Thursday was a busy and eventful night (VIDEOS)

On Sunday afternoon, a few more notes were added with fastpitch plus area fastpitch scores on April 16; I have not had a moment's rest all weekend...run, run, run! On Saturday, I was in Farmington with my daughter's West Central Wildcats AAU team. I finally posted additional high school spring concert coverage: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

From the top.

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams competed at a 10-team invitational at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. The winds from the south at Falcons Stadium was incredible, and not in a good way. It was literally breathtaking as it blasted across the southern end of the football field. Those running down the back stretch were hit with a strong 20-30 mph wind, which helped counter the 80-degree heat. The Jaguars had some terrific performances in spite of the conditions. For example, seventh grader Brooklyn Breitbach almost matched her Morris time in the 1600 run. At Morris on April 10 (one week ago), Breitbach ran a 6:11. At A-C-GC yesterday, with much tougher conditions, her time was approximately 6:10. (Video coming)

And here's a video at the end of the 1600 run for the girls' division yesterday in Grove City:


In the high jump, freshman Laken Anderson took second place (4'10") behind a senior from Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.

Here's Laken Anderson in the high jump at a height of 4'4" at A-C-GC:


The full set of results from A-C-GC won't be reviewed until later this evening.

At the home diamond, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team settled for a series split against Holdingford. They won 7-4 in game one before losing 1-0 in game two. The Jaguars are now 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the Central Minnesota Conference.

Here's a video from the April 10 game against Upsala:


A few more fastpitch notes from the Holdingford doubleheader:
Mya Worms started and pitched 5 innings for B-B-E in game one; she had 2 strikeouts with 3 walks and 6 hits with just one earned run. Brielle Worms closed for the save with 2 innings pitched; she had 2 strikeouts, one walk, two hits and one earned run. Brielle Worms pitched 6 innings in the 1-0 loss. She had 5 strikeouts and 2 walks with no earned runs and just one hit.

In the 1-0 loss, B-B-E was held to 4 hits. In game one, Mya Worms led the team by going 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBIs. Overall, the Jaguars had 8 hits while earning 4 walks and being struck out 8 times.

Central MN Conference fastpitch scores on April 16:
Maple Lake 8, Paynesville 3
Paynesville 6, Maple Lake 5
Kimball 12, A-C-GC 2
Kimball 5, A-C-GC 0

At Holdingford, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost a tough one in the first game by the 10-run rule by a 10-0 score in 5 innings. They fell behind 7-3 in game two before battling back across the last 4 innings. However, the teams ran out of daylight, and the game was called after 7 innings. At that point, the score was tied 11-11. This game will resume at a later date.

In golf news...
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' golf team had two varsity events this week. They began with a neighborhood dual "Battle for Regal" meet at Koronis Golf Club in Paynesville on Tuesday. The meet featured a total of 9 girls, including 6 Bulldogs for the home team. B-B-E's three varsity girls' golfers this spring are Kragen Wiener, Olive Olson and Marlie Schlangen.

At Paynesville, B-B-E freshman Kragen Wiener took second place with a 40 behind first-place Peyton Roeske, a Paynesville freshman. B-B-E freshman Olive Olson took fourth place with a 43. B-B-E sophomore Marlie Schlangen, who golfed in 8th grade but not last year, shot a 57.

On Thursday this week at the Little Crow Golf Club, New London-Spicer hosted an 18-hole invitational. B-B-E's girls' golf team competed and was led by Kragen Wiener's score of 108 (tie for 30th place). Olive Olson shot a 111 (tie for 39th place), and Marlie Schlangen had a 132.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team also competed in the Battle for Regal on Tuesday. B-B-E had 5 scorers and were led by tri-champion Jaxxon Koetter, a freshman, who shot a 5-under-par 30. He was joined in a three-way tie for first place with Paynesville's Colin Fleischhacker and Reuben Christensen. Other B-B-E scorers: Owen Roering and Walker Winter (9th place tie) 35 each, Cash Lehner 40, Dylan Roering 47, Treyson Nemmers 49.

FOR FRIDAY: all after school competitions were canceled or postponed due to the violent winds we're enduring. It's nasty out there! Temps in the 30s and winds gusting over 30 miles an hour. We are going to suffer with this through the weekend, but it looks like spring returns for good on Monday. Thank God!

