Before the races & games came the announcement that first year head coach Tyler Oakes is the League Coach of the Year, which also included eight of his guys.
The first day in Fayetteville finished with Cody Roder & Jacob Rodin advancing in their runs. The next day Amy Phillips & Kari Wolfe secured their spots in Eugene as they each had top-six throws! The 4x400 took it to an even higher level with a third place finish, re-setting the school record along the way! The final day was the post-climax. A former standout for that bunch also made some news as West Fargo's own Alex Talley once again qualified for nationals, with Nebraska.
Over the same days ⚾️ was making their run at the national tournament but would come up well short. Even with the fall-flat Druw Sackett & Cade Feeney made the All-Tournament Team.
The week also included highly-touted QB Lincoln Kienholz keeping the school in his top four, over several schools from power-5 conferences. The grid-iron news continued as the long-awaited next FBS game was confirmed for a truly national broadcast, albeit at 10 pm central time. It leaves just two small holes to be filled between now & the season!
Late May can be news-free but the men's & women's 🏀 coaching staffs each added a recognizable name. In addition to that, Nadir Yusuf concluded his sterling time as a distance runner with a 10th-place performance at nationals! His long-time teammate, Chris Cook, finished with the 15th-best high jump. Junior Shyrone Kemp did even better, taking third in the triple jump! Sophomore Ashley Hokanson was also not content with just being their as she reached the top 10 in the pole vault!
Concordia's week began with the announcement of the national meet participants, including a late addition! Sophomore Peyton Selle turned the chance into the 15th-best heptathlon. Cal Wright was a breath away from advancing to the final of the 400M while Cooper Folkestad DQ'd in the shot put.
The Howl made their first splash of the offseason pilfering the highly-regarded Tim Connelly from Denver to be the new President. The new boss has yet to do the introductory press conference but should already be hard at work figuring out who the prime targets in the draft are as well as what to do with D'Angelo Russell. If he's able to find the same sorts of talents for Minnesota as he did in Denver then the foundation of the roster will get that much better while avoiding doom to the salary cap ahead of Edwards & McDaniels' extensions. With KAT being named to the All-Association third team he is eligible for the super max, which will also be something that Connelly & Co. will have to navigate!
The DET/KC parade continued. This week it was a series win over those Cats followed by a split as the bats alternated from cold to hot between each game. The series finale had the welcome addition of six strong innings by Sonny Gray but then, like a race horse pulling up lame, he was done. They have an ever-so-rare five-game series with Detroit to end the run. Even with the latest injury they should be able to take this series as well and extend their advantage in the division.
Nine in a row!
NINE WINS IN A ROW!!
If you're fond of the Spicy pizza joint you certainly are getting paid off these days!
Will it end? Almost certainly. but your guess as to when and how would be just as good!
The highlight of the week came Tuesday as Manny Boscan blasted a walk-off home run to take the home opener 4 - 3! That's a lot of exclamation points but when you're getting it done like they are right now the excitement is warranted. They'll remain on the road this week before coming home sweet home for nine in a row.
Reminder that scores are added daily + there's a new home for recruiting news, so check back often!
Now for this week's batch highlights
The final frenzy started on the ⛳️ course as Davies added another victory to their season while Shanley's Jake Skarperud was one shot better than FD's Gabe Benson for the lowest individual round. The links kept popping up as Oak Grove's Cody Card won the regional & was named Senior of the Year. With a top-three team finish they will be amongst the field at Oxbow.
In tournament softball action, Northern Cass scored five runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Hillsboro/CV 11 - 10! Their counterparts also advanced, via a 3 - 1 win over Kin/Rich. The Cinderella's of last week (Hankinson) weren't quite as able to replicate the magic, losing 2 - 1 against Kindred. They remained in the hunt for a State Tournament berth against Central Cass after the Squirrel's cruised by Enderlin 14 - 0 & NC 9 - 2. In the shutout Tori Richter & Natalie Fontaine struck out 10. CC was not to be denied as they advanced to the championship and then edged the Vikings 4 - 2. The Thompson girls left nothing to chance with a 21-point stomping of Langdon/E/M but were similarly undone by May/Port/C/G 16 - 5 as the Pats won their 17th straight game. The region 2 boys from Thompson did finish the job against Hatton/N/M/P/C/G, Kyle Odenbach was named SAotY.
