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Lee Larson
Westby receives NSAA honor
Aug. 25
Stacey (Schuller) Westby has been named the first Setter of the
Week of the season in the North Star Athletic Association.
A 5-foot-7 senior and 2010 Jackson County Central graduate,
Stacey led the Trojans to a 2-1 record at a tournament in Cedar
It's the first time since 2006 that Dakota State had started its
season with a 2-1 record.
She had a total of 66 set assists in the tournament, averaging
6.0 assists per set. Stacey is within 37 assists of the Dakota State
school record for career assists.
Westby added 26 digs (2.4 digs per set), four service aces, four
kills and a solo block and was named to the all-tournament team.
The Trojans play their first home match of the season Wednesday, hosting
Morningside College.
Dakota State then plays four matches next weekend at the Corn
Palace Tournament in Mitchell, S.D.
At 7 p.m. Friday, the Trojans will face host a Dakota Wesleyan
team that also features a JCC grad as its setter and is coached by a
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield grad.
Michelle Van Epps, a 2013 JCC graduate, is a 5-8 sophomore at
Wesleyan after playing her freshman season at Iowa Lakes Community
Van Epps had 54 assists for the Tigers Saturday as they traveled
to North Dakota and recorded a 3-1 win over Dickinson State. She
also had seven digs.
Lindsay (Voss) Wilber, a 1996 HLOL grad, is in her first season
as head coach at Dakota
Other teams in the tournament are Dickinson State, Valley City
State and Johnson & Wales.
Here are some other JCC
grads I know of that are playing or coaching volleyball this fall:
Whitney Burmeister is a
junior at Southwest Minnesota State. The Mustangs are ranked
seventh in the preseason Division II poll. They open at the
Concordia (St. Paul) tourney Sept. 5.
Sydnee Donnelli is a
sophomore at Buena Vista University. The Beavers go to St. Louis
for the Washington University tournament this weekend.
Kenna Bannister is a
freshman at Rochester Community and Technical College. The
Yellowjackets went 4-0 at a tournament in the Wisconsin Dells
last weekend. Rochester plays twice this weekend and plays
Minnesota West in Worthington on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Megan Bezdicek is the
head coach at Iowa Lakes Community College. The Lakers are off
to a 2-0 start, beating NIACC and Dakota County. The Lakers host
the Northwestern JV Tuesday.
Ashley Kruse is the head
coach at North Union High School. The Warriors open at home
Tuesday in Armstrong vs. North Iowa.
Are there others? There's apparently at least one more JCC grad
playing volleyball. but some schools don't have an updated roster on
their website. If you know of any others, feel free to let me know
emailing me or send me a message on Twitter @sportsdr44.
That goes for Martin County West grads as well.
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
MCW first in Class A boys cross country ratings
Aug. 9
Martin County West is rated first in the preseason Class A boys
ratings by the Minnesota
Cross Country
Coaches Association released Friday.
The Mavericks placed fifth in the state meet last year and all seven
Mavericks who ran in Northfield are back.
Among them is senior Jonah Mayo, who is eighth in the individual
ratings. He was 15th overall at the state meet last year.
Other seniors back for MCW are Dylan Brockman, Matthew
Viesselman, Chris Kahler and Nick Holm. Also running at last year's
state meet were Joshua Bjerken (now a sophomore) and freshman Ramon
Defending state champion Perham is second in the team ratings.
The Yellowjackets have won the state title four of the last eight
Section 2A rival Waseca is ranked third, with the Bluejays'
Shane Streich the
top-ranked individual. Streich was second in the state meet last
Martin County West opens its season Wednesday, Aug. 27 at Mountain
Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd leads the Class A girls team
ratings. Big South Conference teams Waseca and Luverne rated third
and eighth, respectively.
Mary Naas of Saint Paul Academy & Summit leads the Class A girls
individual rankings. Luverne's Madison Schandelmeier is fourth and
Kayla Huhnerkoch of Redwood Valley is seventh. Rachel Salentiny of
Southwestern United is ninth.
Marshall of the Big South Conference is fourth in the Class AA girls
team ratings.
For the complete cross country ratings,
click here.
Westby receives NSAA honor
Aug. 25
Stacey (Schuller) Westby has been named the first Setter of the
Week of the season in the North Star Athletic Association.
A 5-foot-7 senior and 2010 Jackson County Central graduate,
Stacey led the Trojans to a 2-1 record at a tournament in Cedar
It's the first time since 2006 that Dakota State had started its
season with a 2-1 record.
She had a total of 66 set assists in the tournament, averaging
6.0 assists per set. Stacey is within 37 assists of the Dakota State
school record for career assists.
Westby added 26 digs (2.4 digs per set), four service aces, four
kills and a solo block and was named to the all-tournament team.
The Trojans play their first home match of the season Wednesday, hosting
Morningside College.
Dakota State then plays four matches next weekend at the Corn
Palace Tournament in Mitchell, S.D.
At 7 p.m. Friday, the Trojans will face host a Dakota Wesleyan
team that also features a JCC grad as its setter and is coached by a
Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield grad.
Michelle Van Epps, a 2013 JCC graduate, is a 5-8 sophomore at
Wesleyan after playing her freshman season at Iowa Lakes Community
Van Epps had 54 assists for the Tigers Saturday as they traveled
to North Dakota and recorded a 3-1 win over Dickinson State. She
also had seven digs.
Lindsay (Voss) Wilber, a 1996 HLOL grad, is in her first season
as head coach at Dakota
Other teams in the tournament are Dickinson State, Valley City
State and Johnson & Wales.
Here are some other JCC
grads I know of that are playing or coaching volleyball this fall:
Are there others? There's apparently at least one more JCC grad
playing volleyball. but some schools don't have an updated roster on
their website. If you know of any others, feel free to let me know
emailing me or send me a message on Twitter @sportsdr44.
That goes for Martin County West grads as well.
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
MCW first in Class A boys cross country ratings
Aug. 9
Martin County West is rated first in the preseason Class A boys
ratings by the Minnesota
Cross Country
Coaches Association released Friday.
The Mavericks placed fifth in the state meet last year and all seven
Mavericks who ran in Northfield are back.
Among them is senior Jonah Mayo, who is eighth in the individual
ratings. He was 15th overall at the state meet last year.
Other seniors back for MCW are Dylan Brockman, Matthew
Viesselman, Chris Kahler and Nick Holm. Also running at last year's
state meet were Joshua Bjerken (now a sophomore) and freshman Ramon
Defending state champion Perham is second in the team ratings.
The Yellowjackets have won the state title four of the last eight
Section 2A rival Waseca is ranked third, with the Bluejays'
Shane Streich the
top-ranked individual. Streich was second in the state meet last
Martin County West opens its season Wednesday, Aug. 27 at Mountain
Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd leads the Class A girls team
ratings. Big South Conference teams Waseca and Luverne rated third
and eighth, respectively.
Mary Naas of Saint Paul Academy & Summit leads the Class A girls
individual rankings. Luverne's Madison Schandelmeier is fourth and
Kayla Huhnerkoch of Redwood Valley is seventh. Rachel Salentiny of
Southwestern United is ninth.
Marshall of the Big South Conference is fourth in the Class AA girls
team ratings.
For the complete cross country ratings,
click here.
Flat Earth Golf tourney Saturday
July 29
The Flat Earth Wrestling Club is hosting third annual fund-raiser
golf tournament Saturday at Jackson Golf Club.
Registration for the nine-hole, four-person best shot tournament is
from 2-2:45 p.m., with play starting with a shotgun start at 3 p.m.
Entry fee is $40 per person, which includes greens fees, cart,
dinner and a Flat Earth T-shirt.
There is an optional skins game for $20 per team and mulligans are
available. The meal only is available for $10.
More information is available
by email. or by calling Ron Anderson (507-227-1078), Chris
Handevidt (507-525-0369), Jay Moore (507-841-0120) or Steve
Kapplinger (612-868-3209).
Area athletes playing in national volleyball tourney
June 26
Several area athletes will be playing for Southwest Minnesota
Juniors teams in the Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships
in Minneapolis.
Both the Southwest Minnesota Juniors 17-1 and 18-1 teams both open
pool play at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Five area athletes are on the 17-1 team.
Two are from Jackson County Central, Kathryn Nasby and Sydney
Nyborg. Nasby is a senior and Nyborg is a junior.
There are also two players from Southwestern United, Andrea
Hinkeldey and Hailey Schumacher. They're both juniors.
Also on the 17s team is Windom's Porsha Porath, a freshman.
Playing for the Southwest Minnesota Juniors 18-1 team are Kaylee
Burmeister of JCC and Courtney Place of SWU. They're both seniors.
Among the other players on the 18s team are four players from
Marshall High School.
2014 Marshall graduates Kenzie Beekman and Hannah Bennett, who will
both be playing at Southwest Minnesota State are on the team, along
with senior Haley Bennett and junior Marah Mulso.
The tournament started Tuesday with some younger divisions and
continues through next Thursday. The event uses five exhibit halls
and the ballroom at the Minneapolis Convention Center, with 70
volleyball courts in all.
There will be 12,000 athletes ages 11-18 taking part in the event,
which is expected to attract 30,000 spectators.
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Deadline coming up soon for Booster Club calendar
June 20
The 2013-14 school year was a great one at Jackson County
The JCC Booster Club was able to grant
several wishes for coaches of a number of Huskies teams.
Items wished for included funding to Community Education to
support staffing of the Fitness Center for additional summer access
for all athletes; a pitching machine for the softball program; and
shooting machine for the basketball programs.
The wish requests
also included several safety items for programs, including mats for
cheerleading, gymnastics and the Fitness Center; and safety vests
for the cross country team.
Also, the Booster Club also assists with the end of season celebration
for each team by supporting the banquets and
awards presented to student-athletes.
The club also provides funds for
coaches to attend training clinics to learn the best ways to help
JCC programs be the best they can be.
In 2013, more than $15,000 was
given to support the athletic programs at JCC. In the past five years,
more than $70,000 has been provided for athletic programs.
While the start of fall practices is about seven weeks away and
the first events the week after that, it's time to begin assembling the
2014-2015 school
If you wish to be a part
of the booster club calendar, you have just a few days left to contact Livewire Printing.
The deadline for being included on the calendar is Tuesday (June 24).
If you
have questions about becoming an active member of the booster club,
contact Kelly Rasche. She'll be glad to answer all of your
The athletic programs at JCC appreciate your support.
By the way, the cross country, volleyball and football teams all
open practice on Aug. 11.
The cross country team is the first to compete, Friday, Aug. 22
at Fairmont.
Meanwhile, the volleyball team travels to Mankato East for its
opener on Monday, Aug. 25; and the football team opens at home vs.
Fairmont on Thursday, Aug. 28.
World of Outlaws in Jackson
June 13
The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Cars series will make a stop at
Jackson Speedway Friday.
Heading into Friday's race, Donny Schatz is the series leader in
Schatz leads Daryn Pitman by six points, with Joey Saldana 21 points
out and Paul McMahan 50 points out.
Rounding out the top 10, Kerry Madsen is -211, Brad Sweet -269,
Steve Kinser -418, Cody Darrah -482, Kraig Kinser -593 and Sammy
Swindell -654.