Area girls' fastpitch scores on April 16:
Yellow Medicine East 2, Minnewaska Area 0
Alexandria 4, Willmar 3
K-M-S 8, MACCRAY 4
MACCRAY 14, K-M-S 9
BOLD 11, West Central Area 3
West Central Area 2, BOLD 1
Melrose Area 15, Montevideo 1
Melrose Area 12, Montevideo 2

Fastpitch team stays alive in playoffs, baseball takes it on the chin (VIDEOS*)

Well! Tonight brought us a mixed bag of results. There is a lot coming to this blog post!

First, the good news!

According to the results I've seen, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are sending at least 2 members to the Section 5A state-qualifying meet. The track and field student-athlete Jaguars competed tonight at the Sub-Section 5A-West meet at the Litchfield high school athletic complex. In the 100 open, junior Kameron Hiltner placed first with a time of 11:34 seconds to punch his ticket to sections, which will be next Wednesday, May 28 at St. John's University's Clemens Stadium (10:30 a.m.). Also, senior Taylor Nelson has qualified for the Section 5A meet by taking the silver medal in the 3200 run. He had a career-best time in that event of 10:02.15, which beat his seed time of 10:07.31.

Here's action from the subsection meet today in Litchfield:


Here's another video from Litchfield; this features both triple jump and long jump action:


And now for baseball and fastpitch results from today...as I said at the beginning of this blog post: mixed results!

In the Sub-Section 3A-North fastpitch playoffs today...
The Sub-Section 3A-North playoffs took place today in Hanto Township, Lac qui Parle County, rural Madison, as No. 1-seeded LQPV hosted one half of the teams with 3 games played. The other half of the subsection teams played along the shores of the Minnesota River in Granite Falls, where No. 2-seeded Yellow Medicine East hosted 3 games. At YME, the No. 3-seeded B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team tussled with No. 6-seeded Benson while carving out a 7-2 win. This advanced the Jaguars into the double-elimination portion of Section 3A, and they moved on to the second game at YME to face the host team. The Sting defeated No. 7-seeded MACCRAY 6-0 in their playoff opener. The YME vs. B-B-E game was a fan's delight. Unfortunately, the Jaguars suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss with YME scoring the game-winning runs on a two-RBI double punched deep into left field. The Sting advance into the winner's bracket, while the Jaguars move on to the elimination bracket.

In their playoff opener, YME defeated Ortonville 12-0. Winners of 5 straight, the Sting take a 13-6 overall record into Saturday's action.

Next for the fastpitch Jaguars: they play on Saturday in Marshall with a 1 p.m. game against BOLD.

Here's a video featuring action in the bottom of the 3rd inning against YME tonight:


At LQPV, the Eagles defeated neighboring Dawson-Boyd in their playoff opener by an 8-2 score. Also at LQPV in their playoff opener, MACCRAY won a border battle by defeating Renville County West 5-1.

In a unique Morrison/Todd County swing with baseball action...
A road trip through Morrison and Todd counties tonight was not kind to the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team. In the first game, which started at 4 p.m. in Holdingford, the Jaguars were looking to move one game closer to clinching a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title. Both teams were in the hunt, and the Jaguars could have knocked the Huskers into second place with a win. It was not meant to be, however, by a mile, as the Jaguars lost 16-2 in 5 innings.

Against Holdingford, Brett DeRoo, Jace Mueller and Lance Radermacher split pitching duties. The Huskers out-hit the Jaguars by a 13 to 5 margin. Five Jaguars had one hit each: Brett DeRoo, Luke Illies, Hayden Sobiech, Lance Radermacher and Jack Lundberg. Sobiech and Illies each doubled.

Hurting the Jaguars were 4 errors, while Holdingford had none.

In their second game of the night, the baseball team traveled to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle for a non-conference game. The Thunder and Jaguars locked horns, and LP-GE came out with a 6-5 walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th inning. Crazy! And brutal.

