a son, both of whom are teachers. Mjoness, a 21-year-old Moorhead High School graduate, will be graduating from North Dakota State in December and plans to become a high school hockey official with the Minnesota State High School League the second she can. They each ref for different reasons. Ellingson, the principal at Hawley Elementary, enjoys getting paid to exercise, joking he’s too short and fat to play sports anymore. He loves the relationships with other referees, coaches and athletes. Martin, the Hawley High School principal, claims he’s the fastest back judge in the state of Minnesota based off no real proof. He made a career working with kids, so reffing is another way to do that. Ten years ago, the former college football player decided he wanted competition back in his life. Mjoness simply loves hockey. Some referees said crowd control by athletic directors or educating crowds about the rules could help. Mjoness interned with Moorhead athletic director Dean Haugo last spring. She
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watched as he had multiple events each day to go to. “I got to see how hard it is to supervise crowds,” Mjoness said. “The only way you can see how difficult something is by being in their shoes or skates. The only way you can change things is put yourself in those shoes. Let people in the crowd try officiating.” They each have stories about people in the crowd yelling at or pursuing them after a game, but there’s more to the frustration of a high school referee in Minnesota than the loud voices in the crowd. Across the border, North Dakota high school referee numbers are increasing. In the 2012-13 school year, North Dakota had 1,335 high school referees. The number dropped to 1,264 and 1,257 the next two school years, but went up to 1,462 and 1,471 in 2015-16 and 2016-17, respectively. “There are a lot of advantages across the river,” said 32-year-old Cody Baxter, who was a high school basketball referee for more than a decade.
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cials Association in Dilworth, Minn., for a contract with a local high school. “A lot of schools take the lowest bidder,” Baxter said. “Rather than officials banning together as one and requesting a standard of pay, it’s the ones willing to undercut that get the contract. At some point, it’s not worth your time or energy. There was always one that was getting a lot of games because they were willing to accept less pay. Schools have a lot on their plate, so they can save 20 or 30 bucks per contract and it’s understandable why they do.” Officials are more than aware the money is never going to be good. A varsity football game in North Dakota will go for $81 plus 54.5 cents per mile for the driver. According to Martin, it’s somewhere between $85 and $95 in Minnesota plus mileage, but that depends on what an association bargains with a high school. Referees in Minnesota have to pay a registration fee to cover insurance and rulebooks, view an online meeting in every sport for new rules and points of emphasis and pass an exam. Once every few years, they have to do a mechanics clinic and concussion training. If they are new, they have to be part of mentorship and have a background check done. Time spent is rarely going to add up to a profit for a high school official in any state. “Football you might work nine or 10 games a year and you’re not going to clear $1,000,” Martin said. “You have to pay dues, pay for your uni-
forms. It’s just about a wash.” The money will never be life-changing, but for high school officials in North Dakota there’s less hassle. The politicking doesn’t end with contracts in Minnesota. Officials in Minnesota are graded by coaches. These grades are a factor on who gets to officiate state tournament games. Baxter grew up in Hawley, Minn., and lives in Moorhead, reffing high school basketball in both North Dakota and Minnesota. He’s a physician’s assistant at Essentia Health in Moorhead and married with two young kids. He wanted to be a basketball referee because his dad did it and he loved basketball. He quit reffing high school because he’s focusing on reffing college basketball in the area. “There’s a little bit of fear handling coaches the way we should knowing they can rate you,” Baxter said. “There’s no rating in North Dakota. It’s stupid that we’re afraid to call a technical foul in Minnesota. I called more in my first year in college than seven or eight years in Minnesota.” North Dakota playoff officials are also selected by coaches, but in a vote midway through the season. For Minnesota, there’s a star system that a coach can use after every game. “We haven’t had a big push for (the Minnesota star system),” said North Dakota High School Activities Association assistant director Justin Fletschock, who is in charge of officials. “A lot of people understand that rating depends on what people win or lose.”
MSHSL sees no problem, no need for changes
The MSHSL has no fear with the numbers.
“If you look at the numbers, there isn’t really a substantial drop in the last few years,” MSHSL coordinator of officials Jason Nickleby said. “If you go back when it was those higher numbers that’s pretty typical when the economy takes a dive. That’s been pretty typical when people start looking for other ways to make some money. If you look at it, 2010 is right in that neighborhood right after the housing market went south. That’s where we had an uptick.” There’s also no changes on the horizon for how things are done in Minnesota. Nickleby argued there’s more schools and more sports in Minnesota than North Dakota, so it’s easier to just leave the payment for officials up to individual schools. He also said the rating system for officials is rarely bad and will not cost them assignments. “We can always use more officials. That will always be the case,” Nickleby said. “There’s a certain part of the state that’s tougher. A soccer game in the St. Cloud or Moorhead part of the world is a little bit of a challenge. When you get to border towns then it becomes a challenge when schools are competing with other states. I haven’t heard from any athletic directors or associations telling me that it’s at a crisis point.” Mjoness says she will not hesitate to become an MSHSL official as soon as she graduates from NDSU. “I keep doing it because I love the game that much,” Mjoness said. “I’ll admit there’s a point where I don’t want to renew. If I’m already in that position as a college student, I can’t imagine going forward. A lot of us grew up with these sports. We do it cause we love them.”
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Chris Ellingson has been a high school basketball referee for 15 years and a baseball and softball umpire for 12 years in Minnesota. He’ll never forget coming out of the dressing room, after waving off a basket at the buzzer, to three people holding a video camera yelling at him about the call. He remembers every detail from the experience, but he keeps the school, the teams and the names of the people out of the story. “You don’t know what people are capable of or what they’ll do, especially when their kids are involved,” Ellingson said. “They’re invested and they think they have quite a bit to say. They think it’s life and death and it’s a game.” There were 8,847 high school officials in Minnesota in the 2010-11 season. Last season, there were 8,334. The common belief is the loud voices from the stands have gotten louder, but there’s more to the dip in numbers. Not that the loud voices help. Micaela Mjoness’ dad always joked she became a hockey official at the age of 11, so she could learn how to get around the rules. That’s wasn’t entirely true. She loves hockey and wanted to learn more about it. Mjoness had her dad sit in the crowd for a 10-and-under game she was officiating at the age of 17, so he could hear what people yelled at her. He heard the yells and even saw one person banging against the glass. “I’ve heard every homophobic slur in the book,” Mjoness said. Michael Martin remembers a few years back leaving to officiate a football game in the rain and snow and returning home 11 hours later with a check for $65 for his work. That paid for his shirt. He wouldn’t say what words were used, but he’ll never forget the derogatory emails he received from parents after an event.
Officials Ryan Gellner, Adam Grant, Jeremy Carney and Tim Couchman officiate the coin toss between Bismarck Legacy and West Fargo Sheyenne High School.
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