Pits open at 2 p.m. and the grandstand at 4 p.m. Hot laps are at
6:30, qualifying at 7 p.m. and racing starts at 7:30.
Previous World of Outlaws winners at Jackson:
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Rients has two big games
June 12
Patrick Rients has had a couple of pretty good games back-to-back
for the Jackson Bulls.
In Wednesday's 12-4 win over Heron Lake at Wacker Field, Rients was 4-for-4
with all four hits being home runs. He also walked once, scored
four runs and had seven runs batted in.
Last Saturday at Wells, he was 6-6 with five singles, a
home run, five runs and six runs batted in.
So that makes his two-game totals
10-10 with five home runs, nine runs scored and 13 RBI.
The Bulls are at home for three more games this weekend, starting
with a 7:30 p.m. game vs. Pipestone Friday.
Jackson also has a pair of Father's Day home games Sunday, hosting
the Milroy Irish at 2 p.m. and Tracy at about 5 p.m.
Cordell Weber closes out high school career
Martin County West's Cordell Weber wrapped up his high school
golf career with his fifth trip to the state Class 1A tournament
Tuesday and Wednesday at Pebble Creek Golf Course near Becker.
He finished second this year, one stroke out of the top spot.
Cordell qualified for his first state tourney as an eighth grader
in 2010 and tied for 26th place. He was 12th as a freshman in 2011.
In 2012, he won the state title by one stroke as a sophomore.
He tied for sixth last year, followed by this year's runner-up
Cordell will attend Colorado State University-Pueblo and play
golf for the ThunderWolves.
Meanwhile, sophomore Logan Weber tied for 11th in her third trip
to the state tournament.
She was 44th as a seventh-grader in 2011 and 28th as an
eighth-grader in 2012. She did not play as a freshman due to an
State track and field meet preview
June 4
On Tuesday I sent a
Twitter barrage looking previewing
the state track and field meet. Here they are located in one place:
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
MSHSL adopts
district football scheduling plan
June 2
A district football scheduling plan was the dominant item from
Monday's regular meeting of the Minnesota State High School League
Board of Directors.
The board unanimously adopted a plan that places all
football teams into districts.
Members of
each district will divide the district into sub-districts and then
create a full schedule for each team. In nearly all cases, the
placement of schools will not negatively affect traditional
rivalries or preferred opponents.
For several years MSHSL staff, school administrators and football
coaches have sought a solution for schools that have had difficulty
filling their regular-season football schedule.
A committee of
coaches, athletic administrators and board members developed a
District Football Scheduling System that was approved by the board
in January. A separate District Placement Committee made up of
coaches and administrators worked to group schools into
districts based on enrollment, geography and like schools, while
also considering individual school preferences for maintaining
traditional opponents.
"Everyone needs to keep in mind that this is just a step in the
process of developing actual schedules for our member schools,"
explained Associate Director Kevin Merkle in presenting the plan to
the Board. "Some districts have a wide range in school enrollment
and geography, but once the districts determine their sub-district
alignments, most of the enrollment and geographical issues will be
The recommendation approved included:
The 10-member District Football Placement Committee met five times
since mid-March to place schools in districts, using enrollment,
geography, like schools and current conference membership and
current opponents as key criteria.
Schools were given the
opportunity to provide information to the committee in advance,
including three teams that they would like to continue to schedule. Those requests were reviewed carefully and were met to the extent
possible. More than 90 percent of the schools' requests were met,
and a significant majority of schools were placed in a district with
most, if not all, of the schools that they currently play.
Districts will have initial meetings this summer to discuss
the placements and the next steps in the process.
The next major
step will be for districts to decide on sub-district alignments.
Once that is completed, schedules for the 2015 and 2016 seasons can
be developed. The goal is for all schools to have a complete
schedule for both years by Nov. 1.
Jackson County Central, Martin County West and Windom are among
the 28 teams in the South Central District.
We'll visit with activities director Eric Tvinnereim and Nate
Klima of JCC and MCW down the road this summer as the process
To view the new football districts listing the schools placed in
each district,
Section 3A track and field preview
May 30
Thought I would get to this earlier, but with trips to Marshall,
almost to Janesville, all the way to Janesville, Buffalo Lake and
Redwood Falls it didn't happen until now.
The Section 2A track and field meet will be held Saturday at
Mankato West High School. Field events start at 9:30 a.m., with
track prelims at 10 a.m. and track finals at 11 a.m.
Martin County West has 19 individuals entered in the section
The top two finishers in each event advance to
next week's state meet at Hamline University in Saint Paul.
Entries can also advance to the state meet by meeting a qualifying standard in each event.
Here's a look at MCW for the Section
2A meet.
May 26
The Section 3A track and field meet is scheduled for Thursday in Redwood Falls. Field events
start at 2 p.m., with track events at 3:30.
The top two finishers in each event advance to
next week's state meet.
Entries can also advance to the state meet by meeting a qualifying standard in each event.
Here's a look at Jackson County Central entries for the Section
3A meet.
Announcing 2014 JCC, MCW football schedules
The Old Oak Bucket is in
Fairmont's trophy case right now.
April 24
Wednesday night we announced the 2014 football schedules for
Jackson County Central and Martin County West on Twitter.
If you don't follow me on Twitter (and if not, why not?) or
missed them, here are the tweets:
Jackson County Central
Martin County West
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Area athletes heading to Hamline, Drake
This week marks the start of the "Big Meet" season for track and
field athletes.
Minnesota athletes will head to Saint Paul for the Hamline
University Elite Meet Friday, while Iowa athletes make their way to
Des Moines for the Drake Relays that get underway Thursday.
The Hamline Elite Meet brings together Minnesota's top nine
athletes and relays competing head-to-head in each event, regardless
of class.
Martin County West will send two entries to Hamline in junior
Haley Jensen and sophomore Morgan Larson.
Jensen is entered in the 100 meters, which has its prelims
scheduled for 5:37 p.m. and finals for 6:35.
Jensen has the third-fastest seed time for the meet at 12.24
seconds. Vanessa Lane of Pequot Lakes is first (11.92).
Larson runs in the 800 meters, scheduled for 8:04 p.m. Her seed
time of 2:17.67 is tied for fifth.
Shakopee's Tess Misgen has the best seed time (2:10.46).
Also entered in the 800 is Redwood Valley's Kayla Huhnerkoch, who
has the seventh-best seed time (2:17.84).
In the girls shot put, Katelyn Weber of Saint Clair has the top
seed effort (47-2).
Among the entries in the boys meet are Worthington's Will Dudley,
who has the second-best seed performance in pole vault (14-1) and
Ryan Kruse of Saint Clair, who has the sixth-best throw in the
discus (157-5). Both of those events start at 5:30.
In Iowa, two individuals and one relay team from the area have
qualified for the Drake Relays.
Estherville Lincoln Central junior Caitlyn Clayton qualified in
the girls shot put, which will be held at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Spirit Lake Park's Jenna McCoy qualified for the girls long jump,
which is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
Also, SLP's boys 4x100-meter relay team of Jacob Jenness, Caleb
Jennings, Blake Enderson and Pat Woizeschke competes in that event.
Prelims are at 6:10 p.m. Friday, with the finals at 3:40 p.m.
Anderson returning to coach MCW volleyball team
April 18
A former Martin County West volleyball coach will become the next
Mavericks' coach next week.
Among the items on the agenda for the MCW School Board for its
regular meeting Tuesday is to approve the hiring of Travis Anderson
as head volleyball coach.
Sussenguth resigned from the position last month after being
accepted into the School Counseling Masters Program at Winona State
Under his guidance, the Mavericks won five Valley Conference
and two Section 2A championships. Martin County West was
second in the 2010 state Class 1A tourney after a
sixth-place finish in 2008.
Travis was then a volunteer assistant coach for two seasons at
Minnesota State University, Mankato.
He was a manager for MCW's volleyball team that qualified for the
Class A state tournament in 1991 under the coaching of his mother,
Garla Anderson.
Travis Anderson went on to play four seasons with the men's
volleyball team at St. Ambrose University.
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Rients receives NSIC baseball honor
April 15
Jackson County Central graduate Patrick Rients has been named the
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference baseball Player of the Week.
For the week, Rients batted .526 (10-for-19) with three home
runs, three doubles, five runs scored, one stolen base and
finished with six runs batted in.
SMSU was 4-1 for the week, splitting a pair with Winona
State and winning three from Wayne State.
Rients finished with a 1.156 slugging percentage with 22
total bases. He had at least one hit in all five games and
had two or more in four games.
He finished 4 for 8 with a run scored and an RBI in a split
with Winona State, then finished 6 for 11 with three home
runs and five RBI vs. Wayne State.
Rients leads SMSU in batting average (.359), home runs (8),
RBI (24) and slugging percentage (.718).
The Mustangs are 7-6 in the NSIC and 16-13 overall. They're at
the University of Sioux Falls Tuesday.
MCW to host baseball, softball tournaments
April 11
Hopefully this doesn't jinx it, but things look to be good to go for
Martin County West to host its annual baseball and softball
tournaments Saturday at the Fox Lake Area Sports Complex.
It's the 22nd annual baseball tournament and 18th annual softball
Play in the baseball tourneys starts at 9 a.m., with the softball
tourney getting under way at 10 a.m.
With the MCW senior trip and Easter next week, both Maverick
teams are then off until April 22 when the baseball team hosts Lake
Crystal Wellcome Memorial and the softball squad plays at
Following is the schedule for each tournament:
Copley tied for division home run lead
April 4
Zach Copley has two home runs for the Rochester Community and Technical College baseball team. That's
tied for the top spot in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference Southern
The 2013 Jackson County Central graduate is hitting .286 (6-21)
with three doubles, the two homers and four RBI. He's also pitched
two innings for the Yellowjackets.
Another 2013 JCC grad, Taylor Christopher, is hitting .400 (4-10)
and has scored six runs.
The Yellowjackets will play two games at Cadwell Park in
Mitchell, S.D. Saturday, including one vs. Minnesota West at about 1
The Bluejays also face the Dakota Wesleyan JV at 11 a.m. and
Rochester takes on Northland in a scheduled 3 p.m. game.
A pair of 2012
JCC grads, Dustin Pronk and Brett Larson, play for Minnesota West.
The Bluejays and Yellowjackets are scheduled to play a
doubleheader on Saturday, April 26.
An effort is being made to play those games at Wacker Field.
Hopefully that will turn out better than an effort to have some
college baseball games in Jackson this week.
It would be cool to see four former Huskies playing college
baseball in Jackson. I won't hide my bias toward those four. Can't
imagine how much baseball I've seen them play through the years.
Sussenguth not returning to MCW volleyball team
Mary Sussenguth will not be returning to coach the Martin County
West volleyball team next season.
"This has been a very, very difficult decision," Sussenguth said
in an email. "I have been
accepted into the School Counseling Masters Program at Winona State
"These past three years at MCW have been absolutely
incredible with the best athletes, faculty and community support I
have ever experienced. I will profoundly miss my MCW family and am
forever blessed to start my teaching and coaching career here."