How the LP-GE game played out...
After two scoreless innings, the Jaguars took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and then made it 4-0 in the fourth. They scored an additional run in the top of the 5th, but LP-GE got 2 runs back in the sixth. Trailing 5-2 going into the 7th, the Thunder tied it with three runs to extend the game to extra innings. Neither team scored in the 8th, and LP-GE then scratched the game-winner across home plate for the walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.

Earning 2 hits each against LP-GE were Ethan Mueller, Jack Lundberg and Noah DeRoo. Brett DeRoo hit a two-RBI home run.

A win over LP-GE (17-1) could have solidified B-B-E's position at the top of the Sub-Section 6A-South standings. Instead, they have to push their way to tomorrow looking for redemption from today's tough losses. The Thunder went 11-0 in the regular season against Section 6A teams. They won the Prairie Conference title alone with an 8-0 record.

Next for the baseball Jaguars...they host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City for a doubleheader on Friday (tomorrow) at noon at Saints Field. Game one is actually a continuation of a game that started on Monday this week. It continues with action in the bottom of the 3rd inning and the score of B-B-E 3, A-C-GC 2.

In fastpitch softball news related to the Central Minnesota Conference...tomorrow in St. Cloud at River's Edge Park, Holdingford and Paynesville face off in a Section 6AA elimination game.

In B-B-E related news...
As readers of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper know, the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2025 will be Friday, May 23 at 7 p.m. If you can't watch it in person, you can watch it online by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/CJr2R.

Sub-Section 3A-South playoff scores on May 22:
Wabasso 11, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 1 (5 innings)
BOLD 4, Adrian Area 1
Edgerton/Southwest MN Christian 15, Lakeview 5
Edgerton/SMC 8, Murray County Central 7
Kimball Area 3, Pequot Lakes 0

Area fastpitch playoff scores on May 22:
Kimball Area 15, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Pierz 2, Paynesville Area 1
St. Cloud Cathedral 12, Pierz 2 (6 innings)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 14, Heritage Christian 6
Braham 9, A-C-GC 3 (the Bombers are the No. 1 seed in Section 4A)
A-C-GC 15, Ogilvie 3 (A-C-GC stays alive in the 4A elimination bracket; they play at Lester Prairie tomorrow to keep their season alive and improve on their 6-15 record)
St. Cloud Cathedral 10, Holdingford 2
Lester Prairie 5, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 4
Dassel-Cokato 11, Montevideo 1
West Lutheran 8, Lester Prairie 2
New London-Spicer 1, Litchfield 0
Minnewaska Area 6, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 2
Pequot Lakes 1, Melrose Area 0
Swanville 12, Brandon-Evansville 2
Browerville 7, Upsala 6
Hancock 1, Rothsay 0
New York Mills 13, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 9, Pelican Rapids 4
West Central Area 5, Ashby 0
Dassel-Cokato 3, New London-Spicer 0
Windom Area 6, Minneota/Canby 1
Redwood Valley 10, Luverne 9
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 5, Minnewaska Area 2
Pipestone Area 14, Redwood Valley 3
Jackson County Central 6, Windom Area 1

Area baseball scores on May 22:
Red Lake County 5, Upsala/Swanville Area 3
U/SA 3, Red Lake County 2
Parkers Prairie 7, Browerville 4
Kimball Area 6, Foley 4
Montevideo 19, West Central Area 3
Ortonville 6, Hancock 1
Melrose Area 5, Benson 0
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 6, Minnewaska Area 5
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 6, Canby 0
Paynesville Area 5, Redwood Valley 1
Parkers Prairie 2, Brandon-Evansville 0
MA/CA 13, Minnewaska Area 4
Melrose Area 4, Benson 3
Sauk Centre 8, Kimball Area 6

Getting the next news and sports cycle going (VIDEOS*)

Every Thursday, the jet turbine engine also known as the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper begins spinning itself back up to full speed. This takes place the day after Wednesdays, during which this turbine engine winds itself down to a full stop for rest. For today, the two big items on the agenda includes a track and field meet in Sauk Centre as well as a home baseball doubleheader in Elrosa. The forecast calls for rain later this afternoon, but hopefully it does not amount to much. It would be great if it rained after the sporting events are completed, but - of course - we can't control the weather, right?

