Of the many weeks since mid-March, few have been as grating as the one that just wrapped up. I'm not one to dance around topics just because they aren't positive - as characterized by many of the tweets this week - but over the last several months I have made a point of trying to find some silver lining in the things that happen. This week is no different, but I'll be honest, turning these lemons into the ade will be a stretch at times.
Even though it's August it was a pretty quiet week from Eagan. There were a bunch of Zoom conference calls with team leaders but they were boilerplate.
One development that no one saw coming was that rookie Linebacker Cameron Smith will be undergoing open-heart surgery for a condition that was discovered after his positive C-19 result. Considering all the deaths that have been linked to the virus it was welcome to hear that some good came out of it. And if it could happen to a professional athlete it could certainly happen to any number of average people. Sad though it is, lives being saved isn't a part of the narrative so we'll only hear about such things when the person has a high profile but Cam Smith is an example of the kind of good we should be looking for.
In standard fashion, Matt Larsen filled a significant coaching role with an in-house candidate. Former head women's T & F coach Stevie Keller was promoted to director of the entire program. One look at his resume and the logic of the choice becomes clear. In a subsequent move, Justin St. Clair was also promoted, to the associate director position but he will remain in charge of the throwers. Considering their recent dominance, that's as good of news as there will be in this week's roundup!
In what has become a weekly development, there was another non-conference 🏀 game announced this week. To be exact it was two, but who's counting. The women's team will be playing BYU & the hosts in Irvine, CA the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Which just leaves the little matter of what the 🏈 team will be doing this Fall. Like so many conferences before it, the Valley yielded to the momentum of the panic while allowing teams the option to play three non-conference games. In the days that followed there have already been three defections by UNI standouts while other players have taken to platforms with a desire to play. The most notable Bison player to speak up being Trey Lance.
I'll be surprised if the expressions lead to anything more than likes & shares but after the deafness is proven I won't be surprised by a host of other players deciding to sit out. If the choice is between the best league in the world and the chance to play in the Spring & subsequently have to wait a full 365 days to be drafted, it's a pretty easy decision.
I'm so ready for HS soccer to start!
Moorhead State and the Northern Sun have yet to announce any further revisions to the Fall calendar but with national panic leading to cancellation of Fall championships, the momentum in that direction is undeniable. Whether it would just be to Football or a more sweeping set of changes is hard to predict but for the time being there's a chance that some games will be played at Nemzek...
One definitively positive development was that the women's 🎾 team & six individuals were among the Academic All-Americans by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Olivia Keelin, Alexis Koneche, Emma Wood, Lorissa Yuen, Julia Geske & Rachel Nguyen earned the accolade by finishing last year with at least a 3.5 GPA while the whole team had a 3.2 in order to make the list.
That wasn't the only good news! The fire breathers men's 🏀 team received a commitment from another talented, local swingman as Owen Hektner picked them to continue his career after he's done at Davies.
The MIAC made it official this week as all Fall sports other than ⛳️ & 🎾 will be delayed until the Fall. Even those two will be conference-only this Fall but it will give the competitors in those sports a spotlight unlike what they would have had otherwise. So Courts Plus will be the place to be for Cobber fans!
While it was long-anticipated, Minnesota finally got definite control of Brooklyn's first-round pick. Now they just need to be eliminated in the first round while Rosas' crew has to find a gem that's more ready right away than Jarrett Culver. One of the two options is more likely than the other.
Minnie & Paul's club spent the 3/12 of the season inexplicably losing to supposedly bad teams four games in a row. The supposedly part specifically applies to Kansas City. Can't rip a team after a sweep. So the favorites in the division are going to have to get their stuff together quickly or Cleveland, NYY, Houston & others will quickly take control in the playoff seeding race!
At long last, the MSHSL made their final decisions about this Fall. Yes, 🏈 & 🏐 were bumped to Spring which also means that traditional Spring sports will be happening differently again, if they are able to take place at all. As with basically every person or organization that has been forced to make unique decisions this year, they were faced with no good option. There's no guarantee that the situation will have markedly improved by March but it is possible that some sort of vaccine will have been derived by then. I've been opposed to a Spring 🏈 season from the first I heard the rumor because of the health affects on players who would be going onto play collegiately or returning for another year of high school competition after such an abbreviated break. Swapping one health issue for another (or others) is not a win. As for 🏐 , I don't particularly buy the indoor sport excuse since it's a fairly distanced game by nature & could have been modified to exaggerate space in similar fashion to how pro 🏀 did but they took the other approach. Like I said, no good options.
The upside though is that the board did make some changes to give girls 🎾 , Swimming/Diving & Cross-Country a chance by limiting the number of teams or events per week. They also cleared ⚽️ for this Fall which makes it the big-winner though every sport may see increased numbers at their tryouts. One other positive would be that athletes who forego any those options to focus on their Winter sport could improve at it more than they otherwise would have. It's speculative, but still within the realm of possibility.
The Red Birds started the week with Matt Tomshaw being announced as the Pitcher of the Week after throwing 16 scoreless innings against Winnipeg & Milwaukee.
On the field they had a bit of a strange week. After a couple of losses to St. Paul came a two-day break before one scheduled against Winnipeg that was weathered out to create a seven-inning doubleheader scenario on Tuesday. Their season is quickly becoming a 'meh.'
The easiest positive of all this week came from the amateur ⚾️ ranks. Post 2 started the state tournament with a 10-0 win over Fargo's 400 that included a complete game by Tommy Wellen on the mound. WF followed suit against Dickinson with an 11-0 win.
400 got back on the diamond against Williston & pulled out a 3-2 W thanks to an Andy Mach 2-run HR.
P2 played Grand Forks in their second game of the tournament and finished with another shutout, 11-0. They kept it rolling with a 9-3 win over Bismarck that included a complete game by Cole Hage.
In the championship, Post 2 had one last dance with the Patriots and finished on the right side of a 5-4 final. West Fargo finished with a very respectable 43-15 record. P2 didn't just take care of business on the "AA" level but the Jets also got the final win in the "A" group. It would be a lot to think that the up & comers could continue the recent run of success but nothing can be ruled out at this point!
And even if the talent drops off somewhat over the next few Summers, the dominant Dirt Dawg players will be coming up in no time so the future for ⚾️ in Fargo remains very bright!
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