The Mavericks were 17-10 in 2011, 23-11 in 2012 and 27-8 in 2013.
They advanced to the state Class 1A tournament the last two years.
MCW softball notes
April 3
After two postponements, the Martin County West softball team is
now scheduled to open its season Friday at Adrian.
Not liking the chance of that. Madelia/Truman is slated to be in Welcome on
For now, some info on Maverick softball returnees:
JCC track and field preseason notes
April 2
With a
postponement and a cancellation this week, the scheduled opener for the Jackson
County Central track and field teams is now Monday in Wells.
Here's some information on the JCC track and field teams that was
also presented on Twitter.
JCC softball preseason notes
March 31
It looks
like the Jackson County Central
softball team will open its season at home Monday vs. Mountain Lake
Here is a series of tidbits that were first presented in Twitter
form on Sunday:
MCW track and field preseason notes
Martin County West's
track and field teams will open their seasons Monday at the Valley Conference Indoor
meet at MSU,
Mankato. Meet time is 7 p.m.
Schmit to play in all-star football game
March 27
For the second straight year and for the fourth time in the last
five, Jackson County Central will be represented in Minnesota's high
school all-star football game.
Matt Schmit has been named to the South squad for the 41st annual
Minnesota Football Coaches Association Tackle Cancer All-Star
Football Game. This year's game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, June 28 at Husky Stadium on the campus of the
St. Cloud State University. He's listed as a defensive end.
Alex Hohenstein represented the Huskies in the 2010 game and Jordan Phibbs
in 2011. Tom Schuller was an assistant coach in last year's game.
Two other Southwest Conference players were selected, Cody
Rofshus of Luverne and Tyus DeBoer of Marshall. Among the other
players named were Luke Becker of Fairmont and David Franta of Blue
Earth Area.
Players and coaches
representing 85 schools will participate in the game. That's the second most schools represented in a single
game. The most was 86 in 1984.
An All-Star training camp will be held at St.
John's University from June 22-28.
This year's game will be the 41st in the current series
and the 52nd overall. For the fourth consecutive year, the game will
use a South vs. North format. In 2013, the South defeated the North 24-14.
The South lead the current series 2-1. The
South also leads the overall North-South series 10-9-1 after 20
games. The South All-Stars took the series lead for the first time
after the 2013 victory.
An all-star game was first played in 1945 and
has been an annual event since 1974. The game was played in a South
vs. North
format from 1945-1960 and from 1974-1979, a
Metro vs. Outstate format from 1980-2010 and back to a South vs. North
format in 2011.
Mike Grant of Eden Prairie will be the head coach of the South
His assistants will be
Ray Betton, Academy of Holy Angels;
Jeff Johnson, Chatfield;
Mark Ritter, Eden Prairie; Paul Ruud, Glencoe-Silver Lake;
James Semmen, Lanesboro;
Steve Solem, BOLD and
George Thole, Stillwater.
Bill Weiss of Chisago Lakes Area is the North head coach.
His assistants
Earl Bauman, Saint Michael-Albertville;
Mark Elmer, Stillwater;
Jay Loven, Upsala/Swanville;
John McEachran, Perham;
Derek Parendo, Proctor;
Matt Townsend, Columbia Heights; and
Jon Young, Coon Rapids.
The honorary coaches are a pair of MFCA Hall of Fame members, Dick Strand
of Southland for the South and Con Natvig of Swanville and
Browerville for the North.
Following is a look at the history of all-star football game
participation from schools that currently make up Jackson County
Central and Martin County West.
Jackson High School
Jackson County Central
Martin County West
Moore, Rutt both headed to NCAA wrestling tourney
March 10
Two former Jackson County Central wrestlers earned berths in the
NCAA tournament over the weekend.
Moore, a 2012 Jackson County Central graduate, is a redshirt
freshman at Northern Iowa.
Cooper won by a fall and major decision on Saturday and
then won 11-5 over Ohio's Harrison Hightower in the finals
on Sunday.
UNI finished second behind Missouri for the team title as the
Tigers nudged out the Panthers by 2.5 points.
Meanwhile Rutt, who wore a JCC singlet for two seasons, was
runner-up at 197 at the Big 12 tourney, losing in what was described
as one of the most intense of the tournament as it took several
tiebreaker periods to decide a winner in his title match with Iowa
State's Kyven Gadson.
The bout was tied at 1-3 following three periods and Gadson went
on to take the title after having five seconds of riding time to win
by a 4-3 decision in TB-2. Along the way there was a video review
late in regulation.
Rutt and Gadson also went to sudden victory in their
regular-season match, with Gadson winning 3-1.
It's Rutt's third trip to the NCAA tourney, going twice
while wrestling at Wisconsin. He was 1-2 as a sophomore in 2010 and
4-2 as a junior in 2011 as he placed seventh and earned all-American
The Sooners were second to Oklahoma State in the team standings.
The NCAA tourney is March 20-22 in Oklahoma City.
Daughter of former Jacksonites helps team to Iowa state tourney
March 3
The daughter of some former Jacksonites has helped her team reach
its first first-ever Iowa state Class 2A girls basketball
Woodbury Central advanced to the reached its first-ever state
tournament with an 83-78 double overtime win last Monday against
Treynor in a regional final game in Mapleton.
Ellen Gallagher scored 29 points and grabbed 20 rebounds for
Woodbury Central in the victory.
Gallagher, a senior, is the daughter of Tim and Jill Gallagher. Jill originally hails
from Lake Park.
Ellen is averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats and surpassed the 1,000-point scoring mark for her career several weeks ago. She shoots 62
percent from the field and 81 percent from the free-throw
line. She is second in the state in Class 2A in scoring.
Woodbury Central (21-3) faces Hudson (23-1) in the first round at 6:45 p.m.
Monday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Treynor is the second consecutive top 10 team Woodbury Central defeated on the tourney trail. The 14th-rated Wildcats beat Hinton by two points in the district final contest on Hinton's home floor
the previous Friday behind 23 points and 16 rebounds from
Tim Gallagher is a columnist with the Sioux City Journal.
A lot of us could learn something from the students at Western
as Tim wrote about on Sunday.
Having written that, with a small dose of irony, I present this to
County wrestlers now have 34 state titles
March 2
The state wrestling title won by Keegan Moore Saturday night in St. Paul
bring the number of titles won by wrestlers from Jackson County to
Each of those wrestlers has been coached by Randy Baker, seven
with Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield and 27 with Jackson County
Baker is second on the all-time list of individual state
champions coached. He trails only Jim Jackson of Apple Valley, who
coached 60 champs from 1995-2012.
The Huskies had four place winners, bringing Baker's total in
that category to 84 and moving him to fourth on that list.
He trails only Jackson (132), John Grygleko of Robbinsdale (90)
and Gregg Greeno of Saint Michael-Albertville (86).
Individual state champions from Jackson County
1989 - Scott Vancura, Class A 130
1990 - Chad Gage, Class A 135
1991 - Tim Jansma, Class A 119
1992 - Chad Kraft, Class A 125
1992 - Tim Jansma, Class A 130
1993 - Chad Kraft, Class A 140
1994 - Chad Kraft, Class A 145
County Central
1998 - Nate Baker, Class 2A 140
1998 - Nate Hanson, Class 2A 145
1999 - Nate Baker, Class 2A 152
1999 - Bryce Vancura, Class 2A 275
2000 - Steve Majerus, Class 2A 130
2000 - Dusty Wilking, Class 2A 152
2000 - Nate Baker, Class 2A 160
2001 - Marc Harwood, Class 2A 140
2002 - Marc Harwood, Class 2A 152
2004 - Tom Nesseth, Class 2A 189
2006 - Torey Stewart, Class 2A 130
2006 - Jared Knips, Class 2A 275
2007 - Cole Von Ohlen, Class 2A 119
2007 - Travis Rutt, Class 2A 160
2008 - Cole Von Ohlen, Class 1A 130
2008 - Torey Stewart, Class 1A 145
2008 - Travis Rutt, Class 1A 171
2008 - Caleb Lines, Class 1A 189
2009 - Bronson Steuber, Class 1A 119
2010 - Bronson Steuber, Class 1A 125
2010 - Cooper Moore, Class 1A 160
2011 - Bronson Steuber, Class 1A 135
2012 - Darick Vancura, Class 1A 160
2012 - Cooper Moore, Class 1A 170
2013 - Eliot Jurries, Class 1A 132
2013 - Darick Vancura, Class 1A 170
2014 - Keegan Moore, Class 1A 170
A few weekend college notes
Monday, Feb. 24
A few college notes from the weekend, with sports from a mixture
of seasons.
Cooper Moore won by fall in 6:38 over Devin Geoghegan of
Old Dominion at 165 pounds in the Panthers' 21-19 win over the
Monarchs Sunday in Norfolk, Virginia.
UNI won the dual 21-19 to finish its dual-meet schedule with a
13-0 mark. The Panthers were the only Division I in the country to
finish undefeated in duals.
Northern Iowa will compete in the Mid-America Conference
Championships March 8-9 in Kent, Ohio.
Jason Vongsavanh, a
freshman with the Wisconsin-Stout men's track and field team, was on
a winning relay team at an
indoor meet at UW-Stevens Point.
Vongsavanh ran the first leg of the Blue Devils' winning
4x200-meter relay team that had a time of 1:33.73. All four members
of the relay team were freshmen.
He also ran the second leg on Stout's 4x400 team.
The Blue Devils will be at the WIAC Championships this weekend.
St. Cloud State
freshman Brooke Klontz scored the winning run for the Huskies in a
6-5 win over Nebraska-Kearney Sunday at the Husky Dome in St. Cloud.
Klontz came into the game as a pinch runner in the bottom of the
seventh. Her run capped a rally that saw the Huskies come back after
trailing 5-3 in the sixth inning.
SCSU is off until March 11 when it opens play in the Rebel Spring
Games in Winter Haven, Fla.
State gymnastics meet gets under way Friday
Thursday, Feb. 20
Martin County Area will take part in the team competition at the
state Class A gymnastics meet Friday at the University of Minnesota
Sports Pavilion. Meet time is 11 a.m.
Magic qualified for the state meet by winning the Section 3A title
last Saturday in Marshall with a
140.65 total.
MCA qualified for the state team event in its first two years in
2010 and 2011.
Before that, Martin County West made five straight trips from
Fairmont went to state four times in the 1990's (1990, 1992, 1994
and 1996) and three in the 1970's (1975, 1977 and 1978).
New Prague is the defending champion and the Trojans return with six gymnasts who
competed in the state meet last year.
Also back in the team field are second place Melrose Area,
third place Austin and fifth place Big Lake.
In addition to the Magic, other qualifying teams are North Branch, Breck and Detroit Lakes.
The individual portion of the state meet is Saturday, also with
an 11 a.m. start.
Martin County Area
will have three competitors Saturday.
Senior Becca Steen will compete in the state meet for the sixth
time. She earned a medal on beam the last two years, placing fourth
in 2012 and fifth last year. This year, Becca has qualified for
state individual honors on vault, bars, floor and all around. In
addition to six trips as an individual, Steen will compete with a
team for the fourth time.