A light amount of Easter coverage was published in the April 24 issue of the newspaper. The rest of it will have to wait until the May 1 issue. A video clip from Sunburg Free Lutheran church from Easter worship was posted at the newspaper's website. You can find it by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/Zr4go.

It became quite a day this afternoon...
And just like that! The news cycle took an interesting turn this afternoon when I saw about 8 police squad vehicles staging in western Brooten. By late afternoon, they descended on the rental home at 320 Prairie Avenue. I did not have time to camp out and watch, but I will have more information to post on this at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website tomorrow.

Here's a video from one of the 100 dash heats on Tuesday this week:


Here's a video with Taylor Nelson running in the 1600 on Tuesday:


It's late on Thursday afternoon now, and I miss the sunshine! We had terrific sunshine on Tuesday. Today, we have fully cloudy weather. Boo!!!

Updates to follow here later this evening.

And here's the first update of the evening...
At Elrosa for the home opener, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team defeated Royalton 9-3. This is game one of a Central Minnesota Conference doubleheader. The second game should begin at about 6 p.m. In the first game, B-B-E had an early 5-1 lead after two innings that held up.


**The fastpitch team went 2-0 in Morrison County tonight! Exciting!

This blog post has concluded. More to follow in a new blog post.

(VIDEOS) Playoff action from Thursday

Time to get more updates posted...

Here's a video clip from the top of the fifth inning of yesterday's Sub-Section 6A-South semifinal game.


The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team started the playoffs 2-0 before losing a tough one by a 1-0 score to No. 1-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Fighting Saints advance to next week in the winner's bracket of Section 6A, while the Jaguars will battle in the elimination bracket. B-B-E's next game is at 2:30 p.m. in New York Mills on Tuesday, June 8, when they face Browerville. **And that game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. I just got off the phone with Brady, and he's excited to pick up the game!

Here's some pole vault action from Wheaton yesterday:


In the first part, Bree Thieschafer is shown clearing the bar. Taylor Oeltjenbruns then makes her attempt and was oh-so-close to clearing it.

More to come. 

Here's a web article with video from graduation. It was so awesome to see the seniors walk in and sit in a normal, full-scale graduation ceremony! Link = https://bit.ly/3fPUIp2.

*Added late Friday night...here's video from the triple jump at the subsection meet in Wheaton:


More to come.

A close loss, and track and field action (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost a heartbreaker by a 1-0 score to Upsala/Swanville Area tonight. They suffered multiple errors and left too many stranded to defeat the top-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-South. The Cardinals scored their only run in their first at bat and finished with six hits to just three for B-B-E. The Jaguars are now 8-9 overall, while U/SA is 14-2. B-B-E's next baseball game is at Willy Reigstad Field next Tuesday, May 25 in Sunburg.

In a home game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch team fell 12-5 to neighboring rival Sauk Centre in a non-conference contest. One big highlight for the Jaguars included junior Kailey Fischer's first career home run of her career! The Mainstreeters (9-7, 8-4 West Central Conference) led 10-3 after four innings. Kylie Winter led the Jaguars with three hits, two runs scored and two stolen bases. B-B-E travels to Upsala tomorrow for an important sub-section game. The Cardinals are currently 4-9 overall (1-6 Prairie Conference) and the No. 4-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-South.

At Morris, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams had very good showings tonight in their first eight-team meet of the spring. Multiple Jaguar student-athletes beat personal records!

Video from Morris to come.

Here's video featuring sophomore Sam Mastey running through the 300 hurdles tonight in Morris:


Here's video from the girls' pole vault event...to start the clip, Grace Jackson is shown clearing the bar. I don't know what height it was at.


More to come later.

Section track and field, sub-section baseball

Updates will be posted here today from Fergus Falls and later from Morris. Section 6A track and field action gets underway at 10:30 a.m. at the FF high school.

*Just got this news early this morning on my e-mail: in golf news, B-B-E boys' golf team member Brady Schwinghammer qualified for the Section 5A finals. He shot a 93 on day one of the tournament, which took place yesterday in Willmar.

**Afternoon update: Blake Goodall advanced from preliminaries to the Section 6A finals in the 100 open.

More Jaguars have qualified for the finals as well, updates to follow.