Across the River Moorhead took apart Buffalo 11 - 0 and then squeaked out an 8 - 6 vs Minnetonka. They will open tournament play at Bemidji Wednesday. D/G/F extended a winning stretch to 8 of the last 9 games with the only loss coming to Barnesville 2 - 1. Ada/B/W has also found their stride in recent weeks punctuated by wins of 16 - 6 (Red Lake) & 8 - 0 (U/H/NCE) Lake Park ⚾️ had an 11 - 5 time against Bagley but then were mowed down by Hawley 13 - 0, who started the week with an 11 - 1 win over Mahnomen/W. Ulen/H/NCE also put a hurt on B/G/MR to end the regular season.
The other Taters got a 6 - 5 win over St. Cloud in section 8AAAA SB. D/G/F started their section tournament run beating Red Lake & Park Rapids 28 - 0. Hawley continued their own great season on the softball field with wins by at least five runs in five of their last seven (all Ws), beginning with a 4 - 3 win over Rogers. They've won their first three tournament games and get TRF Tuesday evening. Fertile/B finished the year outscoring their three opponents 48 - 9 but only sustained that level of output for the first game of section play, dropping their last two 26 - 6 to B/G/MR & A/B/W. Ada was shutout in the second game of their section but bounced back to win twice, 14 - 4 (Sacred Heart) & 11 - 5 (Fertile/B). They will be in Red Lake Falls to face East Polk Tuesday. U/H/NCE see-sawed their four game stint in the section tournament, were eliminated by East Polk County. LP/A had a run-rule game in section tournament play against Ashby. They followed that with another good outing from the circle but couldn't match C/G/B's five runs yet kept their season going with a 6 - 3 win against Hancock. Barnesville had a tough end to the reg but have kept their season going with a pair of wins, including 15 - 5 over Frazee and will now get D/G/F.
In EDC ⚾️ tournament action Sheyenne & North got one-run wins against Central & Shanley. They caught each other in the semi-finals and the defending state champs got by the Spartans 5 - 0. Already with the state tournament berth secured they took the top spot from Wahpeton 7 - 4. In the consolation Shanley kept their hopes afloat, 7 - 5 vs. Central and then breezed past Valley City 16 - 6. North will join them in Jamestown after eliminating Red River 8 - 5. Not surprisingly the All-Conference was thick with locals.
On the other side Sheyenne, West Fargo & North all won their quarterfinals by at least nine runs. The West's then won both their semi's, 14 - 7 over North (WFS) & 4 - 0 over RR (WF). Sheyenne took the title 12 - 2 with both teams also leading on the EDC A-C. South wasn't able to break through but for the second season this year their long-time star was named SAotY.
The first day of the week also included play-in 🎾 action as West Fargo edged Wahpeton while Shanley took all five vs. South. When the main day of competition came Davies & Sheyenne were lightly-tested en route to the championship, with the Eagles coming out ahead in the championship 3 - 2. North also earned a spot at the final tourney 3 - 2 over Red River.
Following the Region 1 tournament came their All- honors, with Central Cass' Brendan Maasjo & N Cass' Sam Johnson get player/coach nods.
There were also a few more matches that needed to unfold. South got a shutout win against GFC and Sheyenne had a 5 - 1 time opposite North. The Mustangs then turned right around and put the same final on the Bruins Tuesday. On the last day of the regular season West Fargo beat South 4 - 1.
Moorhead also got LAX wins, 14 - 11 over Grand Rapids (G) & 5 - 3 over Irondale (B).
Last but certainly not least is the state 🏃 meets. With winners on all three days and three of the four team titles it was a tremendous time in Bismarck for many of the local competitors!
In addition to the outcomes, Davies Rory Biel was named Girls Class A Coach of the Year while Sheyenne's Jordan Aus had the honor for the boys. Kindred's Josh Allmaras is the Class B Boys CotY.
There was also coaching news this week as Lake Park/Audubon hired Kaila Capouch to be the new head girls 🏀 coach and Addie Vancura coming from Wahpeton to head the 🏐 team.
The men were back on road Friday for a match against Minneapolis City. With scores by Tre Bonaparte & Kazuma Ishizuka they got their first win of the season 2 - 1.
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