You can hear from both Becca Steen and her mom and coach, LeeAnn,
on our FYI program at 8:05 a.m. Friday on KKOJ-KRAQ.
The other two Magic gymnasts competing as individuals are
Bryanna Peterson will compete on bars, beam and all around, while
Martha Olson competes on vault.
Jackson County Central
has two gymnasts in the individual competition.
Eighth-grader Brooklyn Schuett returns to compete on floor, while
junior Bailey Schneekloth enters the state meet as section bars
Worthington will have
two competitors.
Senior Paige Kinley will compete on vault, bars and floor.
Freshman Liz Hayenga competes on beam.
Rounding out the Section 3A team will be two gymnasts from
Sophomore Hailey Teske will compete on bars, beam and all around,
while eighth-grader Greta Johnson competes on vault, floor and all
Doug Johnson will have reports from the state meet both Friday
and Saturday on KKOJ-KRAQ.
Friday's team order of
Saturday's individual
order of competition by section:
Red Bulls at home Friday, Saturday
Thursday, Jan. 30
The way the schedule shook out for the Fairmont/Martin County
West Red Bulls wrestling team only left them with three competitions
at home this season.
First was a dual meet with Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial Area
back on Dec. 6 in Sherburn. The final two of those dates will occur
the next two days.
Friday, Fairmont/MCW will host a triangular in Fairmont. Saturday
will be the Red Bull/Subway Invitational in Sherburn.
One mat will be used for Friday's action at Cardinal Gym in
Fairmont, starting at 5 p.m. with JV matches between River Valley
and Saint Peter. That will be followed by the varsity match between
the Wildcats and Saints.
Then it's Fairmont/MCW JV and varsity vs. River Valley and Red
Bulls' JV matches vs. Saint Peter.
Introduction of Fairmont/Martin County West seniors will take
place around 7 p.m., followed by the SCC varsity dual between the
Red Bulls and Saints at about 7:10.
We'll have move-by-move coverage of the River Valley match and
reports from the Saint Peter dual on 105.7 KRAQ.
On Saturday, it's the annual
Red Bull/Subway Invitational at Martin County West High School in
Wrestling is scheduled to start on two mats at 10 a.m. and run
into the late afternoon.
Teams scheduled to join the host Red Bulls are Blue Earth Area,
Madelia/Truman/Martin Luther, Minneota, Pipestone, United South
Central, Waseca and Worthington.
Next weekend will be busier as far as the competition, but nobody
from the Red Bulls' program is going to have to move any mats.
Fairmont/MCW will compete in the Valley Conference tournament
Friday, Feb. 7 at Madelia, with the South Central Conference tourney
the next day in Saint James.
After that, it's the first two rounds of the Section 3AA
tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Change could be coming for regular-season football scheduling
Wednesday, Jan. 22
After years
of discussion, the way high school football teams in Minnesota put
together their regular-season schedules could begin to make a major
change Thursday.
That's when the Minnesota State High School League board of
directors meet in regular session in Brooklyn Center.
A proposal called district football scheduling would end current
conference alignments. New conferences would emerge based on the
district scheduling method, which would begin with the 2015 season,
would create scheduling groups statewide, based on factors that
include school size, geography, "like schools" and strength of
should be made up of at least 16 schools or more when possible.
Those districts could include teams from more than one class.
School must play all eight regular-season games within its district
unless a district had an odd number of schools. Districts would
create schedules for teams in their district.
The section playoff format would stay the same as it is now, with
section seeding based on regular-season results.
Also, the
board is expected to approve games to be played one week earlier in
TCF Bank Stadium is unable to host the Prep Bowl in late November,
so state championship games will be played on Nov. 14-15.
The football coaches advisory committee supports a proposal to begin
training camps on Aug. 10 and play the first games on Saturday at
the end of the second week of practice than the third week. That's
the day most typically hold scrimmages now.
Another possibility is for teams to play only
seven regular-season games.
plan would only be used for the 2015 season. Prep Bowl will move
into the Vikings' new stadium in 2016.
Softball is also on the agenda.
The softball coaches advisory committee will ask the board to
approve another class of competition, moving to four classes from
the current three.
Former Huskies to be on opposite sides in Norman Sunday
Thursday, Jan. 16
Two former Jackson County Central wrestlers will be on opposite
sides of the mat Sunday when Oklahoma hosts Northern Iowa in a 2
p.m. nonconference wrestling dual in Norman.
Rutt is ranked third at 197
pounds in the latest USA Today/NWCA/AWN Division I Coaches
Poll. He has a record of 13-1, with his lone loss coming
last Sunday in sudden-victory overtime to second-ranked
Kyven Gadson of Iowa State.
Moore (16-5) is rated 10th at 165.
Both teams are undefeated in duals.
The fourth-ranked Sooners are 7-0, while the ninth-ranked
Panthers are 5-0.
Gage, Bakalyar going into Jackson County Wrestling Hall of Fame
Wednesday, Jan. 8
A pair of
Chad Gage and Jesse Bakalyar will be honored during Hall of Fame
Night as Jackson County Central hosts a Southwest Conference
triangular Thursday.
Wrestling starts at 5 p.m. with Worthington taking on Marshall. That will be followed
by JCC vs. Marshall and JCC vs. Worthington.
The induction ceremony will take place before the final dual of
the night matching the Huskies against the Trojans.
Gage was a two-time state qualifier and the second state champion
from Jackson County. He qualified at 119 pounds as a sophomore in
1988 and won the 135-pound state title as a senior in 1990. He
finished with a career record of 109-22.
Chad went on to wrestle at Willmar Community College and at
Augustana College. He is currently the head wrestling coach at Eagan
High School and brings the Wildcats to town each December for the
Pizza Ranch/JCC Invitational.
Bakalyar was state runner-up at 145 pounds in 1993 as a member of
the first team from the county to make it to the state dual
tournament. The Silver Bullets ended Canby's string of 18 straight
appearances in the state tourney and placed third at state.
Bakalyar went on to become a three-time all-American at Augsburg
Jesse is following his dad into the JCWHOF. Bruce was one of
last year's inductees.
A fund-raising meal for the JCWHOF will be available in the
commons, with a pulled pork sandwich, baked beans, chips, bars and
drinks served from 5-7 p.m. Suggested donation is $6 per plate. A
social will follow the duals at Pillars Pub and Eatery.
Outlaws, ASCS to return to Jackson Speedway
Tuesday, Dec. 17
Jackson Speedway's full 2014 schedule hasn't been announced, but
a couple of dates are set as two major racing groups will return.
The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series will make another stop
in June, as will the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series Labor Day
weekend for the Jackson Nationals.
June 13 might be the final chance to see "The King of the Outlaws"
in Jackson.
Tony Stewart Racing announced last week that Steve Kinser, a 20-time
WoO champion, will make next year his
final full season on the circuit. A year-long farewell tour – dubbed
the "Salute to the King" – begins in February with the DIRTcar
Nationals in Florida.
Kinser has collected 576 A Feature
victories in his 35-year WoO career.
"Racing with the Outlaws has been my life for almost 40 years,"
Kinser said in a statement. "It's all I've known. My family has been
around it. I've had the pleasure of running up and down the road
racing all across this incredible country, and even in Canada,
Mexico and Australia with this series. I knew it wasn't going to
last forever.
"I feel like we have a great team here capable of winning a lot of
races and challenging for the championship this year."
Kinser has also branched out into other forms of motorsport during
his career. He appeared multiple times in the now-defunct
International Race of Champions, with a career-best finish of sixth
in the 1994 championship (a year that included a win at Talladega
Superspeedway). Kinser also ran a handful of Sprint Cup events in
1995 and competed in the 1997 Indianapolis 500, where he finished
With Kinser set to embark on one last go-round, his team owner paid
"I never missed an Outlaw show in the area when I was growing up,"
said Stewart. "We waited for those nights like they were holidays.
It was incredible watching Steve race with Sammy (Swindell) and Doug
(Wolfgang). He was our guy, being from Indiana, and when he won, it
gave us all something to brag about. And he won a lot.
"A few years ago, when we had the chance to get him to drive for TSR,
it was like a dream come true. When we got him on board, my goal was
for him to drive for us for the remainder of his career. I'm really
excited for him to go out and have a great season. He's the best
ever and I couldn't be more proud."
Kinser finished 11th in last year's stop in Jackson.
Donny Schatz was first.
The Jackson Nationals on Aug. 29-30 will again be sanctioned by
the ASCS under the direction of AtoZ Promotions.
Brian Brown won the Nationals title last year.
Rutt, Moore move up in national ratings
Wednesday, Dec. 11
Travis Rutt and
Cooper Moore have both
moved up in the latest NCAA Division I ratings by Amateur
Wrestling News.
Rutt, a senior at Oklahoma, has moved up two spots to second in
the 197-pound ratings after winning the title at the Cliff Keen Las
Vegas Invitational last weekend. He has a record of 13-0 on the
Minnesota's Scott Schiller (13-0) is first.
The Sooners are
off until Jan. 9 when they wrestle at Wyoming.
Moore, a freshman at Northern Iowa, climbed four spots to 13th in
the 165-pound ratings after placing fourth at Las Vegas. He's 10-3.
The Panthers will
host the UNI Open Saturday.
Oklahoma is fourth in the team ratings and Northern Iowa is 10th.
Big Team teams Penn State, Minnesota and Iowa go 1-2-3.
Hohenstein is second-team all-conference choice
Dec. 10
Alex Hohenstein has been named as a second-team selection
on the all-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football
He started all 10 games for the Falcons and finished with 25 solo
and 37 total tackles. He had 6.5 tackles for loss, including 1.5
sacks. He also forced a fumble. He had three solo and six total
tackles in a game at Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
"Alex was our leader on defense the entire season," said UWRF
coach Matt Walker. "He has had a wonderful career and I am so
pleased that he was rewarded with this honor."
Hohenstein has also been named to the WIAC
Scholastic Honor Roll in each of his first three seasons at River
2012 JCC grad Aaron Brandt finished his sophomore season
with the Falcons. He played in eight games, making eight solo and 10
total tackles and had a pass breakup.
Menke named top offensive player in bowl game
Dec. 9
was 12-for-25 passing for 131 yards including a 22-yard
touchdown pass.
Martin County West grad
Alex Schliesmann,
a sophomore running back, carried the ball 16 times for 80
yards in his final game for Rochester.
The Yellowjackets trailed 14-0 before cutting the gap to
14-3 at halftime.
Schliesmann had a 27-yard run on the first play of the third quarter
for the
Yellowjackets, setting the stage for a 77-yard scoring drive capped
with Menke's TD pass.
Rochester would score again to take a 17-14 lead, but the Tritons
tied the game in the fourth quarter. The Yellowjackets missed a
field goal on the final play of regulation.
In overtime, Rochester got a field goal on its possession, but
Iowa Central would then score a touchdown to win.
The Yellowjackets finish the season 10-2.
Also from this weekend, several former area wrestlers were in
JCC wrestlers at home the next two days
Friday, Dec. 6
You only have five chances to see the Jackson County Central
wrestling team compete in its home gym this season and two of them
are in the next two days.
