Spring 2017

Photo courtesy of SPX Sports

SPRING 2017

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Spring

Nicollet baseball and softball teams ready to compete JAMES ANDERSEN Staff Writer The Nicollet Public School baseball team is in rebuilding mode this season. The Raiders are riding high off their incredible season last year.

However, head coach Alex Robideau has his work cut out for him this year.

He commented about the theme for his team this year, saying “This year’s theme is improvement. We have a very young team with five freshmen and one senior. We are working on gaining experience and improving the skills that need to be worked on.”

The goal for this season, according to Robideau, is to be the best version of themselves by the end of the season.

“With our inexperience, I was expecting to start the season off slow, but I want the athletes to improve throughout the year and have a winning streak going into playoffs,” said Black.

Hunter Johnson and Travis Selby are the top two returning prospects for the Raiders this season.

“They [Johnson and Selby] are our biggest returning athletes and they’re playing just like that right now. They’re great hitters and play defense tremendously,” Robideau said. Johnson is the only senior on the entire team, and everybody else will be looking up to him for leadership and experience.

There are a lot of key incoming players for the Raiders this season. Five freshmen

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are on the varsity roster, so there is a lot of young talent.

According to coach Robideau, Riley Hulke and Ben Radke are the two freshmen that can have the biggest impact. “[They] will be able to help the team not only in the infield, but also on the mound.

With the new pitch count it’s going to be important to have a lot of pitchers and these guys will be there when I need them,” said Robideau.

The coach did not mention any specific team they call a rivalry. Instead, every conference game is going to be important for the Raiders.

“All of them should be watched closely, because there might be a few upsets.

We have a competitive team so it’s hard to count us out, no matter the score.”

The Nicollet high school softball team is poised for a deep run in the playoffs this season. Led by head coach Brianne Eldred, the Raiders have their goals set high.

“This year’s goal is to win two three section games, which is one more than last year,” said coach Eldred.

The only way to accomplish their goals this season lies within the team’s theme.

“Attitude is everything,” said Eldred, “We need to carry ourselves better and have a great attitude about how we go about things.”

There are quite a few returning impact players for the Raiders. Senior Hannah Beckius is a returning all-state pitcher. She also has the abil-

Photo by SPX Sports ity to play every infield position. Senior Natasha Young plays centerfield. “[Young] is an excellent leader, and has really worked at batting,” said Eldred.

Taylor Lanz and Hailey Hulke round out the rest of the senior class. Lanz starts at shortstop, and Hulke holds it down in left field.

There are a couple of incoming sophomores that should have a big impact for the Raiders. Haley Johnson is one of the pitchers Eldred will rely upon heavily. Nicole Hall is the returning first baseman.

“She is a player who gets anything and everything,”

said Eldred, “and also is great at the plate. She hit .435 and had four home runs last year, I expect her to improve this season.”

Nicollet has some tough competition on their schedule this season. Martin County West is the team to beat in their conference, according to coach Eldred. Cleveland High School and Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial are also the two rivals for Nicollet. The softball state tournament is in June at North Mankato. The Raiders expect to be competing there this season.

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2017

Page A3

Mankato West boys and girls track and field preview CHELSEA DORVAL Staff Writer The Mankato West boys track and field team will have 62 student athletes this season. With the theme of development and a team the large group of athletes will develop as a team and “learn to enjoy the sport of track and field,” said head coach Kaleb Lindsey-Stevens.

In addition to developing as a team, the athletes will also focus on their motto, “R-C-P-P”; respect, class, pride, passion. “Respect for yourself, your family, your teammates, your coaches and your competitors. Win with class, shake your competitors hand, and lose with even more class,” explains

Lindsey-Stevens. “Be prideful of your individual accomplishments and more prideful of the team accomplishments and finally, compete with passion. Not everyone is able to compete in this great sport so be passionate.”

With 16 key returners coming back to the Scarlets’ squad, Lindsey-Stevens hopes to return to the true team state meet and finish top-three in the conference and ultimately “punch tickets to the state meet.”

Seniors C.J. Terry, Tyler DeFor and Mason Ballster, sophomores Melik Davis and Tristain Altenburg and freshman Jonathan Sikel will be the ones to keep an eye on in sprints. Sikel will also be competing in high jump, long

Photo by SPX Sports

jump and triple jump, while Ballster will be competing in long jump as well. DeFor will be doing triple jump and hurdles as well, while Terry will also be competing in the triple jump. For distance it will be juniors, Kellen Brudwick, Antonio Berrones, Derek Engen and Ian Sandry to watch.

Pole-vaulters Matt Thompson and Jack Brown hope to have an impressive season while senior Erik Krenz will join the high jump team. Sophmore Lul Lul will be a long jumper and triple jump competitor to watch while Jack Brown will be competing in hurdles.

Thomas Bigaouette and Garrett Shumski will be the shot and discuss competitors to watch.

In addition to an impressive returning squad there will be three incomers that should be able to have an impressive season. Senior Jake Makela will be competing in sprints and field and relays alongside freshman Braeden Egeland. Junior Dondre Spann will be joining the team in field and relays as well. Lindsey-Stevens mentioned “the entire freshman class is deep and has great potential that will develop over the season into contributing parts of the team.”

The team has already had a couple of impressive performances so far this season. The team of Terry, Sikel, Makela and Davis set an indoor school record for the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:35.48, while Sikel also

Photo by SPX Sports had an impressive outing in the long jump with a 21’-2.5” jump. Thompson also had an impressive pole vault at 13’2.5”.

Other match ups to pay attention to this season will be the True Team Section Meet at Mankato East High School on May 20, the Big 9 Conference meet, also at Mankato East on May 25. Finally the section 2AA Meet which will take place at Gustavus Adolphus College on May 31 and June 2.

Mankato West girl’s track and field will have four key returners to watch for this year.

Erica Benson will run 300 hurdles and has tied the schools record in high jump, 200 and 400. Alliyah Dawkins will be competing in high hurdles, long jump, 300 hurdles and

relays. Chelsea Schaffer will also be a name to keep an eye on in the triple jump, pole vaulting while Claire Rehome is the school record holder in shot put and throws disc.

With the team goals of making the conference championship, qualifying for true team state and to qualify individuals for state in eight events the team will also look to four key incomers. Kristen Rasmussen will compete in sprints, Jenna Sikel and Abby Olenius in pole vault, and Ellie Blackman in long jump and sprints.

With the upcoming True Team Sections coming up in the end of May and the Big 9 conference meet shortly after, the team still has some of their most exciting meets yet to come.

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Spring

St. Peter track and field teams developing young talent RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer The St. Peter High School track team is relying heavily on young talent and know they will a be a force to be reckon with in a couple of years. For now, the Saints have to remain patient for the young talent to develop as the team tends to finish toward the middle of the pack at most track meets.

The MSU Maverick High School Invite was no different for this team, as there were bright spots to go along with

frustrating events. First, the Lady Saints. The sprinters came out on a tear in the 200-meter dash as the school placed three runners in the top-five and another in the top-ten. Finishing third was freshmen Allie Madden with a time of 27.89. Coming in fourth and fifth were freshmen Nicole Schilling (28.34) and sophomore Emily Gessner (28.45). Rounding out the top-ten was junior Hannah Hansen who came in ninth (29.15).

The middle distance and distance events provid-

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ed more opportunities for points. In the 800 meter run, junior Sarah Borgmeier finished third, clocking a time of 2:42.82. Isabelle Lind paced all St. Peter mile runners finishing fourth (5:46.18). Madison More is starting to turn heads as an eighth grader in the two mile with a second-place finish (12:14.55).

Senior leader Katie Schilling took home gold in both hurdle events winning the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 49.47 and clobbering the competition in the 100-meter hurdles by more than a second (15.59).

The Saints had a slew of top-ten finishes out in the field as well. Junior Jordon Keeley took third in the discus (105-05) and sixth in the shot-put (31-09.00) while high jump and long jump both placed multiple tracksters in the top-ten of each event.

On the men’s side of things, sophomore Jacob Reganscheid represented the Saints sprinters well in both the 100 meter and 200 meter.

Reganscheid finished seventh in the 100-meter with a time of 12.01 and sixth in the 200-meter (24.22).

Senior Mohamud Issack swept the hurdle events, finishing first

Photo by SPX Sports in both the 110 meter hurdles (16.03) and 300 meter hurdles (40.68). Sophomore Jade Reicks also got in on the action during the 300 meter hurdles, finishing second (41.80).

St. Peter left plenty of points out in the field at this meet only placing top ten finishes in the high jump. Junior Jacob Grawe finished sixth with a jump of 5-02.00 and sophomore Tom Eide finished eighth (5-00.00).

Both men and women found some success in the relay races. Sarah Borgmeier,

Isabelle Lind, Amelia Carlson and Madison More led the Lady Saints to victory in the 4x800 meter relay. The team finished the race with a time of 10:31.47. The men captured success by the way of the 4x400 meter relay as the team finished third (3:38.38).

St. Peter will continue to compete hard and try to qualify for conference and state meets during the last few weeks of the 2017 season.

2017

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Blue Earth golf seeks more success in 2017 The young Buccaneers squad has already jumped to a fast start to begin the season.

COLT JOHNSON Staff Writer With a young group of guys once again, the Blue Earth Buccaneers boy’s golf team is out to prove that their last season success was no fluke.

Having a young roster can often be challenging not only for the coach, but for the group of players as well. There is quite often a growing period. During that time, there are usually a few rough bumps along the way, but that hasn’t really been the case once again for the young Buccaneers golf team.

After doing surprisingly well last season with the lack of experience, the Buccaneers have gone 3-1-0 through their first month of golf, according to the Minnesota State High School League official website.

So far, the Blue Earth boy’s golf team has played as expected if not better than expectations. Head coach Travis Armstrong knew all along his guys could play golf, but he also wants to prove that to the rest of the Big South Conference once again.

“We always hope to contend in our half of the Big South Conference. To do that again would show that it wasn’t a fluke with five guys

to the state tournament. It’s been a few years since the Blue Earth Area has been represented there,” Armstrong said.

guys to focus on, he made it clear that it was on the mental side of his team’s game.

“This year I really want the guys to focus on playing

“‘This year I really want the guys to focus on playing smarter. We are a young team but return almost everyone from last year’s varsity team. They will all get bigger and stronger naturally, but the course management aspect has to be learned. That will be our focus especially early on in the year,’ Armstrong said.”

on the team, 9th grade and lower like last year. I think that if we play well in late May we could also be in the mix as a team in the section tournament in New Prague.

If we can’t qualify as a team, I would hope to get at least one, if not more, individual

With a young team often comes errors, not necessarily the kind of errors with their play, but the kind of errors that happens between the ears. Mental errors can sometimes plague a young team. If there is any part of his team play that Armstrong wants his

smarter. We are a young team but return almost everyone from last year’s varsity team.

They will all get bigger and stronger naturally, but the course management aspect has to be learned. That will be our focus especially early on in the year,” Armstrong

said.

With a lack of veteran leadership, young men like sophomores Hunter Spencer and Tate Thielfoldt are going to have to step up into those leadership roles, whether they like it or not. The Buccaneer’s still have the month of May to let their leaders truly emerge before the section and state tournament come knocking. It may take a freshman like, Gaven Bruellman, Kohl Jacobsen or Caleb Beeler to step up and help lead the young core group of golfers.

Even though they’re relatively young and inexperienced, they’re hungry to win as well. With a good record coming out of April, the Buccaneers have their sights on the Big South Conference tournament, April 22. If they can survive and advance to state as a team, or even just as a few players, the group of young golfers will have to be pleased with their performance this season. The future is bright for the young Buccaneer squad and it looks like they’ll be sticking around for a while, so get comfortable boys.

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Spring

Maple River baseball, softball teams poised for success RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer The Maple River Eagles baseball team is an experienced group that would love to send their seniors off the right way: with a Gopher Conference title. The Eagles sit in second place in the conference at 7-3 (5-1) trailing only Waterville-Elysian-Morristown who currently stand at 7-2 (4-0).