Also competing in the Section 6A finals: Kenzie Thieschafer in the shot put, Allisa Knight in both the long and triple jumps and Ryan Schwinghammer in the long jump.

**Update!! Blake Goodall advances to the Class 1A state meet!! He took second place in the 100 open finals with a time of 11.34 seconds.

It's been a very fun afternoon at Otter Stadium with the Jaguars. Sophomore Allisa Knight earned a medal (fifth place, 33-8) in the triple jump; while breaking her school-record jump (33-4) set in 2018 at the same meet.

Goodall later took third place in the 200 open and earned his second section medal of the day.

**From Morris, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team had a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning this afternoon against USA.

**Here's video from Fergus Falls...the first video clip I shot for the day:


**More video from the section track and field meet in Fergus Falls....shot early in the afternoon during the triple jump event:

*****Also, the baseball playoffs are on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. The first game is at 2:30 p.m. between our B-B-E Jaguars baseball team and the Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots.

And thank you to our local business sponsors of the Bonanza Valley Voice sports department and our coverage of the B-B-E Jaguars!

Sub-Section Track and Field

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams will compete on Thursday this week in the Sub-Section 6A-21 meet. The field events begin at 3:30 p.m. at the University of Minnesota-Morris track and field athletic complex. Running events begin at 4:30 p.m.

Also, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team will compete in a CMC double-header starting at 3 p.m. at Pierz on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Time for a quick trip to Sunburg for a community meeting and then the B-B-E school board meeting!

• In baseball news, Upsala/Swanville Area defeated Browerville's baseball team in eight innings by a 4-3 score tonight. The Patriots improve to 11-5 overall. In Central Minnesota Conference action, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted's baseball team defeated Kimball Area by a 12-7 score tonight. Also...Paynesville's baseball team defeated Holdingford 4-0 tonight.

Paynesville Area finishes the CMC schedule with a 12-2 record. They sit in second place right now behind conference-leading Pierz.

CMC championships

The Bonanza Valley Voice is taking in the Central Minnesota Conference track and field championships in Kimball tonight. The B-B-E Jaguars are turning in an excellent showing.

We'll finally get track and field photos in the newspaper again! The last meet the Voice covered was way back on April 5.

It's been a challenging spring to keep a sports section going.

*Update: senior Blake Goodall earned the CMC high jump title! His best jump was good for 5'10", which is two inches better than his seed coming into the meet.

Tuesday track meet

The B-B-E Jaguars track and field team could get a home meet in on Tuesday this week. We won't know what the school decides until later in the day today. Once I hear that, I will get the information posted. The meet would begin at 4 p.m.

*Update on Monday night: the April 16 home meet has been cancelled. I do not see it being re-scheduled.

Another scheduling update: it appears that the baseball team's Central Minnesota Conference game at Paynesville has been postponed to May 7, when it will be a doubleheader.


On another note...
Every time I write about a senior for the Bonanza Valley Voice, I am amazed and truly taken aback on how the world has changed in the last 50 to 100 years. I can't even put my finger on what I think about those changes. For the most part, it's both sad and scary.

In one story I've had, two children were punished because they took two eggs out of the chicken coop and used in their ingredients for "mud pies" - needless to say, the dad was not happy about that. Two eggs were very valuable to the family. Eggs were used in town for bartering for basic staples such as sugar or flour.

Today, I'm afraid we are losing touch with the value of money. We don't see it as a sign of hard work like we used to in America.

Wrap all that around your head...

Busy Friday night

...well, all of Friday has been busy! But the evening was pretty intense from the perspective of small town journalism!

Upon rolling back into town from the track and field meet at Minnewaska Area, I saw numerous Brooten Fire Department trucks with their lights on blocking off an intersection near the elementary school. My heart sank: all I could think of was that a kid was hit by a vehicle......then thank goodness it turned out to be much less serious. Two power pole lines were taken out by a semi (appears to be a pure accident) and caused havoc with the power in that part of Brooten and a part of Bangor township.

I'll post more on Saturday. I didn't get any results from the track and field meet. (yet)

Track and field opener, golf course, fish fry!

Today, the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams will open their outdoor schedule for the 2019 season. They travel west to Minnewaska Area's high school athletic complex for a 4 p.m. meet.