The four-time defending state Class 1A champion Huskies host a
triangular Friday and then host the 11-team Pizza Ranch Invitational Saturday.
Other home dates for JCC this season are Dec. 19 vs. Blue Earth
Area, Jan. 9 in a triangular with Worthington and Marshall and Jan.
24 vs. Adrian.
JCC will open its season with a Southwest Conference dual as the
Huskies host Pipestone at 5 p.m. The Arrows and Windom/Mountain Lake
are seen as the main competitors to try to take
away JCC's league title.
The Huskies are rated first in Class 1A and have five ranked
JCC has one top-ranked wrestler as Keegan Moore is first at 182
pounds. Also, Paden Moore is rated second at 160, Jordan Biehn third
at 120, Luke Norland third at 170 and Dalton Wagner is eighth at
Pipestone received mention in the 1A team ratings and the Arrows
have two ranked individuals, with Brady Bos second at 152 and
Michael Suda ninth at 113.
Pipestone and Fargo Davies will wrestle at about 6:30, with the
Huskies taking on the visitors from North Dakota at about 8 p.m.
Davies is 10th in the Class A (large school) ratings in North
The Eagles have three ranked wrestlers, including a pair of
number ones in Cole Alexander (170) and Hunter Swensen (285). Quinn
Martin (182) is ranked fifth.
Davies is 2-1 on the season, losing to No. 5 Turtle Mountain
48-24 and beating Devils Lake 63-16 and Fargo South 47-27.
A shift in the calendar caused some conflicts in wrestling
schedules this season. JCC's tournament is now the same day as Blue
While the number of teams in the Pizza Ranch tourney is down to
11 from a high of 15, there will be a number of strong teams and
talented wrestlers on hand.
There are two other ranked 1A teams in the field, No. 7
Wabasso/Red Rock Central and No. 8 Adrian. Windom/Mountain Lake got
votes in 1A and Worthington received votes in 2A.
Other teams in the field are Eagan, Fargo Davies, Fulda/Murray County Central,
Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland,
Harrisburg, S.D. and Luverne.
The teams have a total of 29 wrestlers who are state-ranked
entering the tournament.
Following is a list of those ranked wrestlers, although they
won't necessarily be competing at the weight in which they're
JCC edged Wabasso/RRC 195-192.5 for the team title last season.
Varsity wrestling starts at 9:30 a.m. in the main gym, with JV to
start at 10 a.m. in the auxiliary gym.
Rutt earns 12 wrestling honor
Dec. 4
Former Jackson County Central wrestler Travis Rutt has been named
the Big 12 Wrestler of the Month for November.
Rutt, a redshirt freshman at the University of Oklahoma, is competing for the Sooners for the first time this season after transferring from
Wisconsin and redshirting last season.
The extra point at 197 pounds proved to be the
difference for
fourth-ranked OU as it rallied from a 15-3 deficit to take the dual
The Sooners won the first match but dropped five straight to
the Cowboys before winning the final four of the contest. Rutt's
match was the third of four wins for OU to close out the dual.
Additionally, Rutt won an individual title at the Brockport/Oklahoma
Invitational on Nov. 9 as the Sooners claimed their 15th
straight victory in the event.
During his
junior season at Wisconsin, Rutt was recognized as the Big Ten
Wrestler of the Week.
Rutt is up to fourth in this week's 197-pound ratings by Amateur
Wrestling News.
Also, Jackson County Central graduate Cooper Moore, a redshirt
freshman at Northern Iowa, is ranked 17th at 165 pounds this
Oklahoma is up one place to fourth and Northern Iowa up four
spots to 12th in this week's USA Today/NWCA/AWN Division I Coaches
The Sooners and Panthers will be both at the Cliff Keen Las
Vegas Invitational Friday and Saturday.
Vancura second in tournament
Nov. 25
Several former Jackson County Central wrestlers and a former Red
Bull were in action on college wrestling mats this weekend.
JCC grad Darick Vancura of Minnesota State, Mankato went 4-1 as
he placed second at 174 in the Black (freshman-sophomore) Division at the Joe Parisi
Open in St. Charles, Mo.
Vancura won his first two matches by fall, won an 11-6 decision
in the quarterfinals and by fall in the semifinals before dropping a
5-3 decision to Parker Von Egidy of Missouri in the finals.
Also for the Mavericks, JCC grad Eliot Jurries went 2-2 at 141
and MCW graduate Trevor Schultz was 1-2 at 125, also in the Black
Baker also second
JCC graduate William Baker, a freshman at Air Force, went 4-1 to
take second place at 174 pounds at the Nebraska-Kearney Holiday Open
Baker won his first match by fall, his next two by decision and
by fall in the semifinals before losing by an 8-1 decision to Air
Force teammate Konner Witt in the finals.
Moore splits at triangular
Cooper Moore, a 2012 JCC graduate and a redshirt freshman at
Northern Iowa, split a pair of matches for the Panthers Saturday.
Moore, ranked 15th in NCAA Division I at 165 pounds, won a 14-2 major
decision over Samuel Bennett at 165 pounds in UNI's 32-6 win over
Northern Illinois.
Later that day, he lost 4-2 in triple overtime to fifth-ranked
Steven Monk of North Dakota State. Moore had defeated Monk in the
finals of the Cobber Open the previous weekend, helping him earn
Mid-American Conference Wrestler of the Week honors.
The Panthers beat the Bison 29-12.
UNI will compete at home for the first time Saturday, hosting
Also this weekend:
Cooper Moore wins tournament title
Nov. 17
Cooper Moore won four matches Saturday to win the 165-pound title
at the
Finn Grinaker Cobber
Open wrestling tournament Saturday at Concordia College in Moorhead.
In the quarterfinals, Moore won 7-3
over Kyle Begin (Southwest Minnesota State) and he won an
8-0 major decision over
Marcus Polak (Minot State) in the semifinals.
In the finals, Moore won a 6-4 decision over
North Dakota State's Steven Monk, who is ranked third in the
The Panthers wrestle NDSU and Northern Illinois in duals
next Saturday in DeKalb, Ill.
Also this weekend:
Schuller receives academic award again
Nov. 15
MADISON, S.D. – Stacey Schuller of Dakota State has been named as
a second-team selection on the CoSIDA (College Sports Information
Directors of America)
all-District 3
Volleyball Academic team.
To be nominated, a
student-athlete needs to have at least 3.2 cumulative
grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and must be at least
sophomore in eligibility.
Schuller, a junior setter for the Trojans, is second in
the Trojan volleyball record book for career assists with
3,047 assists through three years at DSU. She is 104 assists
shy of breaking the school record.
A Jackson County Central graduate, Stacey is the daughter
of Tom and Deb Schuller. She is majoring in Elementary
Education/Special Education at Dakota State.
Keegan Moore nationally ranked
Nov. 14
Jackson County Central sophomore Keegan Moore is rated 20th in
the country at 170 pounds in national high school ratings by
Keegan was 37-4 last season and placed third at 160 pounds in
Class 1A as a freshman, losing in the semifinals to the eventual
He was a state qualifier at 138 as an eighth-grader and compiled
a 35-9 record and was 26-17 as a seventh-grader.
Keegan is one of 11 Minnesotans to appear in the national
ratings, with two at his weight class as Apple Valley's Mark Hall is
ranked second in the country.
There are three nationally ranked teams, with Apple Valley
second, Saint Michael-Albertville 33rd and Prior Lake 49th.
Following are the nationally ranked wrestlers from Minnesota:
6 of JCC's 8 losses came to state tournament teams
Nov. 7
For the seventh straight year, the Jackson County Central
volleyball team saw its season end with a loss to Marshall.
The Huskies and Tigers were in the same sub-section for five of
those seasons, with the teams meeting in the sub-section finals four
times and the semifinals the other time. In two of the years the
teams were in different sub-sections and met in the Section 3AA
Each season along the way Jackson County Central was won at least
20 matches.
The Huskies were 20-7 in 2007, 25-3 in 2008, 26-2 in 2009, 27-1
in 2010, 26-4 in 2011, 24-6 in 2011 and 22-8 this season. That's a
cumulative record of 170-31, an .846 percentage.
Of JCC's eight losses this season, six came to teams that will be
playing in the state tournament.
Among Class 2A teams, the Huskies lost twice to top-seeded
Marshall and once to third-seeded Hill-Murray.
JCC lost two teams in the Class 3A state tourney field,
top-seeded Eagan and unseeded Rochester Mayo. The Huskies also lost
to Class 1A second-seeded Minneota.
Another JCC loss was to Sioux Falls Roosevelt, which is ranked
second in Class AA (the largest class) in South Dakota and won its
first postseason match Tuesday.
The other loss for the Huskies was to Class 3A Edina.
Sussenguth 2-3 in state tournament trips
In her third season as head coach at Martin County West, Mary
Sussenguth is taking her second team to the state tournament.
The Mavericks will face third-seeded Southwest Christian High
School of Chaska in the first round at 3 p.m. Thursday at Excel
Energy Center.
MCW was 17-10 in 2011, 23-12 last season after going 0-2 at the
state tourney and will take a 26-6 record onto the court Thursday.
Most of the players on this year's Martin County West squad
practiced against last year's state tournament team every day and go
to at least experience the state tournament atmosphere from the
bench if not see some playing time.
Sussenguth said that experience is invaluable and this year's
team wants to improve on last year, whether that be winning a set or
a match. The team's goal is to play on Saturday, which would mean
either a first-round upset of Southwest Christian Thursday or
beating either second-seeded Minneota or Carlton in the consolation
bracket Friday.
Minneota defeated MCW 2-0 (25-7, 25-22) at the JCC tournament in
Sussenguth, a native of Willmar, was the Dragons' team captain in
2009 and is the all-time leader in block assists.
One of Sussenguth's college teammates at Minnesota State
University Moorhead also has her team in the state tourney, as Megan
Chatterton has guided Dassel-Cokato a berth in the Class 2A tourney,
the first in school history.
Mary's brother, Joe, will also be busy coaching this weekend as
his Ridgewater Community and Technical College team will play in the
Region 13A tournament in Rochester. Joe has coached the Lady
Warriors to NJCAA Division III national titles in 2006, 2010 and
2011. He's also the director of the Southwest Minnesota Juniors
Fransen, Gusties run in MIAC meet
Nov. 4
He was 50th
team standings and third for the Gusties, who were seventh
as a team.
Fransen and Gustavus will compete in the NCAA Division
III Central Region Championships on Saturday, Nov. 16 in
Gustavus volleyball
The teams all went 1-1, with
Gustavus beating Buena Vista 3-2,
Buena Vista topping Wisconsin-Superior 3-2 and
Wisconsin-Superior winning 3-0 over Gustavus.
MCW grad Paige Breneman had 38 digs and two ace serves for Gustavus
in the win over Buena Vista and then recorded 18
digs and two in the match with Wisconsin-Superior.
Fellow former Maverick Alyssa Taylor put down 23 kills in the BVU
match and then had eight kills
and three digs vs. Superior.
Then Saturday night, Alyssa got to watch her sister,
McKenna and this year's Mavericks gain a berth in the state
Paige and Alyssa were on MCW's state tournament teams
that placed sixth in 2008 and second in 2010.