With a roster completely constructed with juniors and seniors, the time is now if the Eagles want to make a push for a conference title. Head baseball coach Jeff Cole knows how much winning the conference would mean to these young men, but does not hesitate to point things out that are not shown in a scorebook on the stat sheet.

“Chandler See is a senior and our starting catcher,” Cole said. “He does a great job working with all the pitchers and I let him call his own game behind the plate but what I noticed most about him is all the comments from the umpires saying how respectful he is behind the plate towards not only them, but the opposing team.”

Another top-returning senior is shortstop and pitcher Jeff Lewis. Lewis holds down the number-three spot in the batting lineup and is as sure handed as they come in the infield. Lewis has been on varsity for a couple years now so a lot of players look to him for leadership and consisten-

cy.

When asked about goals set at the beginning of the year, Cole named a few that could be completed by season end.

“Our first goal is to compete in every game and always put ourselves in a position to win. If we can manage the first goal I believe we will have a great chance to complete our main goal as well which is winning the Gopher Conference title,” Cole said.

The season will start to heat up a little bit more as Maple River moves into the back half of their schedule.

Opponents will be hungry to knock off the top dog and kill their dreams of a conference title. Coach Cole cited a few key matchups that will be occurring down the stretch for the Eagles.

“This Friday we play section opponent against St. Peter,” Cole said. We just played Belle Plaine, the number one team in the state and lost. We also play the top team in our conference, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown very soon and our players can’t wait to get a crack at them.”

As the high school baseball season starts to wind down, Maple River would love a conference title. But even more than a conference title, Cole wants to keep providing lifetime memories and life lessons to these young men.

“If they play the game the right way, the Maple River Ea-

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gle way, the conference title will come,” Cole said.

The Maple River Eagles softball team is finding plenty of success on the field this season. The team has even positioned itself in great position to make things interesting down the stretch when it comes to crowning a conference champion in a few weeks.

There is still plenty of season between now and the end of the year though, so looking ahead now would be useless.

When describing the team’s theme for the year, head coach Joyce Dewitz was straightforward with her answer.

“We want to work hard and improve throughout,” Dewitz said. “We will be in great position in a few weeks if we do that.”

The Eagles are littered with talent across the board.

This includes both younger players and more experienced players. A couple impact players for the team are pitcher Peyton Burkner and catcher Bridgett Kollos.

Burkner and Kollos are both juniors and lead this team both by performance and by example.

“I have two players in junior Peyton Burkner and junior Bridgett Kollos. As a first year coach, I know they have been on the varsity team since their freshmen year and are currently leading the team in a variety of ways including in the field and at the

Photo by SPX Sports plate. Peyton is our pitcher and Bridgett is our catcher so they are always in the middle of the action,” Dewitz said.

Maple River will be playing in plenty of big games over the course of the next few weeks but none may be bigger than the contest that is taking place on May 2nd.

The matchup features the Eagles from Maple River and the Cardinals from Faribault Bethlehem Academy. Dewitz was not shy about how much this game will mean in the grand scheme of things.

“Our game on May 2nd against Faribault Bethlehem Academy will be a big determiner as to who will win our conference,” Dewitz said.

On the shoulders of the likes of Peyton Burkner and Bridgett Kollos, the Maple River Eagles should be

in great position down the stretch to win the conference and perform well in postseason play. The Eagles have been playing well of late, coming off a hard-earned 8-7 victory against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. The two standouts ended the game a combined four for eight at the plate with three runs batted in and two runs scored. The duo provided the necessary lift this team needed to ultimately win the game.

Even though this year has been a major success, watch out for this team for years to come as they will only graduate a few seniors after this season is over, giving this team plenty of talent coming back for the next couple years.

2017

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Fairmont baseball, softball riding winning ways into 2017 COREY YUMAN Staff Writer At just about the halfway mark into the season, the Fairmont Cardinal softball team is off to a fantastic start with eight wins and suffering just two losses. It was this time last year when the girls were sitting on the exact same record of 8-2. The 2016 season ended up taking the girls all the way to the finals of the Class 2A – Section-Two Softball Tournament.

The girls got off to a huge start during last year’s season as they hit the road to start their season in Luverne.

The game ended up being over 30 runs scored with the Cardinals being able to escape with their first win of the season at 16-15. Fairmont proceeded to win another five-straight to extend their winning streak to a total of six wins in a row. The second week match up with Worthington was an 8-6 win but their remaining four games, their defense allowed a mere 1 run or less.

The Cardinals picked up 2-1 and 8-1 wins over St. James and Waseca, respectively, while they won 1-0 over St. Peter and 14-0 over Blue Earth Area. After taking their first loss, a 2-1 win

by Jackson County Central, the Cardinals bounced back with a huge 18-4 five-inning thumping of Marshall before splitting the double-header and dropping a 14-8 game to Marshall after. The biggest

loss of their year came in that week, when St. Peter exacted revenge for one-point shutout and picked up a 11-2 win over Fairmont.

In the first tournament action of the year, the Cardinals participated in the Windom Invitational. In the opening round, New Ulm Cathedral got the first win by going over 11-4 in a six-inning bout with Fairmont. The Cardinals finished strong though and handled Adrian Area 17-3 before finishing out the invite

year and hoping to recapture the finish they had last year but with slightly more success. They are doing fantastic on the road as they hold on to a 6-0 record while hanging to a 1-2 record when fighting on their home turf. The girls are holding a great conference record at 4-2 and 3-1 in the section while sitting at 13 in the rankings and a QRF rating of 58.9.

Mallory Gochanour is leading the squad this season thus far, going 4 for 8 at

Fairmont continues to attempt salvaging its season.

“Fairmont is off to a 2-4 start which is disappointing, considering we were 22-6 last year and won the Big South Conference. In fact, we have won our conference the last 6 years. That will most likely not happen this year although we still hope to contend in Section 2AA to go to state,” Head Coach Todd Sukalski said.

The Cardinals are suffering in particular when facing

“‘Fairmont is off to a 2-4 start which is disappointing, considering we were 22-6 last year and won the Big South Conference. In fact, we have won our conference the last 6 years. That will most likely not happen this year although we still hope to contend in Section 2AA to go to state,’ Head Coach Todd Sukalski said.” with a 15-0 victory over Windom.

Fairmont finished out their year on a good run, picking up wins in three of their last four. They closed out the regular season in a double-header against New Ulm where they got a 3-2 win before falling 15-5.

The Class-AA tournament was opened with an 11-0 win over Medford and a 5-2 win over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. They suffered a 9-2 loss to Le Sueur-Henderson before winning 6-3 over Belle Plaine and wrapping up the year with a 4-2 loss to Jordan.

Fairmont is off to a great

the plate with three runs this season. Jordan Ehlert is trailing close behind going 4 for 7 thus far into the year. As a team the Cardinals are averaging a .373 batting average with 22 total hits.

The Fairmont Cardinals baseball team are back in action and trying to make up some ground after a great season in 2016. The Cardinals’ season is already underway and as of writing, recording just three wins and seven losses after finishing the year 22-6 a year ago. With plenty of time left in the season, there is more than enough room for improvement as

off against other Big South opponents this season. As of April 30th, the team is 0-5 in conference action, dropping games against New Ulm, St. James, St. Peter, Jackson County Central, and Worthington.

While their struggles early on have been apparent, the team has still shown that they have a lot of firepower on their side they can exert.

In their three wins, two of them have been double-digit blowouts, a 15-5 win over New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva and a 19-7 victory over Martin County West.

Some of the key players that Coach Sukalski noted as being essential to this year include Nate Kallenbach, Sam Schwieger, and Brady Allen.

“He is our Shortstop and is currently hitting .238 after six games. As a pitcher, he is 1-0 with a 2.80 ERA,” Sukalski said on Kallenbach.

Schwieger, a shortstop, is hitting .211 and is 0-2 with an ERA of 2.80. Allen, a third basemen and pitcher, is hitting .471 and is 1-0 with a 7.88 ERA. This year’s results are a bit of a far cry from where the team was last year and how well they ended up doing on the season. Last year, they made it all the way to the section finals.

“Last year we lost in the Section Final to a very good Belle Plaine team,” Kallenbach said.

The Cardinals dominated at home finishing the year with a 10-1 record while going 10-2 in the conference.

They finished off the year with a QRF ranking of 4th with a rating of 120.1. The team went on an eight-game winning streak which was their best streak of the year.

In the six losses that the team did have there were never two losses that went back to back of each other.

It’s also interesting to note that of the six games lost there were three losses that came while the Cardinals were just within a single run, while the other three losses were four runs or greater.

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Page A8

Spring

Mankato West softball and golf 2017 season previews CHELSEA DORVAL Staff Writer One word comes to mind for the Mankato West girl’s golf team: “commitment, commitment to the program commit to your swing, and commit to your shot. Just commit,” head coach Aaron Miller explained.

With seven returning players, the Scarlets placed third in the Marshall Invite and had impressive scores in the Waconia Dual. Mankato West totaled 384 points in Marshall, 40 points out of first.

Associate captain, junior Annie Olson, who has a “very good short game” and is one of the teams more consistent low scorers, will be returning to the squad. Senior Lauren Smith with also

be returning and hopes to continue her consistent play from last year with some improvements. Miller looks to Allison Lewandowski, senior, and second year captain to make some dramatic improvements. Junior Sydney Douglas is described as having “great potential, especially if she grabs ahold of her short game. She is one of the longer hitters on the team and has a great grasp of the mental part of the game” by Miller. Mara Salfer will also be back with impressive leadership qualities that make her a valued part of the program as a whole. Sophomores Rachel Anderson, and Lexi Carlson got their fair share of varsity playing time last year and will continue to push for the number five and six sports on the

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varsity roster this year.

Rachael Luedtke, will join fellow sophomores McKenna Krosch and Lindsey Hays as names to watch on the team this year.

The Mankato West boy’s golf team will focus on being a “new and improved” team after graduating seven of their senior golfers. The team has a goal to improve from their third place finish last year in the big nine conference.

“We want to work really hard, develop good players and have the potential to compete at the top level,” head coach Todd Nelson said.

As of May 2nd, the Scarlets were leading the Big9 conference after beating Northfield on their home course and placing second at Northfield. Zach Svir, third year letterman and senior, will be returning and will be a key contributor to the team.

Andrew Christiansen will be another one to watch. The third year letter winner is going into the eleventh grade and will be a solid competitor this year.

The team also has three new key players to watch, Lucas Pfeiffer, Leo Gellert and Own Bjork will be joining the Scarlet’s varsity team. Pfiffer is a senior that just came up last year and was a key part of the win against Northfield May 2nd, Geller also helped shooting 75, which was three over par.

“The entire varsity team

Photo by SPX Sports has shot under 80 the entire season, which is the first time since I have been here, and I have been coaching for six years,” Nelson said. “GolF nationwide has taken a big hit, however I am happy to say that it is alive and well in the Mankato area. We have 18 players on our roster and there is 30 at the junior high level.”

The Mankato West High School Scarlets softball team has started their season off to a solid start going 9-1-0.

Despite a strong start to the season head coach Don Krusemark has the bar set high. “We want to get better everyday, our goal is to be the best we can be each and

everyday.”

Krusemark looks to Hannah Hastings, Maija Russell, Tristin Danay, Briggs Carlson, Emily Veroeven, Hannah Rode and Kenzie Grunst to be dependable returners.

Jenna Helget, Brooke Pahlm, Emme Young, Lauren Marzolf, Courtney Bloemke, and Jordyn Kuhlmann will be the newcomers to watch this 2017 season.

Krusemark also outlines the games against Mankato East, Winona and Fairbault as key matchups for the season. With the Fairbault and Mankato East games still left to be played, the Scarlets have already captured a 10-6 victory over Winona April 17.

2017

Page A9

Le Sueur-Henderson golf, track and field seasons underway RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer The Le Sueur-Henderson High School track and field team has been improving more and more as the year has continued to move along.

In fact, the team had an impressive showing both individually and for the team.

The MSU Maverick High School Invite every year provides a couple high schools the opportunity to run in a college athletic environment.

The University welcomed six high schools to compete in this year’s invite including the up-and-coming Le Sueur-Henderson Giants.

