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It was another big week for several of the best Bison of recent vintage. The headline-maker of headline-makers was Grant Nelson again as he withdrew from the draft to gain more seasoning in hopes of a better review next May. So far he's set to visit three schools - Arkansas, Baylor & Alabama. While none of them are classic blue-bloods each has been among the best in all college basketball in recent years so he's certainly swimming in the right part of the pool!
The same goes for the latest two All-American wrestlers as Jared Franek & Michael Calliendo have each splashed in the early days of their transfer portal presence.
The final decisions for all three stars could come any day but it already came for one who preceded them all - Ben Ellefson. The Hawley/NDSU great announced his retirement, citing ongoing health issues. With the ceiling being Jim Kleinsasser version 2 it's a regrettable ending. As that door closed it took mere moments to think that a return to the sideline on either the prep or college levels could happen as soon as he is ready to put on a headset.
On the other end of the spectrum, Darius Shepherd got another shot to continue performing at the highest level as he was signed by San Diego. His latest stop reunites him with Easton Stick. which can only help his chances of hanging around!
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That chance also came to two members of the Redhawks organization as closer Reid Birlingmair & starter Davis Feldman were snatched by Texas & Toronto. The contract transfers come as they've won nine of their last 12 outings The Bigs may come for more before too long!
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Perhaps a few years from now some of the ones who achieved at the amateur level will have similar experiences. For the third year in a row Sheyenne took the Class A baseball tournament, despite a valiant effort by North in their first title bid since 2006. Thompson also cruised to the Class B winner's circle following a nail-biter against Central Cass. They had a chance to sweep in Minot but came up a few runs shy of Beulah. On their home turf Davies also had the chance to raise a trophy but the girl's soccer title match also finished in favor of the Majettes.
From the results, Shanley's Ella Frisk was named SAotY for girls soccer while Cory Erickson (H/CV) & Nate Soulis (Thompson) were named the Coaches of the Year for the B diamond sports.
Across the River D/G/F had little trouble returning to the State softball tournament as they outscored their section tournament opponents 46 - 6. They will go against the section three champs, Pipestone on Thursday. Ada/Borup's boys will also try to breakthrough against West Marshall, Tuesday in Bemidji.
Further away from the main tournament, both of Moorhead's lacrosse teams are still in the hunt with the semi-finals set to go-off Tuesday. If they get by St. Cloud (boys) & St. Michael/Albertville (girls) they will secure a busy Thursday for the Patch as seven members of the track team qualified for the State meet, which starts that day. Park Christian's contingent bound for the State Meet turned it up to 11! Those results came after the section golf tournament as Joe Kortan & Joey Simonich qualified for the AAA State meet from the Spuds while the section course was also good for the Falcons as they scored spots from both teams in next weeks rounds!
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NDSU also had some good news confirmed mid-week as Trevor Otterdahl, Matt Kraft, Benji Phillips & Jacob Rodin were announced as participants in the national meet later this week.
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The Namesake Purple also provided some hype-fodder for their fanbase with the announcement of two sets of joint practices prior to their home preseason "games" against Arizona & Tennessee. It will further invalidate the televised events at the Purple Palace but makes total sense for the teams & League to go this route as the practices will provide a much more controllable environment for training & evaluation.
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In a bit of numerical symmetry, Sonny Gray became just the seventh American League starting pitcher to allow one earned-run or less over his first 11 starts in the last 110 years.
110 years!
1 1 0 Y E A R S ! !
Let that sink in
The wheels could fall all the way off, as they have for every organization except for the Lady Cats over the last 30 years.
Would not take away from that being a legendary start to the season for a franchise that has had such a dearth of quality pitching over the last decade!
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Latest for last, it's been reported that Anthony Edwards is already among those ready to join Team USA for the Basketball World Cup this Summer. It's huge for his continued development but also could lay the groundwork for future free agent additions as he ascends up the hierarchy of the Association! Pessimists might take the other tack but as an avowed individual who doesn't want to just follow the crowd he could finally be the one to successfully recruit, instead of having to leave to succeed.
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Now we'll begin to see what this Summer has in store!
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