Gustavus finished its season with an overall record of
Breneman and Taylor are both juniors.
JCC graduate
Sydnee Donnelli, a freshman at Buena Vista, had 19 digs, four aces and
two assists vs. Gustavus and then recorded a
double-double of 15 digs and 10 kills vs. Superior.
The Beavers finished their season with an overall record of 17-13,
the program's highest win total since 2005.
Also this weekend:
Schliesmann has second 200-yard game
Oct. 28
had run for 226 yards in a win over Minnesota State,
Fergus Falls on Sept. 21.
In nine games this season, he has 1,117 yards, an
average of 124.1 yards per game. He's scored six
Jackson County Central
Tanner Menke was 10-for-24 passing for
155 yards and one TD for Rochester. The freshman signal-caller
also had a rushing touchdown. Rochester will host Vermilion in the
semifinals this Saturday.
Another MCW grad, Austin Krumwiede, a freshman safety at Central
Lakes, had three solo tackles for the Raiders in a 55-26 win over
Minnesota West.
Central Lakes travels to Northland in the other semifinal.
JCC, MCW football teams to meet for first time
Oct. 25
Saturday will mark the first-ever varsity football meeting
between Jackson County Central and Martin County West. JCC became a
school district in 1997, MCW consolidated in 1988.
However, there were three games between Jackson and Sherburn-Dunnell in the early 1980s.
The Blue Jays won the first meeting in 1981, but the Raiders won
in 1982 and 1983.
Jackson had three different coaches in those three games as it
was in a stretch of five different coaches in five years.
Paul Krohn, who was from Sherburn, coached Jackson to a 19-0 win
over S-D in the 1981 contest. That was one of two wins that season
for JHS.
The Raiders beat the Blue Jays 13-6 in 1982, the lone season Dave
Wells was the head coach at Jackson.
Sherburn beat Jackson 21-8 in 1983, Tyrone Wacker's first year as
coach of the Blue Jays.
That 1983 Sherburn-Dunnell team, coached by Jerry Tietje, would
advance to the state playoffs.
Sherburn-Dunnell also went to the state playoffs in 1986 and
reached Prep Bowl, where the Raiders lost 52-19 to Minneota. Tietje
was named the Class C Coach of the Year that year.
Tietje coached in the 1986 Minnesota All-Star Football Game and
would go on coach at Fairmont High School.
His sons, Jeff, Josh and Jake played at Faimont and would play in
the all-star game. The Tietjes are one of three families where the
dad coached in the all-star game and his sons played.
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Rochester football team sets scoring record
Oct. 7
Rochester Community and Technical College set a National Junior College Athletic Association
football scoring record Saturday in a 91-7 win over Minnesota State, Fergus Falls
in a Minnesota College Athletic Conference Southern Division game.
Martin County West graduate Alex Schliesmann had 104 yards on only four
carries for Rochester, including a 44-yard touchdown run.
Jackson County Central grad Tanner Menke was 13-for-20 passing for 263 yards and four touchdowns
for the No. 13 Yellowjackets, who are 2-0 in the division and 6-0 overall.
Rochester travels to Willmar to face Ridgewater next Saturday.
Here's what other
Jackson County Central, Martin County West
and Windom graduates did this weekend:
MCW volleyball team to host cancer awareness event
Oct. 2
Martin County West schools, in cooperation with the Mavericks'
volleyball team and its parents, are recognizing Thursday as
"Imagine a World Without Cancer Day."
The day is designed to recognize cancer awareness and raise funds
for cancer research and programs.
Funds raised from the event will be divided equally between the
American Cancer Society and Fairmont Community Hospital's chemo
All students, staff and everyone in the Martin County West
communities are being encouraged to dress in white Thursday to
recognize Cancer Awareness.
The MCW volleyball team will be hosting Saint Clair in a Valley
Conference match in Trimont Thursday. The C-squad starts at 4:30
p.m., with the B-squad scheduled for 5:45 and varsity for 7:30.
Players in grades 9-12 will be introduced with a cancer survivor
of their choice following the B-squad match.
There will be a bake sale of items provided by the families of
players in grades 7-12 throughout the night. Also, there will be a
silent auction with a number of items available including a
volleyball autographed by the MCW players, Maverick wear,
hand-crafted items and numerous gift certificates.
After the match, there will be a volleyball serving competition
with prizes awarded.
T-shirts will be on sale to promote cancer awareness. They're
white with teal lettering.
If you'd like to make a donation, but can't attend the match
Thursday, you can do so at any of the Martin County schools. Checks
should be made payable to Fairmont Community Hospital Foundation or
American Cancer Society.
Weekly update on area graduates
Sept. 30
The weekly update on what Jackson County Central, Martin County West
and Windom graduates did this weekend:
Schliesmann runs for 226 yards in Rochester win
Sept. 23
Your weekly update on what some Jackson County Central and Martin County West
graduates were up to over the weekend:
Three local grads were on the same football field in Rochester, where the
unranked Yellowjackets beat NJCAA No. 15 Central Lakes 48-21 in a Minnesota
College Athletic Conference matchup.
MCW grad Alex Schliesmann rushed for 226 yards and a touchdown for the
JCC grad Tanner Menke threw for 111 yards and three touchdowns for Rochester. He was 10-for-27 with an interception.
Coming up with that interception for Central Lakes was MCW grad Austin
Krumwiede, who returned it 10 yards.
Also this weekend:
Two home events for Huskies Thursday
Sept. 18
It's homecoming week at Jackson County Central and when most
people think of homecoming, the first sporting event that comes to
mind is the Friday night football game.
Indeed, there is a football game Friday and it figures to a
pretty good one with conference and section implications as the
Huskies host Luverne.
Before that there are a pair of home events Thursday and the
student-athletes on those teams would appreciate your attendance and
First up is the lone home meet of the season for the JCC cross
country teams as the KKOJ-KRAQ/Subway Invitational is held at Loon
Lake Golf Course.
There are four races, with the seventh- and eighth-grade girls at
4:30 p.m., seventh- and eighth-grade boys at 4:45, varsity girls at
5:00 and varsity boys at 5:25.
That evening you can make your way to the JCC High School gym as
the volleyball team hosts two-time defending state champion
Marshall. The B- and C-squad matches will start at 6 p.m., with the
varsity match to follow.
Don't worry about not having a chance to eat. There will be
Subway sandwiches available at the cross country meet and the
concession stand at the school will be fully stocked and ready for
Look for more details on those events on the sports page of
KKOJ.com later in the day Wednesday and get out to support the
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Area grads busy on Saturday
Sept. 16
Here's what some Jackson County Central, Martin County West and
Windom graduates did Saturday.
JCC to host volleyball tournament
Sept. 13
Three Top 10 state-ranked teams and two who received votes are
part of the 12-team field for the Jackson County Central
Invitational volleyball tournament Saturday.
There are four pools of three teams apiece, with teams playing
round-robin within their pool.
First-place teams from pool play advance to Division A,
second-place teams to Division B and third-place teams to Division
Host and Class 2A seventh-ranked Jackson County Central is in
Pool A, along with Rochester Century and Red Rock Central.
In Pool B, Minneota is ranked third in Class 1A, with Martin
County West receiving votes. Rounding out that pool is Cannon Falls.
Playing in Pool C are Rochester Mayo, which beat JCC at the
Shakopee tournament last weekend, along with Saint James Area and
Westbrook-Walnut Grove.
Class 1A No. 9 Windom is in Pool D, along with
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, which received votes; and Mankato East.
Pool play starts at 9 a.m. and runs continuous. Division play
Following are the schedules:
Pool A
Jackson County Central vs. Rochester Century
Jackson County Central vs. Red Rock Central
Rochester Century vs. Red Rock Central
Pool B
Martin County West vs. Minneota
Minneota vs. Cannon Falls
Martin County West vs. Cannon Falls
Pool C
Rochester Mayo vs. Saint James Area
Rochester Mayo vs. Westbrook-Walnut Grove
Saint James Area vs. Westbrook-Walnut Grove
Pool D
Windom vs. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton
Windom vs. Mankato East
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton vs. Mankato East
Division A (First-place team from each pool)
First round
Pool A vs. Pool C
Pool B vs. Pool D
Third match
First-round losers
Final match
First-round winners
Division B (Second-place team from each pool)
First round
Pool A vs. Pool C
Pool B vs. Pool D
Third match
First-round losers
Final match
First-round winners
Division C (Third-place team from each pool)
First round
Pool A vs. Pool C
Pool B vs. Pool D
Third match
First-round losers
Final match
First-round winners
Former Huskies, Mavericks competing in college
Aug. 30
A number of Jackson County Central and Martin County West
graduates are involved in sports on the collegiate level this fall.
While concentrating on what the current Huskies and Mavericks are
doing, we'll try to keep you updated on what these former JCC and
MCW standouts are up to.
If I've missed somebody, feel free to
contact me.
Six Jackson County Central grads are playing volleyball,
including two in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Briel Hendricksen is a
5-foot-5 senior defensive specialist at Minnesota State, Mankato;
and Whitney Burmeister is
a 5-9 sophomore outside hitter at Southwest Minnesota State
Stacey Schuller is a
5-7 junior setter Dakota State University in Madison, S.D.
Three 2013 JCC grads are in their freshman campaigns.
Sydnee Donnelli is a 5-7
freshman outside hitter at Buena Vista;
Lydia Brandt is a 6-1
outside hitter at Morningside; and
Michelle VanEpps is a
freshman setter at Iowa Lakes Community College.
In addition, another JCC graduate,
Megan Bezdicek, is an
assistant coach at Iowa Lakes while she does her student teaching in
Spirit Lake.
Four Martin County West grads are playing volleyball, including
two at Gustavus.
Paige Breneman is back
as a 5-4 junior libero, while Alyssa Taylor, a 6-2 junior middle
hitter, has joined the Gusties this season.
Another member of MCW's state runner-up team in 2010,
Maggie Prunty, is a 5-11
junior middle blocker at Saint Olaf.
Also, Bailey Tish, a 6-0
freshman middle hitter, is playing at Minnesota West.
There are two local grads vying for some playing time as freshmen
with their respective football teams in the Minnesota College
Athletic Conference.
JCC grad Tanner Menke
is a quarterback candidate at Rochester, while
Austin Krumwiede is
looking for a spot as a defensive back at Central Lakes.
Cross country
Three Jackson County Central grads are back running cross country
this fall.
Sam Fransen is a senior at Gustavus, Justin Cook is
a sophomore at Augustana and Matt Kocak is a sophomore at Wisconsin-Plattveille.
Huskies Fighting Cancer events next week
Aug. 29
Huskies Fighting Cancer has scheduled its first two events for
the new school year for next week.
HFC is calling its events "Gold Rush" this year in honor of
Childhood Cancer, which the color is gold.
"Gold Rush" events are scheduled for Jackson County Central's
volleyball match vs. Redwood Valley Thursday, Sept. 5 and the home
football game, also vs. Redwood Valley, on Friday, Sept. 6.
At the Sept. 5 volleyball match, Huskies Fighting Cancer is encouraging
fans to wear gold in honor of Childhood Cancer awareness.