The LS-H men sprinters took the meet by storm as senior Rhett Streeter set the tone early taking second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.17 and fourth in the 200 (22.94). Also representing the Giants in the top-ten of the 200 meter was sophomore William Clarke (24.44).

The 400-meter run allowed two Le Sueur-Henderson runners to squeak inside the topten as sophomore Jorge Hernandez and junior Evan Eibs finished fourth and sixth respectively with times of 54.61 and 55.38.

In the distance events for the Giants, sophomore Lane Schwartz finished second in the 3200 meter with a time of 10:30.93 and senior Chris Healy finished seventh (11:10.82).

The Giants continued their great effort in the field events. Sophomore Gabe Webster finished third in the shotput with a heave of

meter dash (29.22). Continuing with the sprints, Gabby Straub took third in the 100 meter hurdles and junior Kim Scheffler took second in the 300 meter hurdles. The Giants placed three runners in the top ten for the 1600 meter run. Sophomore Victoria Flores finished fifth (5:48.62), seventh grader Hailey Juarez finished sixth (5:55.28) and

piled the first place 4x100 meter relay were Gabe Webster, Mason Straub, Jorge Hernandez and Frank Turek.

The Girls dominated the sprinting relays as they finished first in both the 4x100 and 4x200. Alexis Ewanga, Kim Scheffler, Rylie Lynch and Gabby Straub compiled the team that prevailed in both relays.

“The Le Sueur-Henderson-Cleveland Lady Giants are coming off a fifth place finish at the St. Peter Invitational at Shoreland Country Club.”

45-10.00 and senior Mason Straub finished seventh with a toss of 40-03.00. Senior Frank Turek took first to help secure some much-needed points for the Giants in the discus with a throw of 14403. William Clarke did his part in the field as he finished second in the triple jump and third in both long jump and high jump.

The women also set a good tone early as senior sprinter Jenny Arndt took third in the 100 meter dash (13.46) and tenth in the 200

eighth-grader Arlett Rios finished ninth (6:01.28).

The LS-H women also placed well in the field events as sophomore Gabby Straub had a third place finish in the high jump, junior Kim Scheffler had a fifth place finish in the long jump and junior Dana Boch finished fifth in the shot put.

The Giants showed out in both the men and women’s relays. The men took first in the 4x100, second in the 4x200 and second in the 4x800. The men that com-

The Le Sueur-Henderson track season is coming to a close with a few big meets left in the regular season.

The Le Sueur-Henderson-Cleveland Giants golf teams are in the midst of their 2017 season. This season has been one of sporadic weather, but now with the weather cooperating golf should be heating up as we close in on summer.

The Giants notched a W in the win column on May 2. Le Sueur Country Club played host to the Minnesota River

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Conference boy’s golf opener. On the best weather day for a golf match so far, the Giants finished first (184) by four strokes over rival Jordan (188). Senior Harry Redmann paced the Giants as he fired a round of nine-over par 45.

His 45 was good enough for third place overall out of 40 golfers. Following Redmann were Carson Stepka and Blake Olness who both shot rounds of 46 while Alex Wilson netted a 47.

The Le Sueur-Henderson-Cleveland Lady Giants are coming off a fifth place finish at the St. Peter Invitational at Shoreland Country Club. Eagan won the tournament carding a 335 while the Lady Giants finished with a score of 413. Pacing the Giants was senior Hannah Allen who carded a 95, good enough for 12th place. Following Allen were golfers Mak Reinhardt (100), Kylie Dunning (108) and Whit Weick (110).

The Giants are hoping to continue this stretch of good weather and improved golf.

If both stay consistent, these teams want to finish near the top of their respective conferences.

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Page A10

Spring

Cleveland baseball and softball seasons are in full swing COLT JOHNSON Staff Writer With nearly a perfect start to the season for the Cleveland Clippers baseball team, the attitude is full sails ahead for the streaking ball club.

Cleveland’s head coach J.J. Helget has to be happy with his team’s performance in the first part of the season.

The Clippers are 6-1 and sit at the top of the Valley Conference with a 4-1 conference record. Seniors Nick Douglas, Riley Chmiel, Cody Conroy, Brandon Seitz and Josh Baker lead the way.

It was an extremely hot start for Cleveland winning their first six games in-a-row.

The Clippers started their season on the road in Truman to face the ML-GHEC-Truman Jaguars on their home field.

In a tightly contested battle, Cleveland was able to leave Truman with their first tally in the win column after their 5-4 victory over the Jaguars.

After stealing a game on the road, the Clippers were set to host eight games straight at their home field.

In their first home victory, the pitching rotation was lights out against the Nicollet Raiders. The pitching staff for Cleveland held the Raiders to one run for the entire game and the Clippers went on to win their first home game of the season 4-1.

They took down Nicollet handily, but their next two games would test Cleveland’s fortitude. After facing the Raiders at 9 a.m., April 4 they

had a double-header against two different teams that day.

The next game was at 1 p.m. against the Randolph Rockets and it would go right down to the finish. The Clippers were able to come out with the victory after a 10-9 win to extend their winning streak and win two games in one day.

Game three of the eightgame home stand was against the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs. With a few days off to relax and get their bodies rested, Cleveland was ready for the Bulldogs and the Clippers almost bit off more than they could chew.

Once again Cleveland narrowly escaped with a victory.

They took down the Bulldogs 9-8 and added to their undefeated record. At the halfway point of their home stand the Madelia Blackhawks came to Cleveland, but they were sent home packing. The score was 11-1 after the fifth inning and the game was called, sending the Blackhawks to the bus early.

Next on the docket for the undefeated Clippers was the St. Clair Cyclones. St. Clair came in excited to give Cleveland their first loss of the season, but the Clippers pitching staff shutout the Cyclones in a 1-0 win. Whenever the bats have been quiet for Cleveland, their pitching staff has been there all season to back them up.

The first loss of the season came April 28, against conference foe, the JWP Bulldogs.

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Cleveland’s six-game winning streak with a 10-2 victory. It was the seventh game of their eight-game home stand.

With a fantastic month of May under their belts the Clippers will just have to continue their winning ways. They’ll have a high seed in the Valley Conference tourney and if they can bounce back from their first loss of the season, then one thing will be on the mind of the Clippers; making the state tournament.

The Cleveland Clippers softball team is cruising to the finish line with seven games left to play in May including five conference matchups.

Despite having a rather young roster, the Clippers have found ways to win games. With only three seniors on their roster, Cleveland needed some of their younger players to step up and help lead, and that’s just what they got.

The Clippers went 5-2 in their first month of softball and currently sits at the top of the Valley Conference, according to the Minnesota State High School League.

In their first two games the Clippers hosted a tournament in Cleveland against the Nicollet Raiders and the Randolph Rockets. In game one, The Clippers hosted the Raiders at 9 a.m. and Cleveland was able to prevail in a 3-0 shutout to open the season. Advancing to game two, they faced the Rockets and the tables were turned on the Clippers getting shutout 8-0

Photo by SPX Sports in their first loss of the season to Randolph.

After being shutout at home Cleveland went on a tear, going on a four-game winning streak, 10-running each team they saw. In their third game of the season the Clippers hit the road and set off for Martin Luther High School and they weren’t there long. After the fifth inning, the game was called and Cleveland hopped back on the bus after a 16-3 victory. Their next game would be back at home where they hosted the Madelia-Truman Jayhawks. The umpire called the game after 6 innings and the Clippers won 11-1 in a clean victory at home.

The next two games were on the road. Game three of the four-game win steak was against the Aldon-Conger Knights. Cleveland breezed past the Knights 10-0 in possibly their best all-around performance of the season.

Just a few days later the Clippers were back on the road and heading back to Mar-

tin Luther for their second matchup. Game two against Martin Luther was more of the same, 10-running Martin Luther 18-2, extending their win streak to four games.

After the four-game winning streak and coincidently 10-running each team they faced, Cleveland was home to host Nicollet who they beat in the first game of the season. The Raiders were seeking revenge heading back to Cleveland. Nicollet got the better of the Clippers in their second matchup, giving them a taste of their own medicine, shutting out Cleveland 0-5 at home.

Cleveland has seven games to play in the month of May and with a majority of them at home the Clippers are looking in good shape to take the Valley Conference championship. If they can keep up their winning ways then Cleveland will have a good chance at taking home the conference title and making a push in the post season.

2017

Page A11

Tri-City United baseball has experienced ups and downs The Titans are still seeking consistency for the rest of the 2017 season.

COREY YUMAN Staff Writer The Tri-City United Titans have their work cut out for them if they would like to improve upon what they did last year. The Titans finished off the 2016 season holding on to a 14-11 record while going an identical 6-4 in home and away outings. If there is an area of improvement that the Titans can work towards it’s how they fared in the Minnesota River Conference. The Titans finished in the conference with a losing record, going 5-7 on the year.

Tri-City United opened up their 2016 season with a 2-1 win over Norwood-Young America. They extended onto a small winning streak with a 10-3 victory over Mayer Lutheran and a 6-4 win over Medford. They answered their three-game winning sting with a three-game losing streak. They dropped a 5-3 game to Sibley East before getting shut out in backto-back games with Belle Plaine winning 1-0 and St. Peter getting the 9-0 win.

To answer one losing streak, they came back and

went on a six-game skid with big wins inside this streak.

They answered the threegame losing stint with a 11-1 win over Le Sueur-Henderson then got a narrow 11-10

sweep the entire tournament with a 15-8 win over Columbia Heights to open the tourney.

In the game against Brooklyn Center the Titans absolutely dominated the affair coming

games with a 7-0 loss over Norwood-Young America and a 9-0 loss to Belle Plaine.

Le Sueur-Henderson got a 5-1 win and then Sibley East defeated them 3-2. TCU fin-

“The first tournament of the year came in the Brooklyn Center Tournament in early May. The Titans were able to sweep the entire tournament with a 15-8 win over Columbia Heights to open the tourney. In the game against Brooklyn Center the Titans absolutely dominated the affair coming away with a 21-0 win.” victory over Mayer Lutheran.

Before entering their first tournament of the year they earned a 6-4 victory over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown.

The first tournament of the year came in the Brooklyn Center Tournament in early May. The Titans were able to

away with a 21-0 win. TCU closed the tournament with a close 9-7 victory over Blake.

Answering their previous losing streak with a big winning streak saw TCU fall back into a minor slump in a fourgame losing streak. They were shutout in back-to-back

ished their last four games of the season alternating between wins and losses.

The Class AA - Section 2 Baseball Tournament started off quite well for the team.

TCU got 6-1 victories over both Medford and Blue Earth Area to start off while they

came away with a 12-2 win over Fairmont in five innings of action. The tournament came to a halt when Belle Plaine got a 6-0 win and Fairmont escaped with a 9-1 win to avenge the previous loss and eliminated TCU from the tournament.

Currently the Titans are hovering on a 4-4 record.

They started off the year with a 5-2 loss before picking up a 6-3 win and then alternating losses and wins one more time. They hit a two-game losing streak with a 6-0 loss to St. Peter and a 13-3 six-inning loss to Le Sueur-Henderson.

They’ve gotten back on track with a five inning 13-3 win over Minneapolis Southwest and a 5-1 win over Waseca.

The team’s roster consists of 10th graders Tyler Sladek, Matthew Feddema, Devin Bosejpka; 11th graders Marty Kalina, Jack Skluzacek, Josh Schwarz, Zach Mikel, Zach Sexe, Udd Saemrow, Anthony Cambrone, Brad Davis, Evan Traxler; and 12th graders Kyle Hintz, Blake Ladek, Dominc D’Amato, Cade Readmond, and Issac Pint.

Page A12

Spring

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown spring sports underway CHELSEA DORVAL Staff Writer Waterville - Elysian has one major goal for the year and that is to defend their conference championship and make it further into playoffs.

“The conference race will be fun this season since we switched to two contest with every team,” head coach Crystal Lamont explained.

“I think the conference will be pretty balance with ourselves, New Richmond, Hartland, Ellendale, Geneva and Bethlehem Academy as favorites. Our section is very deep. There are numerous teams that could make a deep run during playoffs.”

