Vikings
It's draft game season which provides fodder for national writers or locals who make it to the games but doesn't leave much as far as Vikings specific information.
What was Vikings specific was the first Vikings Mock Draft for my little slice of sports talk on the web. Take a peek if you haven't already!
Bison
I hit on it in what I consider to be satisfactory fashion in the mid-season breakdown of Bison Basketball so I'm going to breeze past the losses to SDSU. The Wrestling team traveled to Central Michigan on Thursday and managed six match wins. They followed that up with an eight win afternoon as Northern Colorado came to town on Sunday. In between a few of the members traveled to Collegeville, MN for the North Country Open on Saturday.
Saturday also included a day of work by both halves of the Track & Field team. You can see the the full results for the men & women through the links but I wouldn't be doing it right if I didn't give a little more recognition to the star of the weekend. Payton Otterdahl came within four inches of setting a new NCAA record for the shot put. His 71 foot throw is the third best ever and increased his hold on the world #1 ranking by 19 inches. In an event where every centimeter is measured that's a crazy way to go about the Winter season!
The Basketball teams looked to rebound from Jackrabbit destruction against Oral Roberts. The women got smashed by 29 while the men won going away behind a 23 point performance by Vinnie Shahid. Both outcomes will have implications as the final full month of play unfolds. Not to say that the women are buried but it stiffens their competition for position going into Sioux Falls that much more.
Dragons
The Dragons had a compact week, with everything going down on Friday or Saturday. Track & Field went to UND for their indoor open and held their own over the two days of action.
The Basketball team's also spanned the short divide with a trip to Duluth then St. Cloud. Despite another strong showing by Megan Hintz, the Bulldogs rode a dominating third quarter to the win. The men's team came out firing and managed to equal the score behind the offense of Johnny Beeninga (16), Travaun Coad (20) & Addison Park (22). The 58 they scored matched what Duluth put up as a team.
The day after, the scripts were flipped. Powered by 27 from Jacky Volkert & 24 from Kiley Borowicz, the women pulled away in the third quarter to win 82-75. The guy's came back with five players at 11 or more points but still were still 15 short when their's finished.
The Aquathletes also traveled to South Minnesota for a showdown against Mankato but were defeated by 38 points.
The Wrestling team hosted Upper Iowa and won five matches up still fell by three points.
Cobbers
Cobbers men's Basketball hosted Carleton to open the week of competition with a seven point win behind 18 from Bryden Urie. In conjunction with the women's team, they traveled to St. Thomas on Wednesday but each fell by at least 35 points. They followed those up with visits by the Augsburg squads. The women lost by 24 while the guys fought tooth & nail only to be rewarded in season highlight fashion with a walk-off winner thanks to a 22 point performance & half court buzzer beater to win by Collin Larson.
If you haven't seen it already, here's the link!
That's a tough act to follow so good thing it was one of the last acts of the week. Before that miracle went through, the Hockey teams also got some work in against St. Thomas. The men skated to a double overtime tie on Friday then a 5-4 loss on Saturday. Back in Moorhead the women fell 2-0 on Friday and got a 1-1 tie of their own in the rematch.
The swim team hosted Morris but lost 127 - 96.
The Wrestling team traveled to St. John's and won 31 - 12.
Last but not least, the Track & Field teams also were in Grand Forks for the UND Open. Here are the full men's and women's results.
Timberwolves
I don't know what to say about this team. Every time it seems like the fork should be stuck in them they do something to breath life into the playoff conversation. It's good I suppose but is also a little bit maddening. If they're not going to make the playoffs then they should lose as many games as possible for the lottery. I know that's now how they think, nor should they but I'm an outsider so I'm saying it. Win & get in or lose. Doing some of both is a terrible strategy.
High School Sports
It was another busy week on the prep scene around town. Davies hosted North in a double feature with a special landmark being reached. A few days later, Sheyenne hosted Valley City in girl's Basketball in a tale of two halves.
As always, photos abound in each post.