Jaguars Senior Three-Sport Star Austin Kampsen Nominated for Hengstler-Ranweiler Award

Before I get into my sports notebook, I want to post the following:

The 5-year old daughter of Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was killed, struck by car driven by brother. She was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her teenage brother, authorities said. It was ruled an accident, and it was an horrifying event that played out before a large number of family members, who saw it take place.

I really don't need to say more than that, it's a horrible tragedy. Pray for their family.

A little praise can be given to the Lord for this news:
The A-C-GC levy referendum passed by 103 votes! It was the 5th try after 4 failed levies. 1,136 yes votes to 1,033 no votes.

B-B-E senior Austin Kampsen, one of the top running backs in Jaguars football history, was nominated for the prestigious Hengstler-Ranweiler award. His accolades in wrestling and baseball were also mentioned in the Thursday issue of the West Central Tribune. (www.wctrib.com)

Baseball notes:
Albany gained a tie with St.Cloud Cathedral for the West Central North Conference championship with a 1-0 win over Foley. It was an incredible game that went 3 extra innings, with the Huskies scoring the game's only run on a fielding error in the bottom of the 10th. Their pitcher went all 10 innings on the mound! I believe he is a U of M Gophers recruit (Kurt Schlangen) The game was played in St.Martin on Tuesday.

Pierz trailed 10-2 after 3 1/2 innings in their home game against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted on Tuesday. They then erupted for 7 runs in the bottom of the fourth and one run each in the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings to finish the CMC season unbeaten by every team except our Jaguars. They went 12-2 in the CMC and are 12-5 overall.

Fastpitch notes...
The Paynesville Bulldogs take a 14-3 record into the Sub-Section 6AA-South championship game, held on Thursday at 5:00 in Albany. Paynesville defeated a very good Minnewaska team 3-0 in the semi-finals. Minnewaska (16-5, 11-3 WCCS) was the West Central South Conference co-champions with Benson/Hancock. The Bulldogs are having another breakout season, as they made the Section 5AA championship series in 2007. They will face the 4th-seeded Rocori Spartans (12-7), who vanquished the St.Cloud Cathedral Crusaders by a 10-0 score in the semi-finals. The Crusaders finish the season 18-4, including the West Central North Conference Championship. (Isn't it nice how that private school manages to swipe a large amount of conference and post-season hardware? Ask any Sauk Centre volleyball fan and you will know what I'm talking about.)

The Pierz Pioneers saw their brief playoff run come to an end in the Sub-Section 6AA-18 semi-finals with an 11-1 loss in six innings to the 3rd-seeded Milaca Wolverines (10-4). The Pioneers, who were the 7th seed, finish their season 4-14, along with a 7th-place (3-11) finish in the Central Minnesota Conference.

Miscellaneous...
The Minnewaska Area Lakers boys and girls golf teams both won the West Central South Conference championship. Also, the Lakers girls golf team is on track for its third straight state golf title. The Star Tribune featured the team in its Tuesday, May 13th issue. It's nice to see some positives going on over there, after they have gone through tough, tough years budget-wise. They've also had to overcome the silly, silly people of Starbuck, who started a charter elementary school last summer. While in some cases, what is one school's loss and/or hardship is usually its neighbors' gains, I hate seeing our area schools in such tough shape.

The MACCRAY school district voted this week to cut $230,000 from its budget. This comes on the heels of over $700,000 in cuts made in 2007. Whew! They are also moving to a 4-day week next year (2008-2009). The 3 "off" days, the buildings will be heated 10 degrees less than normal, and they will cut a huge chunk off of their transportation bill. Sports teams will still be able to practice on Mondays.

A recent High School League ruling:
–The maximum number of games volleyball teams can play in any regular-season tournament was raised from 12 to 15, putting Minnesota in line with bordering states. Also, volleyball teams will be allowed to play two matches in one day; this could help reduce travel costs and travel time. Hey, it can't hurt to try!

May God help us, with our outdated cars, minivans, and trucks that all get 35 miles to the gallon or less...gas will hit $4 by the time school lets out in June. What are we going to do?