The team will look to Trista Hering, pitcher, for continued success. The freshman impressed everyone last year as an eighth-grader and looks to become more consistent with her off-speed pitches.

“If she continues to learn and progress she will be tough to hit off,” Lamont said.

Maddy Meskan, catcher, will be another name to watch. Last year she was able to establish herself as one of the top players in the conference. She lead the team with the highest on base percentage and would have lead in runs if the team would not have put in a courtesy runner. Meskan was able to help Hearing to her success and feed off each other with what Lamont describes as “good chemistry.”

Hailie Tegmeier, center-

fielder, is one of the top hitters in the Mankato area and is a big plus for the offense.

“A threat to hit the outfield gap every at bat to get extra bases for our team and drive in runs,” Lamont said.

She lead the team in runs batted in, doubling everyone else on the team and is able to match her hitting ability

top hitters in the conference.

“The girls have been working hard this season despite being stuck inside. We return a good core of our team and it will be exciting to see how everything comes together,” Lamont said. “We should be strong offensively with everyone a threat in the line-up.”

The team is 6-5-0 on the

team in the long run. It’s an approach that also allows to enjoy each day’s successes and learns from each day’s mistakes,” Stier said.

The goals for the team are to win the conference and for every individual player to be all-conference, as they have in the past. The team and coaching staff however will

“‘Our focus is on each day and viewing the season as a whole process. We are working to build for playoffs and improve in individual areas each game. As we play our best in the roles we are given, we will see success as a team in the long run. It’s an approach that also allows to enjoy each day’s successes and learns from each day’s mistakes,’ Stier said.” with solid defense.

Other names to watch will be McKenzie Kuball, Haley Baker, Riley Luebben and Kate Masberg. Baker provides the team with solid defense and pairs well with Tegmeier to cover a great deal of ground in the outfield. Baker also led the team in sacrifice bunts. Luebben is a strong hitter and was second on the team with five doubles. After taking a year off, Masberg returns to pick up where she left off after being one of the

season with seven games left in the season.

The Buccaneers baseball team is also having success this season so far with a 7-2-0 record. The team has set the theme as “Embrace the Power,” Sam Stier said.

“Our focus is on each day and viewing the season as a whole process. We are working to build for playoffs and improve in individual areas each game. As we play our best in the roles we are given, we will see success as a

focus on the process and focus on improving each day.

There are five players that Stier will look to in order to help the programs success: Brody Boran, Taylor Glende, Dallas McBroom, Thomas Hiller and Will Storch. Boran recorded a .452 batting average with seven doubles, six triples 31 runs and 19 RBI’s while Glende had a .413 average with six doubles, two triples, 20 runs and 15 RBI’s.

McBroom pitched 46 innings and earned a 3.01 earned run

average with 53 strikeouts and a 6-2 record.

The Buccaneers will hope to see solid performances out of newcomers, Zac Olson, Bladyn Bartlet, Jayson Schneider, Michael Ungs, Jacob Meskan and Adam Rients.

Stier outlined the Maple River, United South Central and Kenyon-Wanamingo as games to watch. Waterville-Elysian has already recorded a 1-0 win over Maple River and a 13-2 win over Kenyon-Wanamingo with the remainder of the games to be played later in the season.

The school’s track and field team will have similar goals.

“Qualify more individuals for sections and state, and win a team conference championship,” head coach Mike Richards said.

They will look to Sammie Petry, Hattie Peach, Haley Androli, Aviana Swanson, MaeLea Harmon, Alexis Morsching, Toryn Richards and Kelsey Kuball as returners and Shelby Hermel, Addie Atherton, Morgan Nusbaum, Anne Doran as newcomers for the girl’s team.

For the boys, there are nine returners Richards hopes to get solid performances out of: Ben Beedle, Chris Byrne, Taylor Glende, Lewis Becker, Matt VanHoudt Jack Galler, Marco Geyer, Bo Minske and Jaden Taylor with only one newcomer, Tyson Voegele.

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2017

Page A13

Mankato East spring sports preview COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer The baseball team looks to bounce back after a rough 0-5 start and have gone 3-2 in their last five. The primary problem is the offense for the squad, scoring only eight runs in their first five games. They have since bounced back, racking up 38 runs in their last five games. While that is an impressive turn around, 35 of those runs came in three games; what this team really needs to find is consistency.

The weather has been rough for golf, leading to slow starts, and the boy’s team having yet to play. The girls team has gotten some time on the course, starting

Photo by SPX Sports wake. However, this is another team that has struggled

Photo by SPX Sports

the season off 1-4 this season. After some unfortunate blowouts to start the season, the girl’s golf team was able to tighten up and their stretch contained all close losses and a win.

Men’s lacrosse has had a tough go of it early, starting 0-5 this season and really struggling to put up goals and stifle the oppositions offense. The girl’s team has showed up in fairly dominate fashion, in contrast, winning five of their first seven. They have scored double-digit goals four times, only allowing double-digit goals twice.

Solid defense and consistent offense has never been a bad formula.

The softball ceiling is very high for this team, especially when you look at how dominate they have been in a few of these wins, starting out the season beating Red Wing 15-0 in only four innings.

They also beat Cotter 16-1 and Rochester John Marshall 11-3; all these games give the idea of a dominate softball team crushing teams in their

with consistency, starting out 5-4, with some confusing losses where their bats went silent. After putting up 29 runs in the opening two games, they only managed a modest eight in the following four. This team needs to find a rhythm, more than anything else.

Morgan Keim Wolfe and Torey Richards are number one and number two in school history for hits and runs scored. Both are also playing in the All-Star game at the end of the year, threetime All-Section players and all Big-9 players, and will also be attending Minnesota State Mankato to play softball. After the girl’s tennis squad went to the section semifinals in the fall, the tennis standard was set fairly

high for the spring. Unfortunately, the boy’s team has

been unable to get anything off the ground, currently sitting at 2-9.

“They have been unable to edge out wins in the close matches, losing six times by two or less this season,” said softball head coach Joseph Madson.

Mankato East track and filed head coach Jon Dierks had a lot to say about the spring season and what to look for headed into the season.

“We are looking to place in the top-three in Team State again this year, which is

MANKATO EAST PAGE A14

Photo by SPX Sports

Page A14

Spring

MANKATO EAST continued from A13

“‘Key returners include our 4x400 that were State Champions last year in Desmond Bassett, Roderick Miller, Jacob Baynes, and Isaiah Baynes. We are hoping they can repeat as State Champions and make a push at the 4x4 state record while also looking at winning the 4x200,’ Dierks said.” something we have done 11 of the last 15 years. Last year, we were third and the year before we were champs. We are also looking to be in the running for Big-9 Champs,”

26th). You could throw in True Team State as well and Individual Sections.

Stats Dierks pointed out 4x200--Ran 1:28.07 last year (needs to drop around

Photo by SPX Sports

Dierks said.

Dierks continued: “Key returners include our 4x400 that were State Champions last year in Desmond Bassett, Roderick Miller, Jacob Baynes, and Isaiah Baynes.

We are hoping they can repeat as State Champions and make a push at the 4x4 state record while also looking at winning the 4x200. Dominick Nussmeier should contribute greatly in the shot put and discus this year and be in the running for a state entrant spot in both. Ben Ziegler is going to score a lot of points this year in both hurdle races as well as High Jump and Triple Jump, and Ryan Hannegrefs will also contribute a lot in the High Jump, Long Jump, and Triple Jump. The distance squad doesn’t have any stand-outs, but around 10 quality runners competing for spots which makes the potential exciting.”

New members looking to make an impact include Freshman Muse Abdi in the jumps and hurdles and freshman Calvin Rykhus in the 400 and 800.

Key match-ups are True Team Sections (which is at Mankato East on May 9th) and the Big 9 Meet (which is at Mankato West on May

0.5 seconds to win it this year) 4x400--Ran 3:19.39 last year (needs to drop around

5 seconds to set the state record) High Jump--Ziegler (60.5), Hannegrefs (6-0) Triple Jump--Hannegrefs (42-4), Ziegler (40-3) Shot Put--Nussmeier (51-9) Discus--Nussmeier (140-6) As for the golf team, it was all optimism for the start of the season. Looking to improve on last year around a few key juniors and some promising incoming freshmen. The head coach Aaron Anderson offered up some insight into who, and what, to look for this year.

“Our goal for this season is to finish in the top half of the Big-9 Conference.

Our key returning players are Camryn Steinberg and Shoshana Bruner (both Juniors).

New players to the Varsity team that will have an impact are Abbie Page (10th), Katelyn Flatgard (9th), Emma Bastsin (9th), and Libby Alders (11th).

We host a home invite at North Links on May 13th against West, Marshall, New Ulm, St. Peter,” said Anderson.

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2017

Page A15

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton spring sports preview COLTON MOLESKY Staff Writer On the golf squad, the boy’s team has only hit the links once, taking a tight loss.

While it’s tough to decipher a lot from one game, it is a solid showing going down with a fight. The girls were not so fortunate in their one showing that was a blowout loss. Both teams are looking for some bounce-back performances as the weather warms up.

For softball, the going has been uneven, with a 3-6 mark on the year and the bats have been quiet for most of the young season. While they have scored double-digits twice, they also have scored two or less runs in four outings. The bats definitely need to come alive for this squad to find success.

Track and field is excited to get kick off, and the head coach Eric Kehoe had some comments heading into the season.

“We don’t do the workouts you want to do; we do the ones you need to do.

Each athlete sets their individual goals, which for the most part consists of an improved mark in one or two of their events. A few have goals to be conference champs, or make it to sections. As a team, our goal is always to work hard and improve throughout the season,” Kehoe said.

For the boys, it is Kaden Cameron (distance runner), Riley Clark (sprinter) and Andrew Larson (thrower). Kaden and Riley were both section qualifiers last year and continue to do well this year. Andrew Larson has made huge strides in his events and has gone from last year rarely scoring to usually placing 1st or 2nd this year. For the girls, Emma Johnson (distance) and Brielle Cords (hurdles and high jump) are both section qualifiers from last year.

They both are consistently scoring in their events this year as well.

For the boys, the addition of Braydon Johnson has been crucial, as he seems to be able to fill in competently at any distance they have tried him at so far this year. On the younger side, Christian Born and Ezekiel Peterson, both 7th graders, have shown potential for the future. On the girl’s side, we have Lauren Dimler and Mckenna Ziemke, both 7th graders. Lauren is already the top scorer, she consistently has been placing 1st or 2nd in the hurdles and often scores in the long jump

as well. Mckenna is fast on the track and also capable of scoring in the triple and high jump.

Kehoe commented on the meets to look forward to this season.

“We usually do well at the Faribault meet on May 4th.

Last year our girls won it.

Otherwise, we are hoping to get at least a couple All-Conference athletes at the May 16th meet. Subsections is always a fun meet where you never are sure of whose season is ending and who will be going on,” Kehoe said.

Photos by SPX Sports

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Page A16

Spring 2017

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SPRING 2017

Page B2

Spring

Domination name of game for Mankato Loyola spring sports CHELSEA DORVAL Staff Writer Mankato Loyola golf will aim to “just keep getting better everyday and have fun when we are doing it,” assistant coach Colt Ullom said.

“We have a good mix of both St. Clair and Loyola golfers that can contribute to both the boys and girls teams.”

With three key returning players for the boy’s team and five for the girls, Loyola looks to defend their Valley conference title again. They also have the goal to send a part of their team to state and continue to place high.

Noah Roe, a freshman at Loyola, had the lowest average during the season last year and has already gotten this season off to a solid start, being the low-scorer in many of the meets thus far. Nick Salzle, a senior from Loyola, who had his first year of high school golf last year and has made some major improvements to be an important part of the team. Finally, Darrek Brolsma, a junior from St. Clair High School, earns solid scores every time he goes out and is a reliable part of the team.

For the girls; Brooklyn Kunz, Bailee Weis, Emily Dummer, Maisey Auringer and Claire Orcutt will be the ones to watch. Orcutt had the lowest average for the girls team last year and made it to the second day of sections.

