Boys' golf fourth at Paynesville

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team placed fourth today at Paynesville in a Central Minnesota Conference meet with a score of 178. They missed third place by one stroke, as Osakis shot a 179. The host Bulldogs won the meet with a 168, and Kimball/Eden Valley-Watkins was second with a 178. Rounding out the team scores were Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (185) and Royalton (197).

Luke Ashbrook (Kimball/Eden Valley-Watkins) and Winston Carlson (Paynesville) were co-medalists with scores of 36 each. B-B-E's Brady Schwinghammer shot a 40 to tie for third place with Paynesville's Isaac Christensen.

NEXT: the Jaguars travel to the Cottonwood Country Club tomorrow for the Lakeview Invitational. They will face a number of Section 5A teams.

At Benson today in a key Sub-Section 3A-North game, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team suffered a 9-2 loss. Three errors ultimately led to their demise after they out-hit the Braves by a 10 to 8 margin. NEXT: the Jaguars host Eden Valley-Watkins tomorrow with a CMC doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. in Brooten.

At Watkins today in a CMC game, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost 9-2 to Eden Valley-Watkins. NEXT: the Jaguars host Sauk Centre in Elrosa on Friday, May 12 at 7 p.m. That night features an earlier game with K-M-S facing Browerville at 4:30 p.m.

Also tomorrow...the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams compete in the Section 5A True Team meet at Sauk Centre at 4 p.m. Today I had the privilege of participating in the track and field practice at the high school. I talked to the coaches about it last week, and they were more than willing to let me join the fray. The most important aspect of the experience was learning how to "ease" into it. As I am still recovering from a severely sprained ankle, I had to learn how to sprint while coming off of an injury. Stretching and warming up properly is essential to avoiding getting injured. I have a newfound level of respect for athletes who return to competition after injury! To see it is one thing, but to experience it firsthand is another. I had high hopes of getting official times on the book for 100 and 200 open races today. After stretching and warming up and spending a little time in the long jump pit (12 feet was my best jump), I sprinted through a 100-meter stretch with the pedal about "Halfway down" and (via my phone) got an unofficial time of about 19 1/2 seconds. I don't know just how hard I pushed myself in that first run, but I felt I had more to give. About 20 minutes later I gave it a second try and (unofficially) I booked it out at roughly 18 seconds flat. Then came the real thing. I waited until near the end of practice, and Coach Trish Thieschafer positioned herself at the finish line. I lined up on the blocks and got a crash course on "take off" from Coach Sean Biehn on how to do that properly off of a block. I was certainly confused! What an experience, though...Coach Thieschafer yelled "go" and I was off to the races...literally. I could tell I did not have all the gas I had on the first run, but I sprinted as hard as I could go. She clocked me at 19.5 seconds. All I could think is: good grief! I am SLOW! It's not a time that will set the world on fire. Even 18 seconds sounds slow to me, but I likely didn't run that second practice sprint in 18 seconds since I was clocking myself with my phone as I ran. Once the dust settled, I had to tell myself what any athlete should say at the start of a season: it's not how you begin that matters...it's how you finish. SO there we go. There's my official time as of May 8, 2023 for the 100 open race: 19.5 seconds. We'll see what I can do by the end of the month. I do hope to get a 200 open time on the book...but that will have to wait until another practice. Running three 100-meter sprints was enough for one day, especially when I have to play the waiting game to see how my recently sprained ankle feels tomorrow. The thought of sprinting a distance longer than 100 meters does make me light-headed right now. And circling back to the long jump...what I learned from trying that out is that field events are absolutely more difficult than they look. It's not until you actually try it out that you realize what great effort a student-athlete puts in to compete. Again - newfound respect for kids who join the fray and put themselves out there and compete! Perhaps next year I can really give a field event a good, hard push such as the long jump. It's just not something I can do when I'm coming back from a sprained ankle. Now about 6 hours after practice concluded, I can still walk. I think that's a win. I feel a pulled muscle or two in my left leg (upper calf), but other than that I feel really, really good. The true test will be how I feel when I wake up Tuesday morning. If I can walk without limping, I will consider that another win! We'll see.

Area fastpitch scores on May 8:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 14, Sauk Centre 0 (5 innings)
Litchfield 13, New London-Spicer 3
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 4, Paynesville 3 (Central MN Conference game)
K-M-S 9, Dawson-Boyd 6
K-M-S 15, Dawson-Boyd 0
Lac qui Parle Valley 16, Lakeview 9
MACCRAY 7, Ortonville 3
MACCRAY 13, Ortonville 2