There will
be tailgating before the B-squad match in the
high school commons with pulled pork sandwiches, potato
salad and lemonade. Cost will be $5. Also, cupcakes will be on
sale for $1.
The "Gold Rush" will continue at the Sept. 6 football game.
Fans can enter the "Play the Ball" chance game.
You can "purchase" a yard line for $2. If your name is
on the yard line at the end of first and third quarter, you will win a
prize. Only one name will be allowed per yard line.
There will
also be a friendly team spirit competition between fans of the
Huskies and
Cardinals at halftime.
Schuller vs. Wacker on the volleyball court, sort of
There was a semi Schuller vs. Wacker matchup on a college
volleyball court in Sioux City Wednesday night.
Morningside defeated Dakota State 3-0 (25-11, 25-21, 25-20) in a
nonconference matchup.
Jackson County Central graduate Stacey Schuller had 10 assists
and eight digs for the Trojans. She's a junior and is the daughter
of Tom and Deb Schuller.
Setting on the other side of the net for the host Mustangs was
TyAnn Buddenhagen, who is the grand daughter of Tyrone and Vereen
Wacker and the daughter of Tim and Shelly Buddenhagen of Huron.
TyAnn, a sophomore, had 21 assists.
Booster Club tailgate set for first home football game
Aug. 28
It's going to be too hot to cook at home all week, so you can let
someone else do it when you go to Jackson County Central's home
football opener vs. Foley Friday. Kickoff has been pushed back to
7:30 p.m. to alleviate a little of the heat.
The JCC Booster Club will be hosting a pork burger tailgate on
Friday at Swearingen Field. Serving will begin at 6 p.m. on the new
patio. Cost is $4 per plate.
Members of the Community Pride committee will be available to
answer questions you may have about supporting the project.
A lot of people have done a lot of work in a short time to change
the look of the football field. This will give you a chance to check
it out and support the Huskies football team.
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Marshall will stay in Southwest Conference in football
July 31
It turns out Marshall High School probably won't be making a farewell tour
through the Southwest Conference football ranks this fall after all.
The Tigers had been set to join the Wright County Conference in
football only starting with the 2014 season.
However, that plan was squashed with the breakup of the Missota
Teams from the Missota are headed in several directions,
including the Wright County Conference. The WCC is adding New Prague as its 12th
member, participating in all sports. Marshall's membership plan had been for football only so
the WCC apparently rescinded its offer.
That sends Marshall back to the Southwest Conference, giving it
seven teams. Having an odd number of teams for football has created
scheduling issues for approximately a bazillion years.
Schools in the Southwest Conference and South Central
conferences have had discussions on merging or at least working
together on scheduling.
That has previously been tried with the Southern
Minnesota Alliance, a football-only conference that lasted two
years (2005 and 2006).
If you do the math you'll find seven-plus-six equals 13 and
that's still an odd number, just as it was the first time around.
During the run of the SMAC, there was still a school each week
searching for a game. There is now a Zero Week option that didn't
exist during the short-lived tenure of the SMAC and that would help.
But there's also a discrepancy in size of the schools in the two
conferences, with the teams spread out among three classes for
postseason football play.
Jackson County Central is one of four Southwest Conference
schools currently in Class 2A for section play. The others are
Luverne, Pipestone and Windom. Saint James Area is the only SCC team
in Class 2A.
Two SWC teams are in Class 3A (Redwood Valley and Worthington).
There are a trio of 3A teams in the South Central (Blue Earth Area,
Fairmont and Saint Peter).
There are three Class 4A teams. Marshall from the SWC and New Ulm
and Waseca of the SCC.
Superintendents, athletic directors, high school principals and
board representatives of the Southwest and South Central conferences
will meet on Wednesday, Aug. 21 in Saint James to discuss options.
It appears pretty much anything could come from those talks,
whether it be working together for football only or expanding to
other sports and activities.
Section football scheduling in Minnesota has been widely
discussed for years. That won't solve all the problems but they
would be significantly reduced.
However, that's not likely to happen any time soon.
I won't pretend to have all the answers. I'm not even sure of all the
I'm certain one of the items that administrators from the SWC and
SCC would like to know before proceeding is just how likely section
football is.
From the outside looking in, I'd hate to see the conferences
enter into an agreement that is largely being driven by football,
only to have section football take effect.
Unless I'm missing something, the only other sports that
would benefit from a merger of the conferences is hockey. And even
at that, just girls hockey more than boys.
I don't know that a scenario where Luverne travels to Saint Peter
for a softball game on a Tuesday afternoon in April is a good one.
When the administrators get together, the elephant in
the room (literally and figuratively) could be Marshall.
Combine any two of the schools playing Class 2A football in the
two leagues (again that's JCC, Luverne, Pipestone, Windom and Saint
James) and using figures from 2012-2013, their enrollment would
still be less than Marshall's.
In the two-year run of the SMAC, the largest school (Marshall)
played the smallest (Saint James). That proved to be a negative
experience for both schools.
Marshall is certainly geographically challenged as far as finding
a conference where it would consistently compete with schools its
own size.
But, at some point that might have to be Marshall's problem and not Jackson County Central's
(or Windom's, etc.).
Marita Rasche to play in tourney in Florida
July 29
Marita Rasche will be in Florida for the next few
days playing in the USSSA Girls 18 & Under Class A fastpitch
softball tournament.
Rasche, who graduated from Jackson County Central High School this
spring, is a catcher for the Sioux Falls Impact.
The Impact have three games in pool play Monday at the ESPN Wide
World of Sports complex in Orlando. They have games vs. Vertigo of
Arkansas; the Heartbreakers Elite of Fort Wayne, Ind.; and the
Olathe, Kan. Rockets.
Pool play started Sunday and runs through Tuesday. Bracket play
starts Wednesday and lasts through Saturday.
The Impact have played in five USSSA tourneys.
They placed first in a tourney in Bellevue Neb.,
second at two tournaments in Sioux Falls and another in Lincoln
Neb.; and third in Des Moines. They also played in two ASA
Marita will be attending Dakota State University in
Madison, S.D. and playing softball for the Trojans.
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pitcher costs team a state tourney trip
July 25
You hear about teams having to forfeit games for an
ineligible player a handful of times per year, but I can't recall
hearing of one in a situation like the one that happened Wednesday
night in Le Mars.
On the field in a Class 3A substate game, Le Mars
beat top-ranked Sioux City Bishop Heelan Catholic 8-5 in 11 innings
and the Bulldogs thought they had their first trip ever to the state
After the game, it was learned that Le Mars violated
an Iowa High School Athletic Association rule by using a pitcher
illegally. Heelan won the game by forfeit, 7-0, and goes to the
Class 3A state tournament.
Le Mars senior Parker Rolfes, who threw the first
nine innings of Monday night's 4-3, 11-inning district championship
victory over Sergeant Bluff-Luton, pitched five innings of relief
Wednesday night.
Osborne asked Bishop Heelan activities director Jason Pratt after
the game if he would contact the IHSAA.
Pratt called Roger Barr, the IHSAA's baseball representative. Barr
told him the rule states that a pitcher needs two full days of rest
if he pitched nine innings in a game during that week.
"I'd feel happier if we would have scored more runs than (Le Mars)
did," said Osborne, told the
Sioux City Journal from the team bus on the return trip to Sioux
City. "My reaction is like anyone else's. We're still in shock.
After a marathon game like that, there's a wide range of emotions.
I'm still coming into grips with it.
"It is what it is. Our season continues. I'm happy for the kids. I
feel we played well enough to win the game, but I give credit to Le
Mars because they played a great game and they're worthy of their
season continuing as well."
"I messed up the pitching limitation rules," Le Mars
coach Trent Eckstaine told the
LeMars Daily Sentinel.
"It's my fault. I hate to cost these seniors and all these kids I
have on my team a game like this, to get into the state tournament.
I wish I could take it back, but I cost these kids a lot of their
hard work and a lot of the effort that they put in to get us to this
point. It was my fault, nobody else's, and I take full
responsibility for it."
Heelan (34-4)
goes to the state tournament as the number one seed and will play
eighth-seeded Williamsburg (20-18) at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Principal
Park in Des Moines.
Have supper and
support the Hawgs
Monday, July 22
You can have supper and help out the South Central Hawgs as they
get ready to Oregon for the National Nineman Championship Game
tonight (Monday).
The Hawgs will play for the national title this Saturday in
Corvalis, Ore.
A portion of proceeds from sales tonight at the Pizza Ranch
restaurants in Jackson and Fairmont will go to the Hawgs.
Hours are 5-8 p.m. in Jackson and 5-9 p.m. in Fairmont.
The Hawgs will play the South Valley Vandals for the national
title Saturday. The Hawgs beat the Vandals 60-26 in last year's
national title game at the Metrodome.
Error leads to
loss for Nesseth
July 16
Mike Nesseth didn't face Alex Rodriguez Monday night when the
Reading Fightin Phils took on the Trenton Thunder.
The Windom High School graduate pitched the ninth inning and was
charged with a blown save and a loss to drop to 1-2 with Reading.
The Fightin Phils led 4-3 going to the ninth inning, but an error
led to three unearned runs in an eventual 6-5 Trenton Thunder win.
Rodriguez went 2-for-4 Monday including a two-run home run in the
fifth inning before leaving the contest.
The teams also play Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Nesseth's Phils to face A-Rod
July 15
Windom High School graduate and former Jackson County 4-Her Mike
Nesseth could find himself on the mound facing a former Major League
Baseball MVP sometime in the next three days.
Third baseman Alex Rodriguez will continue his rehab trail
with the Thunder.
A three-time American League MVP, Rodriguez underwent
arthroscopic hip surgery during the offseason and hasn't
played in the majors yet this season.
He started his rehab
assignment on July 2 with the Charleston River Dogs (A) and
proceeded to play with the Tampa Yankees (A+) prior to joining the
Rodriguez has played
games in back-to-back days with Tampa (Saturday and Sunday). On
Sunday he enjoyed his best day of the rehab assignment, going
1-for-3 with a walk, a double and two RBI.
Nesseth started the season at A+ Clearwater before being promoted
to AA Reading.
He has pitched in 22 games with the Phils, posting a 1-1 record
with three saves and a 1.88 earned-run average. In 28.2 innings, he
has allowed eight runs (six earned) on 20 hits, walking nine and
striking out 16.
Huskies start football practice one month from today
July 5
As the date above says, this is July 5.
One month from today, Monday, Aug. 5, the Jackson County Central
football team can begin conditioning for the 2013 season, which
opens seven weeks from tonight.
They'll be starting practice a week earlier than the rest of the
Huskies' teams as they have a Zero Week game scheduled for the first
time. With the Zero Week game, JCC will be idle the week of Oct. 4.
The Huskies will opens their season with two nonconference games,
at St. Louis Park on Aug. 23 and at Swearingen Field vs. Foley on
Aug. 30.
JCC is a Class 2A football school, while St. Louis Park is in
Class 5A. According to last year's enrollment figure, Jackson County
Central had an enrollment of 310, while St. Louis Park's enrollment
was 1,200. Foley is a Class 3A school.