There are also some key

incoming players for both the boys and girls team. Ethan Case, a St. Clair sophomore, will have his first year playing golf after being a baseball player. Case has had some solid performances thus far and will continue to help the boys team be a strong competitor.

The girls will have three incomers to watch, Bailie Thom, a St. Clair junior, Annika Wick, a St. Clair eighth-grader and Hailey Embacher, a St. Clair senior. The girls team has already picked up a big win at the Rebel Invitational this year.

An important game to watch will be the match against Alden-Conger on May 19. The two teams consistently winning and usually end up within one or two strokes of each other.

The team, who is a co-op team that includes Mankato Loyola and St. Clair, will have 35 golfers from seventh through 12th grade.

“Get better every day,” head coach Rob Schroeder said about the theme for the year for the softball team.

The Mankato Loyola squad has started their 2017 season 2-2-0.

With three returners to watch the Crusaders look to be in the final four of their section this year. Rae Dose, senior shortstop, Kayla Gross, senior pitcher and third base, and Kenady Benning, senior pitcher, will be the ones to keep an eye on this year.

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terfielder and Zoey Weller, freshman catcher, will be new names to keep an eye out for as they get their season underway.

Schroeder highlighted three important games that fans should pay particular attention to. May 16 the Crusaders will play Martin County West and May 18 they face New Ulm Cathedral. Both match-ups will be sure to be a competitive paring.

The Mankato Loyola baseball team has managed to start their season off 8-0. The team hopes to be competitive and show up to every game, while also having fun and enjoying the game of baseball.

There were seven players to watch as mentioned by head coach Jeff Reese, who was the head coach at New Richmond-Har tland-Ellendale-Geneva High School for the previous 35 years. Seniors Luke Sellner, Sheldon Price, Tyler Cromwell and Braxton Matuska; juniors Maxx Sernett, Carter Fogal and Matthew Murray will be the boys to lead this squad in 2017.

Loyola will also have five incomers to pay attention to.

Senior, Colton Giefer, freshmen Nick Stoffer and Ben Ellingworth and eighth-grader Caleb Fogal will be the new additions to the roster Reese outlined.

In his first year at Loyola, Reese outlined a couple key match-ups that should have some exciting competition.

The first match-up mentioned

Photo by SPX Sports was against St. Clair on April 11, which Loyola won 3-2.

The two teams will play again May 13. The team also beat Janesville/Waldorf-Pemberton 3-1 as one of their games to watch. With upcoming games against Cleveland and ML-GHEC-Truman still to come, there is still a great deal of exciting competition left in the season.

The Mankato Loyola track and field team will look to build upon what they started last year. “With more veterans on the team, we are looking for them to be leaders and help us continue to be a stronger program,” head coach Dale Compton said.

There will be three key returners to keep an eye out for this upcoming season. David Ohene-Frimpong, a senior

sprinter, Landon Javens, junior, distance runner and Hunter Westman, junior jumper all look to improve upon their successes last season.

Ben Cahalan and Luke Mongomery, both junior sprinters, will be the key incomers the team will look at to help propel the team to a successful season.

“We want to be competitive when we get to the conference and sub-section meets,” Compton said.

The Crusaders will have 12 new boys out in the high school, 11 returning letter winners, and seven returning athletes from the Section 2A championship meet and three returning state participants.

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2017

Page B3

Maple River track and field, golf previews

RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer

The Lady Eagles took home first while the boy’s team finished fourth The Maple River Eagles had an impressive performance at the NRHEG Panther Invitational. The girl’s team absolutely dominated the competition while the boys had a slew of impressive individual performances.

Setting the tone early for the Lady Eagles was sprinter Madi Schirmer, who took first place in the 100-meter dash.

Schirmer ran to an easy victory (13.04) as her next closest opponent finished with a time of 14.64. Sarah Smith continued the roll for the sprinters in the 200-meter dash finishing second (29.44).

In the middle distance and distance races, Maple River placed a couple in the top three for the 800 meter run.

Victoria Barkosky finished second with a time of 2:44.44 and Macy Rennpferd took third (2:48.00). Taylor Doering had an impressive day finishing with two victories.

One in the mile and another in the two mile. Doering finished with times of 6:16.08 and 14:02.21 respectively.

The hurdles presented two names close to the top or at the top of the leaderboard in both races. In the 100-meter hurdles, Rachel Larson took first with a time of 18.82 while Lilly Majeski finished shortly after in third (20.32).

These two always swapped

Photo by SPX Sports places in the 300-meter hurdles however as Lilly Majeski finished second (56.77) and Rachel Larson took fourth (1:00.32).

The Lady Eagles took home first in every single relay race except for one.

They wound up victorious in the 4x100 (55.61), the 4x400 (4:40.28) and the 4x800 (11:12.00) while the 4x200 ended up getting away from Maple River.

In the field events, a familiar name was back to take her second and third victories of the day. Madi Schirmer finished first in both the girl’s high jump (5-3) and and the girl’s long jump (16-5.5).

Girl’s pole vault netted Maple River two victories. April Klecker and Tristyn Hoechst tied for first after impressive vaults of seven feet. The tie

for first helped the Lady Eagles secure first and not look back.

For the Eagles, Cole Moske got things started in the boy’s 200 meter dash finishing third with a time of 26.54. Stephen Dobie picked up the team’s first individual win in the 800-meter run.

Dobie finished with an impressive time of 2:10.38.

Noah Decker showed out in the hurdles. Decker secured first for the Eagles in the 110-meter hurdles (17.43) then managed to take second in the 300-meter hurdles (46.57).

The relays and a couple field events were a positive at this meet. The Eagles placed every relay team in the topthree, including a second place finish in the 4x100. In the pole vault, Cody Walters

earned a first place finish with a leap of 10-6. Dustin Stern threw the shot put 39-9 to help him take third.

The Lady Eagles are a team to watch going forward.

They are dangerous and have good a compliment of tracksters and field event specialists. The Eagles have improved all year and hope to do well and qualify for postseason meets.

The Maple River Eagles golf teams are in the middle of their 2017 season. The boys are hoping to push for a conference title and the girls are practicing to get better each and every day.

Both teams have had recent matches.

The Eagles boys’ golf team won the Blooming Prairie Invitational recently. The Blooming Prairie Invitational was

held at Blooming Prairie golf course. Pacing Maple River was Andrew Hoppe, who fired an impressive round of two-over par 74 to lead the team, while Mason Sohre was not far behind at all, shooting a four-over par 76. Following Sehre was Evan Klein (85) and Teien Murphy (94).

Medalist on the day was Tommy Braaten of Blooming Prairie. Braaten carded an even-par 72 and put the pressure on the competition throughout the day. Hoppe and Sohre finished second and third respectively.

Team results included Maple River finishing first (329) followed by Blooming Prairie (335) and Chatfield (344).

The Maple River Lady Eagles had to battle hurricane-like winds and cold weather in Freeborn, Minnesota earlier in the season.

Kate Larson paced the Lady Eagles, carding a 54, which is not bad at all considering the playing conditions presented to the players. Following Larson was Samantha Kunkel (66), Lauren Mass (74) and Taylor Schnoor (76) as the team shot a combined score of 353.

Medalist on the day was Blooming Prairie’s Taylor Christianson, who had the low round of 47.

Maple River looks to continue to grow off of these two performances and aim to improve and ultimately compete well at the conference and maybe even state tournaments.

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Page B4

Spring

New Ulm tennis, track and field teams determined

RAJ MANANDHAR Staff Writer

The New Ulm High School Track and Field team is feeling determined heading into the 2017 season.

Head coach Breanna Olson believes in one dream to complete the task at hand this season.

“You have to fight to reach your dream, it takes hard work and sacrifice”, Olson said.

Both the boy’s team and the girl’s team are ready to give it their all in this season’s track and field events. The goal for this year’s team as said by the coach is to place top-six in every event of their conference meet. They also want to take at least two events to the State Meet.

Moreover, they look forward in creating more depth in each event. The team feels that they can even gain more experience because of the addition of the new freshmen.

The group has many incoming freshmen who have great potential to contribute to the team.

“We are really looking forward to watching them grow and develop” said Olson.

For the girls, the roster in-

cludes three students from grade eight, 12 from grade nine, nine from grade ten, five from grade 11 and one from grade 12. Whereas for the boys, there are eight each from grade nine and ten, ten from grade 11 and 11

also sparked in the 3200 meters. The men’s team finished 4th with a team score of 83, whereas the women’s team were 2nd with a team score of 120 points.

Some key match-ups as mentioned by the coach for

“We don’t really have a theme per say, but since we are a co-op team working with two other schools in town [Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Cathedral], we are always trying to bring the group together as a unit,

“‘We don’t really have a theme per say, but since we are a co-op team working with two other schools in town [Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Cathedral], we are always trying to bring the group together as a unit, working to build a sort of group identity that values the various school mindsets’, said tennis head coach Peter Engledinger.” from grade 12. These young rosters are the future of the team and they can spark in the events from an early age.

Jordan Hillesheim will look forward to making an impact as he did in the Windom Meet’s 100-meter as well as 200-meter dash. Hannah Osbourne is also a competitor from the girl’s team as she

them include True Team on May 9, Big South Champion on May 13 and Sections on May 31 and June 2. Olson has faith with the young team and believes that they can do better this season. Not only that, these young potentials can also gain a lot of experience and can contribute even more soon.

working to build a sort of group identity that values the various school mindsets”, said tennis head coach Peter Engledinger.

Not only that, the coach also believes that improving the team’s playing technique and mental toughness is their main goal.

Some key returning play-

ers for the team includes Joel Koelpin, Andrew Goodall, Colton Collum, Kelby Stocker and Craig Schapekahm.

Among them, Andrew Goodall is from grade 11, Colton Collum from grade nine and the rest are from grade 12.

As a whole, the team consists more of senior players and not a lot of younger players.

“It will be interesting to see how things pan out,” says Engledinger. Apart from Andrew, Connor Drill is the other player of grade 11, otherwise the rest are all from grade 12.

They have added three new teams to their schedule; Faribault, Holy Family and Lac Qui Parle. Mankato East was a key matchup last year according to Engledinger, and he is sure that it will be again this season.

“We’ve been having a ton of fun playing on our new courts this year at our new high school in New Ulm - definitely a highlight. The courts are well-lighted also, so it’s fun to throw around the idea of a Friday night match up, or at least a practice under the lights”, said Engledinger.

2017

Page B5

Le Sueur-Henderson taking rebuilding path in 2017

RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer

The Le Sueur-Henderson Giants are putting themselves in prime position to be one of the under-the-radar teams moving in towards postseason play. The Giants boast a record of 6-3 (2-2) but unfortunately sit towards the bottom of their conference standings, thanks to a competitive conference this year where everyone seems to be playing solid baseball.

The Giants are on a roll as of late, racking up victories in four of their last five games thanks to solid pitching that has held opponents to three runs or less in three of those contests. The pitching staff is led by senior Cole Pengilly, who also leads the team in batting. The Gustavus Adolphus-commit earned run average is an astounding 1.50 while he is also batting .481.

Pitching was the name of the game once again for Le Sueur-Henderson’s most recent game against Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial. Pitcher Dawson Molter mowed down the Knights in the first three innings and carried a no-hitter into the fourth until the Knights

knocked a single out of the infield. The Giants got the bats going in the third and eventually scored a run, thanks to an error by the second baseman and a couple more after that thanks to selfless team baseball to extend the score to 3-0.

The game would get clos-

the conference standings to set up a successful postseason. The team will have no excuses at the end of the year as the Giants still have multiple games against conference foes remaining on the schedule. These games include the likes of Jordan, Sibley East and a date with

Sitting near the bottom of the conference at a record of 2-9, the Giants have kept the score close in most games but often have one bad inning that ends up costing them the contest. They are not far off from their competition at all and if they avoid the bad innings this team could very

“‘The goals going forward for this team is to get better every day in practice and play hard during every game we have,’ Lewis said.” er down the stretch, as the Giants led 4-2 in the final inning of play with the Knights up to bat. After slapping a double and drawing a walk putting the tying run on first, the Giants made a call to old reliable and brought in Cole Pengilly to close out the game. The next few batters went down in order and Le Sueur-Henderson prevailed 4-2 bringing them within a couple games off first place Belle Plaine.

