No one has missed the main story of the week but you may have missed the statement made by a certain pro quarterback which was followed by an equally honest one by the current head coach of his alma mater. Words have only so much weight at times like these but both men did about as good of a job expressing themselves as any could.
But that was just a portion of the news generated by the Herd.
Early in the week the latest batch of All-Americans in the Track & Field machine were announced. From the men, Alex Talley & Kristoffer Thomsen carried the torch as top throwers. The women had a slightly broader composite, Akealy Moton finished her second year on the list along with Shelby Gunnells & Maddy Nilles, all from the thrower group.
Other special recognition went the way of both the Softball & ⚾️ teams. From the former, Montana DeCamp, Sam Koehn & Paige Vargas were all named to the league All-Academic team, with MD making it two years in a row while the others will have chances to at least equal that in the future. The guys also landed three on their list, led by Charley Hesse a second time while Tucker Rohde & Max Loven were newcomers.
And rounding out the week, 🏈 . Tomorrow will mark the long-awaited move toward normalcy as the players will be able to turn to campus for "voluntary" workouts. I don't quotation that for sarcasm but because most, if not all, of the guys will be getting into the facility to start making up for the lost time. This week also included the announcement of a preseason All-Americans list, including five from Fargo. Trey Lance, Dillon Radunz & Cordell Volson were first team while Nash Jensen & Michael Tutsie were on the second. I would be surprised if a player or two doesn't work his way onto the lists that count but in thinking about this one, I'm not surprised that the offense would be considered ahead of the defense.
Speaking of athletes getting special recognition, Moorhead State can boast a couple as well. Chris Cook and Shyrone Kemp each were designated as All-Americans by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Cook did so as the cap to a season in which he set the school record in the High Jump. It was his third such achievement in two years. Kemp got the esteem for his success in the Triple Jump after achieving conference Newcomer of the Year at the indoor championship.
Minnesota did the nearly unthinkable this week. No, they didn't comp all tickets for however many games they manage to play this year. That would be terrible business but the Pohlad's organization did do something to force a moratorium on criticism. This week they announced that they would not only retain all their minor leaguers but they will also honor the contracts of their farm system players even if there aren't games.
As the organization awaits word whether they will have even an abbreviated season, they have made some moves in recent days. On what would have been the first Friday night at Newman the team held a fireworks night and announced their all-quarter-century team, with names ranging from early to recent. It's hard to believe that they've been in operation that long!
A pair of decisions this week will have an effect on the community beyond what we are able to know today. The first was the cancelation of the USA Wrestling Summer tournament and the other was that Grand Forks will be playing on the second level in 2021 while decisions by North, South & Shanley have not yet been made public. The first choices affects will be largely financial as it has drawn well every year that it's been in Fargo so that it more revenue not going to local businesses this year. The second means that the 1-29 rivalry will be put even more on the colleges, even with the way that the GF highs have struggled to keep up in recent years.
In other news, Moorhead had two highs and a sadness this week. The namesake for their complex, Jim Gotta passed away early this weekend on the heels of being included in a Spuds heritage video. Just prior to that, Trey Feeney revealed that he will be traveling North for college, to join the other universities team. The school also announced that they have hired Tom Dryburgh from NDSCS to be their new girl's 🏀 coach after a very successful six-year stint at the JUCO.
In other coaching news, long time girl's 🏀 coach Tom Critchley will be moving on from DGF to Big Lake as their new boy's coach.
Last but not least, Shanley's Greta McArthur & Jacob Skarperud were each tabbed for the National High School Association Golf Invitational which is set for the first week of August at Pinehurst in North Carolina.
The "Northern Elite Football League" may have seen it's final days pass as a whisper. There's no telling what next Summer will hold, there's no telling what even tomorrow will bring but as far more high profile (see profitable) leagues float the idea of shuddering it's fair to think that the rag-tag bunch of semi-amateurs could have the same fate. It's too bad because they would probably have drawn record attendance but with half the league being Minnesota based, the timing just didn't work.
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