Once the Huskies hit their Southwest Conference schedule, they
host Redwood Valley Sept. 6, go to Pipestone Sept. 13, entertain
Luverne Sept. 20 and visit Marshall Sept. 27 before their bye week.
JCC closes out the regular season by hosting Windom Oct. 11 and
playing at Worthington Oct. 16.
Volleyball and cross country practice starts Aug. 12. Those
schedules for Jackson County Central are not posted.
We do have the Martin County West schedules.
The first Mavericks squad to compete is the girls tennis team,
which goes to Mankato East on Aug. 20.
MCW's volleyball team opens at Fairmont on Aug. 26.
Both the cross country and football teams open on Aug. 29, with
the harriers at Mountain Lake and the gridders at New Ulm Cathedral.
Christopher new head coach of ELC boys basketball team
July 3
Corey Christopher is the new head boys basketball coach at
Estherville Lincoln Central High School.
He will continue to be an advisor at Iowa Lakes
Community College, where he also was an assistant coach with the Laker men's basketball team the last two seasons.
Christopher is a native of Jackson and a Jackson High School
graduate. He graduated from Southwest
Minnesota State University in 1993 with a B.S. in Language Arts
Education and Coaching. He also has a Master's degree in Sport
Psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Christopher has coached basketball for 18 seasons.
In the high school ranks, Corey has been an assistant coach at
Jackson High School, head coach at United South Central, an
assistant at Redwood Valley and head coach at Windom. He coached in
five section tournament championship games and the state tournament.
In the 2010-2011 season, Christopher served as an assistant
coach at Minnesota State, Mankato. The Mavericks finished with a 28-5 record and a run to the NCAA
Division II Final Four.
This past year, Iowa Lakes went 26-8, won the Region XI title and
played in the NJCAA Division II tourney.
ELC has compiled records of 8-16 and 7-15 the past two seasons.
The Midgets play at Jackson County Central next Jan. 13.
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Windom Area boys hockey team has new coach
The Windom Area boys hockey program has found a new head coach.
Tim Mellstrom has verbally agreed to become the next head coach of
the Eagles, according to the
Cottonwood County Citizen.
He's been the head coach of the girls hockey team at International
Falls for seven seasons, including helping start the girls hockey
program as a club sport.
Mellstrom will also teach social studies at Windom Area High School.
He replaces Jon Ammerman, who left last month to become an assistant
coach at Moorhead High School.
As it turns out, the head coaching position with the Spuds is now
open with the resignation last week of former coach Pete Cullen.
Applications for the head coaching position are being accepted until
July 12. School officials hope to have a new coach in place by the
end of the month.
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Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Klontz, Tish on state qualifying team
July 2
A Jackson County Central graduate and a Martin County West grad
are members of the Southwest Storm softball team that placed second
at a state Class C qualifying tournament at Caswell Park in North
Mankato last weekend.
Former Huskie Brooke Klontz and former Maverick Bailey Tish play
for the Storm, who are based in Worthington and have a roster of
players from around southwest Minnesota.
They'll play in the state tournament July 20-21 in Otsego.
This weekend, the Storm went 4-2. On Saturday, they dropped
their first game to SD Flash 12-3 before beating Mahtomedi 12-0 and
Rocori 12-0.
On Sunday, the Storm defeated JCC 11-1 in five innings and
Mahtomedi 13-0 in five innings before losing the championship game
4-3 to the Mankato Peppers.
In the front row are Rebecca Kazemba (Okabena), Brooke Klontz
(Jackson), Ida Rogers (Okabena), Paige Kinley (Worthington), Betsy
Thompson (Worthington) and Stephanie Kazemba (Okabena). In the back
row are Cameron Crow (Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian,
Christina Kazemba (Okabena), Bailey Tish (MCW) and Brianna Mullaney
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Krumwiede to play, Schuller to coach in all-star game
June 29
Martin County
West graduate Austin Krumwiede will play strong safety for the South squad for
Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game at 1 p.m. Saturday
at Husky
Stadium at Saint Cloud State. Krumwiede was an injury replacement.
The teams have
been in camp at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter since Saturday.
In his senior
season with the Mavericks, Krumwiede had 72 tackles and two interceptions. He'll
play college football at Central Lakes Community College in Brainerd.
Krumwiede is
the first Martin County West athlete to play in the all-star game. Neil Royer of
MCW was an assistant coach with the Outstate team in 1998.
Sherburn had
two athletes play, Kent Musser in 1952 and Lee Schafer in 1979.
Steve Goossen
of Trimont was selected to play in the 1985 game. Cliff Senne of Welcome was an
assistant coach for the South in 1979.
Two players from the Southwest Conference will play for the South team,
defensive lineman Alex Weis of Luverne and offensive lineman Alex Werner of Marshall.
Among the other players on the team are WR Bryce Holm of Fairmont, LB Carter Hanson
of Blue Earth Area and DL Lance Briard of Springfield.
Tom Schuller of Jackson County Central is an assistant coach with
the South team this year.
He becomes the third local coach to coach in the all-star
game, which started in 1945.
Wes Wistrom of Jackson was an assistant
coach in 1974.
Lorny Johnson of Lakefield was an assistant in 1976. He also played
in the all-star game in 1959 after graduating from Moorhead High School.
Hutchinson's Andy Rostberg will be the head coach of the South team.
Other assistants are Grady Rostberg and David Larson, Hutchinson;
Marc Achterkirch, Owatonna; Brent Schroeder, Caledonia; and Giovan
Jenkins, Minneapolis Washburn.
Joe Mayer, who coach at Rochester Lourdes and was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame
in 1992 is honorary coach.
Dwight Lundeen of Becker will be the head coach for the North.
Stay up to date on the latest sports news at KKOJ.com, find our
Facebook page
or follow me on Twitter
Bulls to meet up with South Dakota power
June 28
The Jackson Bulls are scheduled to play a nonleague game at 2
p.m. Saturday at one of the hotbeds for amateur baseball in South
Dakota as they cross the border to Renner to play the Monarchs.
Renner Ball Park was placed on the National Register of Historic
Places by the United States Department of the Interior in November
2006. Baseball has been played on that location in Renner since 1921.
The grandstand was remodeled in 1963 after a
storm destroyed the roof, at which time a press box was erected
that featured controls for an automatic scoreboard beyond
the outfield fence. The speakers, nearly 60 years old, are still
Other upgrades and amenities that have been added over the years
include a wooden outfield fence and professional foul pole paddles,
due to the generosity of those involved in the Renner Baseball
Association and many league teams that have utilized Renner Ball
Park over the years.
The team on the field in Renner over the years has been just as
impressive as the ballpark itself.
This year's Monarchs are ranked first in the state in Class A,
South Dakota's largest class.
Renner has played in the state championship game 12 consecutive
seasons, winning seven times. Overall, the Monarchs have won 15
state titles dating back to 1939.
New to Renner this season is left-handed pitcher Matt Wilber, who
was a fixture with the Dell Rapids Mudcats for years. He's married
to Heron Lake-Okabena-Lakefield graduate Lindsay Voss, daughter of
Tub and Amy Voss of Jackson. He recently was named men's basketball
coach at Dakota Wesleyan. You can read more about him a little
further down this page.
Another addition to the Monarchs' roster this season is 6-foot-4, 300-pound slugger Juan Thomas.
He's a
former Triple-A All-Star who played parts of two seasons with the
Sioux Falls Canaries. The 41-year-old is known as "The Large Human."
He's had games recently of eight runs batted in and six RBI.
Thomas was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 10th round of
the 1991 Amateur Draft. In his 14 minor league seasons, he hit 291
home runs. He was a minor league All-Star in 1996 and 2000 and an
independent league All-Star in 1998 and 2003.
After their journey to South Dakota, Jackson (13-2) have three
important First Nite League games before the Fourth of July.
Sunday, the Bulls will play two. They'll face the Worthington
Cubs at 2 p.m. at the Minnesota West field and then come home to
host the Heron Lake Lakers at 6:30 at Wacker Field.
On Wednesday, Jackson goes to Fairmont to play the Martins in a
7:30 p.m. game at Herb Wolf Field.
Fell named A.D. at Mankato West
June 27
Jackson High School graduate Brian Fell has been named activities
director at Mankato West High School.
After graduation from Gustavus Adolphus College and playing on
the Gusties' men's basketball team,
he taught and coached
girls basketball at Osceola, Wis., for seven years and then was
the assistant athletic director at Hopkins for two years.
He has
been an athletic director for six
years, three at
Mound-Westonka and three at Bloomington Jefferson.
Brian, his wife Nissa, and their two children, three-year-old Lydia
and one-year-old
Charlie, live in St. Peter.
Wilber new men's basketball coach at DWU
June 25
Tub and Amy Voss will be seeing their grandkids move an hour
further away.
Their daughter Lindsay is married to Matt Wilber, who is the new
men's basketball coach at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell,
It's his first head coaching position at any level.
He had stops as an assistant at South Dakota State, Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls
before the position with TIBBS. Matt ran the school, which worked with 800-1,000
players each year and


text:
Siena Women's Center Leadership Initiative
The Young Women's Leadership Initiative (YWLI) was established in September of 2008 with grant funding from New York Community Bank. The focus of the program is to select a group of young women of diverse backgrounds and majors who are in good academic standing with the intent of increasing social and political awareness with regard to current women's issues.
Young women selected to participate in the YWLI attend lectures and seminars, the Molloy Women's Business Luncheon and other award/grant foundation events. The YWLI have the opportunity to network with prominent women from many walks of life. In addition, each year there is a trip paid through grant funding. Past trips have included Washington D.C., Albany, Rochester and Seneca Falls.

subset: commoncrawl


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Trayvon Martin's life celebrated a year after his death
It's a case that caught everyone's attention.
This month marks the one year anniversary of Trayvon Martin's death. It would have also been his 18th birthday.
Over the weekend... Family and friends celebrated the teen's life. The Trayvon Martin Foundation hosted a star-studded remembrance dinner.
The program started off with Jaime Foxx singing happy birthday to the late teen.
Cedric the Entertainer was also at the event.
Police say martin was unarmed when he was allegedly shot and killed by George Zimmerman.
The neighborhood watch guard has been charged with second degree murder. His trial is expected to begin this summer.


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Belle Chasse, La. - A four month undercover drug operation in Plaquemines Parish ends with 21 arrests.
Sheriff Lonnie Greco says they have cases against 27 defendants in all, three of which are still at large.
Narcotics officers made drug purchases from suspects throughout the parish and started rounding up suspects two weeks ago.
Sheriff Greco says most of them have prior arrest records and this time they'll be staying in jail.
"There is no revolving door. We will make sure you are not going to be walking in the streets like you do in Jefferson and Orleans. I'm not saying anything bad about those parishes, it's just that they are full to capacity and have to make room for the most violent, but over here we have plenty room," said Greco.
A new 800 bed prison is set to open in Plaquemines Parish next Spring.
Fox 8 WVUE-TV
Louisiana Media Company, LLC.
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New Orleans, LA 70125
General Number: (504) 486-6161
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News Room Fax: (504) 483-1543