Given this team has a lot of upperclassmen, there is no greater time than the present to make a move in

the number one overall team in class AA baseball, the Belle Plaine Tigers. Keep tabs on this team moving forward to see if they can navigate a difficult schedule over the final couple weeks.

The Le Sueur/Henderson high school softball team has not had the results they are looking for this season, but the future has many excited about this young ball club.

Head coach Anne Lewis was not shy when admitting what the theme was for this year’s team.

“Our team this year is rebuilding,” Lewis said.

well finding themselves winning more games than losing. When asked about the goals moving forward for this team, Lewis named a number of things.

“The goals going forward for this team is to get better every day in practice and play hard during every game we have,” Lewis said.

The Giants are a young roster that will learn how to win together with time. The inexperience of the group shows when the big inning for the opposition occurs.

Eliminating this bad inning is crucial for this young team’s

success. Incoming players and inexperienced players obviously play a huge role on this team, so Lewis was not shy about applauding her underclassmen.

“We have a lot of underclassmen and a very young team. We have so many underclassmen coming up I honestly cannot name only a couple. With these underclassmen, our future is really bright,” Lewis said.

Lewis was sure to not leave out experienced players that have laid the foundation for this young team’s future. So when asked about key returning players and potential leaders for the team, Lewis had a name pegged in her brain right away.

“Mikayla Reinhart is our returning first baseman. She is a senior and has been on varsity since eighth grade.

Along with showing great leadership and providing help to the underclassmen, Mikayla is an inspiration to them,” Lewis said.

Rebuilding is not always easy for a team to handle.

The Le Sueur-Henderson Giants softball team however is embracing the challenge and are looking forward to the future.

Page B6

Spring

Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s baseball, softball ready to repeat success COLT JOHNSON Staff Writer The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights returned six seniors and 10 letter winners from last year’s 22-5 team and expectations are high for this season.

After an extremely successful 2016 regular season, the Knights and head coach Wendy Owens couldn’t be more excited to get the 2017 season underway. The expectations are high for a team returning so many key seniors. Finishing second in their section last season has been on the mind of Owens and her players.

“We are looking forward to softball this season after finishing second in the Section and will have high expectations to be competitive in every game. We have girls who love to play softball and have put a lot of work in the offseason so we hope to be playing our best ball come playoff time,” Owens said.

With all the veteran leadership, Owens has a versatile team and lots of options to work with on offense and defense. The Knights are confident that they have the type of team that can win the section after coming up so close last season.

“We hope to use our speed and strength not only offensively but defensively as well. It will be fun to see what combination we are able to put together for a very successful season. The confer-

ence always proves to be tough, as does our section, but we have high hopes for the season,” Owens said.

The Knights have key returning players coming back all across the field. Top returning players like senior Anna Lux, and juniors, Jody Hansen and Ali Beltz are coming off spectacular 2016 seasons and will try to carry their success into this season.

Last season at the plate, Lux batted .482 with 40 hits, two doubles, four triples, three

this season, and they’ll have to watch out for teams gunning for them, according to Owens.

“I am sure that a lot of teams will look to St. Mary’s to be that team to beat this year as we return all but one player. The girls will have to learn how to play with a target on their back, and not ever overlooking any opponent at anytime,” Owens said.

According to the Minnesota State High School League, the Knights are 10-1-0. Their

8-8 in the conference, the Knights and head coach Bruce Woitas are excited to get back to baseball. Losing four players last year to injury hurt the team, but getting them back this season will create quality competition and depth for the Knights.

“We are excited about the team we bring back this year.

We will get back four players that were out-hurt last year and will help with our depth.

Players that we lost because of graduation will be missed,

“‘We just have kids that love to play the game of baseball and go out each day to get better as a player with the goal to make our team better.’ Woitas said.” homeruns, 31 runs and 32 RBI’s. On the circle, Lux had a 15-4 record and is a major contributor for the Knights.

Juniors Hansen and Beltz are also going to be looked to for their hot bats and defensive leadership. Hansen hit .527 with 48 hits, 8 doubles, 5 triples, four homeruns, scored 54 runs and 34 RBI’s at the shortstop position last year. Behind the plate calling pitches is Beltz, who batted .511 last season with 45 hits, five doubles, 4 triples, one homerun, 39 runs and 34 RBI’s.

After a successful 2016 season, the targets will be on the backs of the Knights.

Their veteran leadership will become extremely important

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lone loss so far came at home to New Ulm Cathedral in the third game of the season. Since then, they have an eight-game winning streak and have been tearing up every team on their schedule, 10-running nearly every opponent they faced.

Playoffs will be here before the Knights know it. It’s getting to the time where you need to start playing your best softball. Do the knights have enough gas in the tank to cross the finish line first?

The Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights baseball team hit the ground running to a 7-3-0 record midway through the season.

After a lack-luster 2016 season going 13-10-0 and

but we feel that we have capable athletes that will fill the void,” Woitas said.

The strength of the Knights is in the depth they can field with and their pitching. Woitas is confident that he has the athletes to fill in where key seniors have left.

“We just have kids that love to play the game of baseball and go out each day to get better as a player with the goal to make our team better.” Woitas said.

Leading the team with a .474 batting average is senior Caleb Berg. He’s added four doubles and a triple to his numbers and has knocked in seven RBI’s. Right behind him are seniors Sean Salfer hitting .400 with three doubles, one

homerun and 16 RBI’s and Nathan Schroepfer, batting .333 with two doubles and 14 runs scored and a .558 OBP. Seniors Nick Strate and Kyle Windschitl have been extremely successful on the mound so far. Strate leads the team in wins with a 3-0 record and a 2.58 ERA. Windschitl is right behind him in wins with a 2-1-0 record and two saves, but leads with a 1.22 ERA in 18 2/3 innings pitched.

The Knights’ season didn’t start exactly the way they hoped, losing three out of their first four straight. They won their season opener and then lost three straight, but since then they have turned their whole game around and won six straight. It was looking like it was going to be a rough season and then the Knights turned it up a notch.

One of the bright spots on the roster is freshman Nick Labat. The young-gun has seen the ball well in his 10 games played, hitting .318 with three doubles, eight runs and four RBI’s.

The Knights have been dominating all year and after a short rough skid early in the season, they’re in full form now. With 10 more games left in May, it will be all about cleaning up their game and getting ready for playoffs. The veteran leadership should come in handy during big situations this season and they will rely on their veteran leadership to pull through in clutch moments.

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2017

Page B7

St. James baseball, softball primed for 2017 challenges COREY YUMAN Staff Writer The St. James baseball team is hitting the field once again. The St. James Saints are going to be attempting to build off the momentum they started to gain as a team at the end of the year last season. The fellas started off their 2016 season with a 4-3 win over Redwood Valley.

The beginning of the season didn’t equate to a great start though as the Saints proceeded to drop nine games in-a-row. In three-consecutive outings, the Saints were only able to score a single run as they dropped the game 5-1 to Jackson County Central to snap their losing streak. The biggest losses of the streak came against Luverne in a double-header where Luverne picked up a 10-0 win and a 12-2 victory to sweep the Saints in the double-header.

Redwood Valley 4-1, before dropping a 9-2 loss to Blue Earth Area and a 15-2 loss to Windom Area.

The team’s most extensive winning streak was a brief four-game streak. The Saints got a 2-1 win over Sleepy Eye at home while getting their biggest win of the year over Mountain Lake Area Comfrey in an 8-1 win.

The winning streak slightly extended as the Saints entered the Delano Tournament. The Saints picked up consecutive 5-4 wins. The Saints opened the tourney against St. Anthony Villages to get the first win while they faced off against Waconia to get the second win before dropping the final tournament game to Delano in a 1-0 loss.

The boys got a chance at the Class AA - Section 2 Baseball tournament. The fellas opened up the tourney with a 4-0 win over Sibley East but

“The girls will be spending the remainder of the season fighting to complete a year over .500 to improve on their last season.”

Things started to change a little bit for the Saints towards the end of the season though. Starting with a 3-2 win over Maple River, the Saints would go on to win eight of their last 13 games of the year. They followed the victory with a win over

were trounced by Belle Plaine the following day, 11-0. The Saints managed to extend their season with 2-1 win over New Richland but shut the season down for the year after a 2-0 loss to Fairmont.

In 2017, the boys are off to a better star than they got

off to last year but are still working to find their footing.

The Saints got a 14-11 win in eight innings for the season opener against Sleepy Eye and followed it with a 7-3 win over Redwood Valley.

They dropped two games to Jackson County and St. Peter before bouncing back with a double-header win over Luverne on their home turf.

The guys dropped their following five on the year to stand at 4-6 on the season as of writing. With just about half of the season left, the Saints have a great chance of at least matching their record from last year if they continue to build.

This year’s team roster will consist of Kobe Mohwinkel, Jacob Brey, Max Svalland, Daniel Zavala, Brady Stevens, Chase Bottin, Odell Shupe, Ryan Witcraft, Sawyer Carr, Lucas Fredin, Shawn Hillesheim, Levi Sizer, Alex Goltz, Garrett Larson, and Riley Sandmeyer. Eight of these young men are seniors and will be trying to end their time as Saints on a positive note.

The St. James Saints softball team spent last year on the brink of a .500 record but came up just a few games shy. The Saints finished off the year with an 8-11 record while going 4-7 in the Big South Conference. The Saints opened up their year with a loss to Martin County West as they dropped the game 1410 in the what ended up being a tie for the teams highest

scoring affair of the year.

It was followed with the game that tied for most points in a game where St. James was able to come out on top this time around. St. James took on Blue Earth Area and came out with a 17-7 win. The game was the most points that St. James was able to score in a single game the entire year.

St. James dropped the following game in a low-scoring match up against Fairmont in a 2-1 loss. The Saints followed up with a 12-2 victory over Minnesota Valley Lutheran and ended up in a double-header against Luverne where they split games and then dropped both games in a double-header against Pipestone by a combined score of 22-2.

The biggest winning streak of the year was only three games in a row for the Saints and each one of the victories came by a narrow margin. The Saints won 8-6 over Windom, 9-8 over Maple River, and 7-5 over Madelia-Truman. They finished off the year with a 2-4 record.

St. James’ softball time in the Class AA - Section 3 Softball Tournament was a shortlived outing. They played against Windom Area in the opening round but were trounced in six innings. The Windom Area Eagles got the victory, allowing one run to gain a 13-1 win.

There is a great chance the Saints will be able to build a better record this

time around. So far into the season, they are 6-7 which is slightly better than where they were at one year ago.

In contrast to last year, they opened the year with a 10-4 loss over Martin County West before picking up back-toback wins. The first win of the 2017 season came against Madelia-Truman in a narrow 11-10 win while they defeated Nicollet in a 14-7 affair. The Saints went on a slump, dropping their next four games, including a 7-0 loss to Fairmont and a 10-0 loss to Luverne.

St. James ended their losing streak in the double-header against Luverne when they came up with a 9-5 win before defeating Redwood Valley 12-2 in backto-back games in a double-header. Most recently, the Saints were swept in a double-header against Jackson County Central with JCC getting 4-3 and 6-2 wins.

Ranked at 47, the Saints are sitting on a QRF rating of 41.8. The girls will be spending the remainder of the season fighting to complete a year over .500 to improve on their last season.

The girl’s roster consists of 10th graders Renata Hernandez and Danielle Chapin; 11th graders Callie Coleman, Hannah Zalazar, Brooklyn Mickelson, Kayla Hanson, Jaydyn Anderson, and Bariah Nelson; and seniors Nora Schmidt, Maddie Foss, and Marne Skarpohl.

Page B8

Spring

St. Peter baseball, softball on brink of success

RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer

The St. Peter Saints baseball team are in as good as position as anyone right now and are looking to make a push to the end. Sitting in the top half of the conference standings, the Saints boast an impressive 7-5 record to go along with their 4-4 record in conference play.

Because they are three games behind conference-leader Jackson County Central with over half of the season done, do not look for this team to be atop the Big South standings come season’s end but do expect this team to do some damage in the postseason that could include knocking off a few higher-seeded teams.

