Minnesota: Spring Sports Roundup

West Central’s Brady, Mounds View’s Hansen off and running; Eastview, St. Cloud Cathedral and Sleepy Eye-St. Mary hold down No. 1 rankings.

By Matt Krumrie
MaxPreps.com 

The 2008 Minnesota spring sports season is in full force. Here is an alphabetical look at some highlights, news and notes so far this spring:

Baseball

Eastview (3A), St. Cloud Cathedral (2A) and Sleepy Eye-St. Mary’s (1A) have emerged as the top teams in the latest Coaches’ Association poll. Eastview is 6-0 on the season, and led by the hitting of Erik Fabry (.500) and Erik Klefsaas (.474) in the early going. Fabry and teammate Cory Eul are among the Twin Cities leaders in runs scored with eight each. Ranked No. 2 in the state is Maple Grove (3A), Pipestone (2A) and Red Lake Falls(1A).

Diamond Notes:

  • Minneapolis Southwest is off to a 7-0 start and has one of the most potent offenses in the Twin Cities. Ethan Green is hitting .600, John Licht .550, Matt Smrekar .523, Angus Vaughan .455, and Jim Heffernan .409. Vaughan leads the Twin Cities with 13 RBI while Smrekar has 12. Green leads the Twin Cities with 17 runs scored, and Smrekar is second with 13. On the mound Bennett Johnson and Ellis Polling have combined to go 4-0 with 27 strikeouts.
  • Mounds View is off to a 4-0 start and in first place in the Suburban East Conference. The Mustangs got a big 6-2 win over Cretin-Derham Hall Monday and have been led by the bat of Ross Laduke (.667 average, six RBI) and Brandon Hershey (six RBI) in the early going.
  • Mabel-Canton defeated Hope Lutheran 16-0 behind the arm and bat of Blaine Coyle. Coyle pitched a five-inning no-hitter, and was 3-for-3 with four RBI at the plate.

Golf

Boys:

  • Mankato West is the top team in the latest state team rankings, followed by Virginia, Meadow Creek Christian, Rochester Mayo and Marshall in the top five.
  • Kyle Thul of Centennial, who has an average of 72.5, is the top-ranked individual. Second is Tony Krogen of Marshall (73.2).
  • Max Matthews of Arlington and Mike Denison of Como Park both shot a 39 to win medalist honors at a St. Paul City Conference meet at Highland Tuesday. Como Park won the event with a team score of 121. Central was a distant second with a score of 75.

Girls:

  • Amy Miller of Mound-Westonka won medalist honors with a 41 at the Wright County Invite. Litchfield won the team event with a score of 184, while Delano was second with 192. Miller’s Mound-Westonka team was third with a score of 195.
  • Staples-Motley, with a team total of 355, won the Ranger Invitational Tuesday. Hibbing finished second with a score of 372, paced by medalist Ashli Hedstrom with a 78.
  • Burnsville is ranked No. 2 in the state behind Minnewaska in the latest state rankings. The Blaze are the top-ranked 2A team, and led by Natalie Samb and Gretchen Huhnerkoch.

Lacrosse

Boys:

  • Breck earned a tough, 8-7, two overtime win over Totino-Grace Tuesday. Matt Penick scored three goals and Andy Dines two in the win.
  • Blake, the top-ranked team in the state, defeated Benilde-St. Margaret’s 12-7 Tuesday. Collin Wiese, Jordan Sievold and Kip Dooley each scored three goals for Blake.

Girls:

  • Bloomington Jefferson edged Burnsville 11-10 in Lake Conference action Tuesday. Kelsey Steinbach scored four goals and Amanda Colin three in the loss for the Blaze.
  • Park of Cottage Grove senior Jessica Gutierrez has scored 16 goals in the first six games for the Wolfpack. She had three goals and Jackie Hegg and Holly Frankenberg two each in a 13-6 win over Stillwater Tuesday.

Softball

The latest state coaches’ association rankings have been released. On top is Eagan (3A), St. Peter (2A), and New Ulm Cathedral (1A). Ranked No. 2 in each class is Park of Cottage Grove (3A), New Ulm (2A) and New Life Academy(1A).

Diamond Notes:

  • The Concordia Academy trio of Kasiann Keister, Diehtra Bigelbach and Tessa Stener have combined to steal 30 bases (10 each). Lauren Walker and Rachel Binning have nine stolen bases each, Amanda Kramer eight and Jessica Moriarity six. The Beacons are 7-2 through nine games.
  • Carlton defeated Wrenshall 26-0 Tuesday in a game that had many offensive highlights for the Bulldogs. Among them were Mackenzie Belanger, who had four hits, including two home runs; Megan Nelson who had five hits and three RBI; and April Broneak and Monita Gibson (four hits each).
  • Defending big school state champion North Saint Paul is off to a 4-0 start with Brittany Kretsch 3-0 with an ERA of 2.06 on the season. Brittini Bayers leads the Polars in the early going with a .545 batting average.

Tennis (Boys) Notes

  • Rochester Mayo rolled past city rival Rochester John Marshall 7-0 in boys tennis action this week. No. 2 singles player Tom Nath and the No. 2 doubles tandem of Matt Rotchschild and Krishna Pundi won their matches without losing a game.
  • Hermantown edged Duluth Central 4-3 Tuesday. Winning for Hermantown were Brian Lindberg, Carl Gustafson and Kurt Peterson, and the doubles tandem of Safwan Siddiqui and John Sorci.

Track and Field Notes

  • Boys: Derek Brady of West Central Area High broke a 25-year-old meet record at the Pelican Rapids Invitational in the triple jump when he won the event with a jump of 41-feet-10.5 inches. He also won the 200 meter dash (22.70), and long jump (20.03.50), and finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.19.
  • Girls: Mounds Views Leah Hansen has emerged as a triple threat for the Mustangs. She has ran a Twin Cities-best 12.56 in the 100-meter dash, a top time of 26.09 in the 200-meter dash and the second best time in the 400-meter dash (60.28).

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