This team has the experience and the capability to take the playoffs by storm. The

Photo by SPX Sports Saints are a senior-led team and they have been hitting their stride as of late, racking

Photo by SPX Sports

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er Jake Hess but the Saints still managed to get ten hits.

Seven runs on ten hits against the opposing ace and most would think you have won the game. That was not the case in this one, however, as

“St. Peter now moves to 6-4 on the season and has put together a couple of nice victories in a row now to build off of.”

St. Peter committed a multitude of errors allowing Tiger baserunners to cross home.

Allowing this game to essentially slide through their finger-tips, the Saints came out with a vengeance in game number two.

sistency and keep improving as we grow nearer to postseason play. On May 2, the

ST. PETER PAGE B9

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up victories over St. James, Blue Earth and Tri-City United while splitting games with Marshall and Fairmont, both conference opponents. St. Peter played the top-overall team in the state, Belle Plaine, early in the season and gave the Tigers a run for their money on a game that ended early due to weather.

Belle Plaine knocked off the Saints 3-1 in eight innings.

St. Peter’s most recent games came on April 28 when the team faced off against conference-foe Marshall. The Tigers came into the matchup with a record of 4-4 (3-2) while the Saints presented a record of 6-4 (3-3).

Marshall defeated St. Peter in the first game, 9-7. The Tigers threw their ace pitch-

A vengeance in the field that is. After allowing multiple runs due to errors in the previous game, the Saints patched up the defense and raised their pitching performance. There was only one problem though, the first game the Saints hit the ball like there was no tomorrow and now in game two, the bats went silent.

Behind stellar pitching, St. Peter was able to hang on late and secure the win.

The talk in the area after the double-header is if the Saints can put together a complete game where they are hitting, pitching and fielding well, this team will be extremely dangerous come postseason time. There is no better time than now for a team who has won six of their past eight games heading down the stretch.

St. Peter has been nothing short of consistent this season. At 5-4, the Saints are looking to continue their con-

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2017

Page B9

ST. PETER continued from B8

“The talk in the area after the double-header is if the Saints can put together a complete game where they are hitting, pitching and fielding well, this team will be extremely dangerous come postseason time. “ Saints traveled south to Fairmont as the 9-1 conference leading Fairmont Cardinals were waiting for the Saints.

The game started off as a pitcher’s duel. Both teams struggled out of the gates to get their bats going and the

Kennedy came through for the Saints, slapping a single through the infield scoring teammate Kaitlyn Brey.

Things were quiet again until the Saints scored two in the sixth compliments to pinch runner Taylor McCarthy

Photo by SPX Sports

score going into the fourth inning was 0-0. Not for long however as senior Hailey

and a sacrifice fly by Hailey Kennedy. In a hole down 3-0, the Cardinals responded in

the bottom of the sixth bringing three across to score and ultimately tying the game at 3-3. This is where things were just starting to get interesting. Extra innings were starting and the pitchers were ready to put on a show.

No team scored the next eight innings until St. Peter came up to bat in the top half of the 15th inning. The Saints once again pulled ahead when senior Hailey Kennedy got the inning started with a single. Pinch runner Taylor McCarthy eventually scored when teammate Kaya Oeltjenbruns grounded out to the shortstop. After the top half of the inning was over and St. Peter thought they may just have the game in hand, Fairmont once again tied the game in the bottom half of the 15th. The score heading into the 16th then was knotted at four.

The 16th is where St. Peter’s bats came alive. Bringing two runs across in the inning, the Saints got their rally started with a Goebel and Schuenman walk followed by a ground out that scored Goebel. Again Kennedy came up clutch for the Saints as she singled putting Schueneman in prime scoring position. The next pitch,

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there was an error in the field allowing Schueneman to score. The score after the runs was 6-4 and that would be the count the game ended at.

Previously ranked sixth in

son. St. Peter now moves to 6-4 on the season and has put together a couple of nice victories in a row now to build off of. It will be interesting to see if the Saints maintain this level of play because if

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Page B10

Spring

Tri-City United softball looking for improvement in conference COREY YUMAN Staff Writer The Tri-City United Titan softball team is coming off a losing season in 2016 and are in the midst of having a year that could improve on last year. TCU finished 2016 with a 7-13-1 record while holding their own at home with a 4-4 record, but dropping down to 2-8 when they’re on the road. They finished with a 4-8 record in the Minnesota River Conference.

TCU opened their 2016 year with a 7-6 loss over Norwood-Young America, but bounced back by going three wins straight including a 10-0 win over Mayer Luther-

an, 11-5 win over Medford, and an 8-3 win over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. The Win over HLWW was in the Watertown-Mayer Tournament and while they got the win in the opening game, they dropped a contest 11-1 to Watertown-Mayer.

The Titan’s weren’t able to build off the 3-1 start that they had for themselves after that loss, but they did defeat Sibley East 11-1 before finishing off the year of their year with a 3-11-1 record.

They dropped four in-a-row to Belle Plaine, St. Peter, Le Sueur-Henderson, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, and Mayer Lutheran. The biggest

of the losses was against Le Sueur-Henderson 14-0 and would go down as their second biggest loss of the regular season.

TCU halted the losing streak with a 7-5 win over Waseca but then dropped a 12-3 game to Mankato Loyola in the opening round of the Maple River Invite. The tie for TCU came in this invite when they faced off against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial and finished the game 2-2 in just four innings.

A brief winning stint came back around with another win over Sibley East and an avenged win over Belle Plaine. The Titans proceeded

to drop their final five games including a 10-0 loss to Le Sueur-Henderson, a 12-1 loss to Jordan, and an 18-2 loss to Norwood-Young America, the biggest loss of TCU’s season. They were eliminated from the Class AA - Section 2 Softball Tournament when they were beaten 6-3 by Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial.

2017 has seemingly been treating the Titans better, at least this far into the season.

After dropping their first two games to Mayer Lutheran (10-9) and Norwood-Young America (12-4) the Titans proceeded to win five of their next seven. They swept the Watertown-Mayer tour-

nament with a 4-3 win over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and an 8-2 win over Watertown-Mayer. Their biggest victory happened in their, as of writing, most recent outing against Waseca where TCU picked up a 11-3 win.

TCU is sitting on a 5-4 record at this point in the 2017 season while not having a single win at home at 0-3 but holding onto an away record of 4-1. Their conference record isn’t looking to be getting any better than last year’s with a current standing of 1-3 in the Minnesota River Conference. TCU is currently ranked 43rd with a QRF rating of 44.7.

Blue Earth baseball: ‘consistency is key’

COLT JOHNSON Staff Writer

It’s been a very up-anddown season for the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers and with most of May left on the schedule, they’re in good position to make a late push.

The Buccaneers boy’s baseball team is 3-4-0 in their first six games, according to the Minnesota State High School League. At the helm is head coach, Todd Schmidtke, who is in his fourth year at the position. Leading the way for the Buccaneers this season are senior captains Kaylan Legred, Dalton Potter and junior Karson Legred.

Much like a rollercoaster, the Buccaneer’s season has had its high points and its low. Their first game of the season went as good as any coach or team could hope.

They posted a crooked number and won 9-3 against Martin County West. It was a very successful game one of the season, but it didn’t last long.

The Buccaneers would lose their next two games. The first loss was against Worthington, 13-3 then they were shut out by New Ulm, 8-0 just a few days after.

After a short two-game rough patch the Blue Earth ball club was able to bounce back and win their next two

straight on the road. They breezed by Fairmont 7-1 at Fairmont High School and then stole a home game away from United South Central in a nail-biter, 4-3. With a two-game wining streak under their belt, the Buccaneers were at the top of the rollercoaster once again.

The next two games were at home for Blue Earth. Game one was against the 6-3 MLGHEC-Truman Jaguars. The Buccaneers fell to the Jaguars 5-2 and dropped their record back down to .500. Inconsistency has plagued the Bucs who were set to face New Ulm who beat them 8-0 at the beginning of the sea-

son. New Ulm was 7-0 coming into their home game against the Buccaneers and it didn’t end well for the Bucs.

The final score was 8-1 and New Ulm stayed undefeated as Blue Earth saw its fourth defeat of the season.

Less than halfway through the season, there are worse positions to be in. With a 3-4 record and 10 more games in the month of May, the Bucs have plenty of time to turn the season around and end on a high note. Eight out of the next 10 are conference games for Blue Earth, so it will be important to take as my games as possible and make their way up the standings. If

they can become more consistent in their play, then the Buccaneers should be able to win a few extra games and at least make some noise in the Big South Conference tournament.

2017

Page B11

St. Peter golf remains resilient The Saints’ tennis team also is surprising teams during the 2017 spring season.

RYAN SJOBERG Staff Writer The St. Peter Saints have a couple of good golfers and golf teams this year. Unlike the weather, consistency is key in golf. If the Saints want to make a run at their respective conferences, finding consistency on the course will play pivotal.

The Lady Saints are coming off a recent second-place finish at their own St. Peter Invite. The Invite was played at Shoreland Country Club and the weather was better than in most of the other matches played this year.

To get things going for the St. Peter Saints was medalist and overall winner Anna Amos. Amos fired a career-best 76 and helped secure second for the Lady Saints. Following Amos was Miranda Bresnahan who shot a 92, Amelia Wernsing (100), and Kennady Legg (102).

Earning individual awards for the Saints was Amos and Bresnahan, as they both finished in the top eight. Amos first and Bresnahan eighth, respectively. The Saints are performing well this year and will next travel to Fairmont on Saturday for the Fairmont Invitational.

On the boy’s side of things, the Saints are coming off an impressive victory at the St.

Peter Invite which featured two golfers shoot scores in the 70’s. This invitational was also played at Shoreland Country Club and featured

top eight. Given the Saints have not had two golfers score in the 70’s in the same round for a long time, this is a big deal in the high school

which they would be losing 12 seniors after the season.

With two starters back from a year ago, here we are, one year later, with brand new, ea-

“To get things going for the St. Peter Saints was medalist and overall winner Anna Amos. Amos fired a career-best 76 and helped secure second for the Lady Saints. Following Amos was Miranda Bresnahan who shot a 92, Amelia Wernsing (100), and Kennady Legg (102). “

cool temperatures but dry conditions.

Carter Doose chipped his way to victory as he won medalist honors with a score of 73, good enough for fourover par. Joey Wenner meanwhile shot a nine-over par 78 which was good enough for third. Next in order were Kendall Nicolai (86) and Reid Reicks (88).

Doose and Wenner both earned individual awards as they both finished inside the

golf world in St. Peter.

The Saints will next play against some bigger AAA schools at Northfield on Thursday, May 4.

For fifth year head coach Aaron Rothenberger, it was not difficult to figure out that this year would be one of rebuilding for the tennis team.

The Saints are coming off a wildly successful 2016 season. One in which they finished runner-up in the Section 1A finals but also one in

ger players aiming to find the success of last year’s team.

If there is one thing the Saints have been seeing throughout the season, it is steady improvement. St. Peter is now on a two-match winning streak dating back to April 27. The first of those two wins came against Big South Conference foe Waseca at Gustavus Adolphus College.

St. Peter’s number one and two single players Rafat So-

laiman and Drew Elofson did not drop a game during their matches, both winning 6-0 decisively. Other matches for the Saints went a little bit longer as a couple tennis players took three sets to receive their W. After this meet, St. Peter improved to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big South Conference, leaving many to wonder if this is really a true rebuild after all.

The second of the two straight wins was a blowout, Big-South Conference win over Blue Earth on May 2nd.

The Saints dropped only ten games in six matches as they cruised, posting a final match score of 6-1. Many of the players did not lose a game while others only lost one or two on their way to securing match point wins.

After this victory, St. Peter has positioned themselves towards the top of the Big South Conference standings.

The Saints could find themselves winning the conference during a year in which everyone thought the team could be rebuilding.

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Page B12

Spring

Young Blue Jays team hoping to turn around season The Waseca softball team has lost their first seven games to start the young season.

COREY YUMAN Staff Writer The Waseca Blue Jays softball team is struggling to find their ground in the 2017 season. The girls are sitting on a mere 0-7 record this year as they continue to try to gain some ground and at least match where they reached as a squad last year.

“We are defining what success means to us. We are a very young team and making the routing plays and fundamental softball will be key for our season; playing smart and playing clean. Our team has shown improvement in practice and they continue to work hard. I think that their dedication and focus during the spring will be essential for our success,” said Head Coach Melissa Cox. The 2016 season saw the girls struggle to start the season as well, but they eventually had the ship righted. The girls dropped their first five games of the season, scoring only eight combined points while their opponents combined for 38. The girls were able to get their first victory of the year in a home game

against New Ulm where they came out on top, 8-7.

The Blue Jays’ best stretch of the year came mid-through the season when they won four of their five outings. They came up with their biggest win of the season over Blue

tion 2 Softball Tournament, the girls matched up against Mankato East in the first round. Mankato East was able to easily handle the girls with an 8-0 win and the second round matchup against Marshall didn’t go any better.

Priebe, MaKenna Tramp, Jenna Butterfield, and Madison Olsen all graduated.

“The seniors that graduated have been a part of the program for several years and had multiple years of experience at the varsity level. They

“‘We are defining what success means to us. We are a very young team and making the routing plays and fundamental softball will be key for our season; playing smart and playing clean. Our team has shown improvement in practice and they continue to work hard. I think that their dedication and focus during the spring will be essential for our success,’ said Head Coach Melissa Cox.”

Earth Area in a 14-1 affair and wrapped up the five-game stint with a double-header against Worthington. The girls won the first match up 11-0 and picked up a 17-7 win to follow and complete the sweep on the day. The Blue Jays dropped their final four games.

In the Class AAA - Sec-

Marshall picked up the 6-2 win and eliminated the Blue Jays from postseason contention.

With the season ending, the Blue Jays lost an extensive amount of seniors. Seniors Natalie Shifflett, McKenzie Linnihan, Michaela Groll, Maddy Knoll, MacKenzie Hayes, Anna Hoehn, Madi

were a power-hitting team which gave us an advantage at the plate,” said Cox. The girls are going to be looking to rebuild under the leadership of Emily Breck and Breanna Felske.

“Emily Breck will be an integral part of our infield, at the plate, and leadership.

She has played varsity for two

years and has experience as an infielder. Her experience and leadership will be an advantage because our team is very young. Breanna Felske will be important to us for her positive attitude and leadership,” said Cox. Not only does Cox see talent in these two young girls, but she sees talent in a lot of the team. While the record may not indicate a great team, the Blue Jays are filled with great young talent that can develop and blossom into great teams. Hard times create the greatest players, after all.

“I think an under-rated player is Breanna Karsten.

Breanna Karsten’s speed will be an asset both in the outfield and on the bases. Upand-coming players are Rachel Breck, Amia Broughton, and Michaela Shifflett. Rachel is a freshman and has shown a lot of promise at first base.

Amia’s quickness will be an asset in the infield and the bases. Michaela Shifflett will debut as our primary pitcher as a sophomore. She has put in a lot of time in the off-season and at practice this year,” said Cox.

2017

Page B13

Waseca baseball slowly getting back to winning ways The Blue Jays experienced tough times last season with their stadium burning down.

COREY YUMAN Staff Writer It’s been a rough season on the diamond in Waseca.

Just over a year ago, the historic Waseca Baseball Field was set on fire and the was lost in all of its entirety. While the rebuilding has happened overnight, the residents of the city are still hoping to see the grandstand return. It was a part of the society for 90 years and the community is still reeling from the loss even a year later. The community is hopeful that one day they’ll see it again and donations are open to those that have it to spare to help.

With that being said, the baseball season has to go on and the Waseca Bluejays baseball team has been hitting the diamond once again.

The team has struggled so far into the season but on the bright side, the team is able to play in Waseca after having to deal with being bounced around to accommodate the team after the fire last year.

The 2016 season got off to a rough patch without the fire, as the Bluejays dropped their first five games. They

opened the year against Le Sueur-Henderson in a 15-7 loss, narrowly dropping a 1110 game to Marshall before

seven of nine of their wins on the entire season. Waseca got a 7-4 win over Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, a 7-0 win

fashion.

The fellas got to compete in the Class AAA-Section 2 Baseball tournament. They

“While the rebuilding has happened overnight, the residents of the city are still hoping to see the grandstand return. It was a part of the society for 90 years and the community is still reeling from the loss even a year later. The community is hopeful that one day they’ll see it again and donations are open to those that have it to spare to help.” dropping a 23-0 blowout in the second game of the double-header.

The team didn’t get their first win of the year until the first game after the fire at Tink Field. In a matchup against New Ulm, the Bluejays picked up their first win, edging a narrow 1-0 victory over the Eagles. The team went on a hot streak in the season and won a total of seven games in a row, which accounted for

over Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, a 3-2 victory over Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton, a 10-2 victory over St. Peter, and an 8-3 win over Jordan as the winning streak came to a halt.

The team then slumped back into losing times, dropping seven of the team’s last eight outings of the year. The team struggled to find any sort of scoring as four of the seven losses came in shutout

opened up the tournament in a game against Mankato East, which they ended up dropping 4-2. Later in the night, the Bluejays matched up against Faribault where they were able to dominate and show off some of that skill they did in the winning streak. Waseca worked their way to a 14-4 win to survive and live another day to fight.

In the final outing of the year, the boys took on Worth-

ington but were not able to come up with a win. Worthington ended Waseca’s year after a 5-2 victory.

So far into the year, the Bluejays are holding firm to just a 1-7 record this far into the year. The sole win came against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial as they held it down at home to pick up a 3-1 win. The team has only scored three runs in two other of their games this year but has been hovering around averaging two runs a game.

The Bluejays opened the year with a 7-3 loss against Faribault before dropping a double-header to Marshall by scores of 5-2 and 5-3. A fourth consecutive lost to Le Sueur-Henderson happened with Le Sueur-Henderson getting a 5-0 shutout before the Bluejays finally got their first win against Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial.

The team’s two biggest losses came on back-to-back nights with New Ulm getting a 13-2 win and Mankato East finishing the job in five innings and winning 12-2. The team is ranked at 61st and holding onto a QRF rating of 17.3.

Page B14

Spring

Mankato West lacrosse setting the bar in Mankato area CHELSEA DORVAL Staff Writer With four returning players, the Mankato West boy’s lacrosse team will make an attempt to “sweep the shed.”

Being the theme for the first year head coach, Jamie Kunst’s goal is to have the team focus on accountability and putting the team first.

The term focuses on the player’s ability to ask what they can do for the team instead of what the team can do for them.

“Our goal is to leave the

program in a better place then when we arrive,” Kunst said. “Success on the field is a byproduct of higher priorities. What a change in commitment, accountability, and a selfless team first approach, success on the field will come.”

The Scarlets have started their season 0-5 but hope to improve and finish the season with at least two wins.

“We do strive to win more than two games this year. In our inaugural year, we were highly competitive in nearly all the games and pulled

Photo by SPX Sports

off two surprise wins,” Kunst mentioned.

Will Robinson, Hunter Snell, Tyler Lageson and Noah Lacina are four names to keep an eye on for the lacrosse season. Snell, one of the eight returning seniors, lead the team last year with the most points while Kunst describes fellow senior and midfielder Lageson as “gritty and a hard nosed midfielder.”

He goes on to say that Lacina is a senior attackman “who is not afraid of the dirty sports on the field and the contact.”

The team, which co-ops with Kato Public Charter School, Mankato East High School and Mankato Loyola High School, has added a group of younger athletes to the roster to watch. With 12 sophomores and two freshman additions, the Scarlets hope to build the team to a competitive and successful team.

2017 marks the second season for the lacrosse team.

The team went 2-11 in their inaugural season, however, they will have a much younger squad on the field and hope to eclipse two wins. After losing their top-scorer and key contributor, Chase Kunst, to Minnesota State, Mankato Men’s MCLA Team, Kunst hopes that the increased presence of youth lacrosse in the Mankato community will show in the younger players.

10 of the team’s 12 games are against fellow Big 9 teams.

They opened their season with a 17-3 loss to Shakop-

ee, and Kunst’s former goalie when the pair played at Minnesota State in the late 90’s.

Langeson posted two goals in the game with the third coming from fellow senior, Snell. The Scarlet’s went on to take a 15-2 loss to Rochester Century with both goals coming from seniors Langeson and Lacina. Lageson went on to score two more in the 5-4 loss to Rochester Mayo High School while the other two came from sophomore Andrew Steiert.

Confidence will be the Mankato West girls’ lacrosse teams theme for the 2017 season. The Scarlets will begin their second year in the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) after finishing their first season 10-11.

“We need to remain confident in our abilities and vigilant in our overall goal of continuing to improve every game and every practice,” head coach Sean Sietten

said.

One thing that will help out this season will be the quantity of returning players. Offensive players Shelby Lund, Ireland Olson, and on defense, Hanna Hels, Elizabeth Peller, Sydeny Morales, goalie Jordan Romnes, Maddie Distad, Josie Marben, Claire Johnson and Taylor Kanstrup will all be on the roster for 2017. Lund put up 28 goals and earned an All-Big 9 Conference Award for her performance in the team’s inaugural year while Olson contributed 17 goals and three assists, also earning an All Big 9 Conference Award. Helms put up 10 goals and three assists.

In addition to the returning players, there will also be some names to watch as the season progresses. Jayde Whealan, Kaylie Voight, and

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2017

Page B15

WEST LACROSSE continued from B14 are against fellow Big 9 teams. They opened their season with a 17-3 loss to Shakopee, and Kunst’s former goalie when the pair played at Minnesota State in the late 90’s. Langeson posted two goals in the game with the third coming from fellow senior, Snell. The Scarlet’s went on to take a 15-2 loss to Rochester Century with both goals coming from seniors Langeson and Lacina. Lageson went on to score two more in the 5-4 loss to Rochester Mayo High School while the other two came from sophomore Andrew Steiert.

Confidence will be the Mankato West girls’ lacrosse teams theme for the 2017 season. The Scarlets will begin their second year in the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) after finishing their first season 10-11.

“We need to remain confident in our abilities and WE’D LIKE TO GIVE A

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vigilant in our overall goal of continuing to improve every game and every practice,” head coach Sean Sietten said.

One thing that will help out this season will be the quantity of returning players. Offensive players Shelby Lund, Ireland Olson, and on defense, Hanna Hels, Elizabeth Peller, Sydeny Morales, goalie Jordan Romnes, Maddie Distad, Josie Marben, Claire Johnson and Taylor Kanstrup will all be on the roster for 2017. Lund put up 28 goals and earned an All-Big 9 Conference Award for her performance in the team’s inaugural year while Olson contributed 17 goals and three assists, also earning an All Big 9 Conference Award. Helms put up 10 goals and three assists.

In addition to the returning players, there will also be some names to watch as the season progresses. Jayde Whealan, Kaylie Voight, and

Bailey Kanstrup have all been added to the varsity squad this year.

The team has already gotten off to a solid start with a 5-2 record so far on the season. They started their season off with an impressive 18-5 win over Rochester Mayo High School with junior midfielder Lund picking up a season-high seven goals and two assists while senior Olson and fellow senior Taylor Kanstrup contributed three goals each. Lund has totaled 22 goals so far on the season while Olsen has posted 11 and Helms has helped out with 9.

“It’s pretty clear to see that the sport of lacrosse is rapidly growing in Mankato, and hopefully we can continue to grow the popularity of the sport with female athletes, particularly at the youth association level,” Sietten said.

Sietten suggested that fans pay attention to two im-

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Photo by SPX Sports portant match-ups during the season. The games against Owatonna and Northfield will be ones to watch.

“They are two of the top teams in our conference and section,” he said. “They will be very important games to test our abilities and competitiveness against some pretty good teams.”

With two of these games already recorded, the team looks to improve in the second game against each team in a few weeks.

The first of the four games to watch was the April 25 match-up against Owatonna, which the Scarlet’s fell 15-7 to the Sabers.

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Page B16

Spring 2017