Also, this is neat! The Prairie View Golf Course in Brooten is open now for walking only. They hope on Monday to have more of the course open for more activity.

To cap off the better news, the last local fish fry of the Linton season is tonight in Brooten at the KaDe Shack. As they have for two other evenings this spring season, the B-B-E Knights of Columbus will host the event from 5 to 9 p.m. tonight. I hope to see many of you there.

In other news, the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has been inundated with questions in recent weeks about the Brooten Commercial Club's status. I just posted the latest update late last night at the Voice website...you can read that here (short link): https://bit.ly/2VpX0i2. The developments in this are far-reaching, and I'll do my best to public information public as it becomes available within my constraints of press deadlines and the weekly newspaper printing.

When you work in journalism, you don't have the luxury of always reporting positive news. You can only hope that the good outweighs the bad. Thankfully, that has been the case for me, and I hope that continues.

Outdoor track and field, speech!

The first outdoor track and field meet of the season is set for Thursday, April 4 at Minnewaska Area high school. The B-B-E Jaguars boys' and girls' track and field teams held their picture day on Wednesday under very mild conditions (temps hovered around 60 degrees) at our high school sports complex.

Also, track and field team captains were voted on by the team this week. Look for a photo of those five student-athletes in the April 4 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice.

And...can't forget to give a quick shout-out to the B-B-E speech team as they head to subsections on Thursday! The sub-section meet will be held at Annandale. B-B-E's speech team students got a huge chunk of front-page ink in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice. Check that out!

Lastly, I was asked and am happy to help out with a favor for the Sauk Centre Chamber of Commerce. They are holding a Designer Bag Bingo event on Saturday, April 13 at ElmerZ Convention Center in Sauk Centre. You can read all the details at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website by clicking here (short link) https://bit.ly/2WtqknH.

Track and field, baseball updates

The B-B-E Jaguars baseball team lost 15-7 to Brandon/Evansville this afternoon in their second playoff game of the week. They are facing New York Mills now in an elimination game.
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Kyle Felling jumping during one of his tries in the Section 6A long jump event.

No members of the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are heading to state after seven competed in the Section 6A meet today in Fergus Falls. Two earned medals, though, which is awesome!

Eighth grader Allisa Knight took fourth in the long jump (16 feet, one inch) to earn a medal, and she barely missed earning a medal in the triple jump (seventh place, 32-11.5). Kyle Felling, a junior, hauled in medals in the 100 (sixth place, 11.77 seconds) and 400 races. In the 400, he took third place and barely missed out on a trip to state. He broke his own personal record in that event while also breaking the 32-year old B-B-E school record. His time was 51.03 seconds, two-hundredths of a second better than Tim Wengler's record set in 1985, the year he graduated from Belgrade-Elrosa high school.

That's all for now!

Sub-section track and field

I was unable to make the trek west to Wheaton, which was a difficult decision to make. However, I am thrilled to report that eight members of the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are advancing to the Section 6A meet!

During the Sub-Section 6A-21 meet held at the Greg Deal track and field complex at Wheaton Area high school on Thursday, eight Jaguars earned fifth place or better in their respective events to qualify for the section meet. These eight Jaguars will compete across 13 different events.

Two Jaguars earned sub-section titles: Jen Boyle won the triple jump (33 feet, 5.75 inches), while Kyle Felling won titles in the 200 and 400 open races (23.35 seconds and 51.3 seconds).

I'm waiting to hear the fate of the B-B-E girls' 4x100 relay squad, who took third place. That keeps them from advancing based on placement at the sub-section meet. However, they are in the running for a wildcard berth if they are one of the two-fastest teams not advancing to sections across all three sub-sections.

The Section 6A meet is Thursday, June 1 at Fergus Falls high school.

In baseball news...the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team defeated visiting Browerville/Eagle Valley (7-12) on Thursday in Elrosa by a 6-3 score. The Jaguars take a 10-9 record into the Sub-Section 6A-East playoffs, which begin next Tuesday, May 30 with a home game. B-B-E should receive a No. 2 seed when the QRF computer runs the final rankings on Saturday. Stay tuned!

More to follow on Friday.

Morris track and field meet

I have not had time to fully comb through the results from this Tuesday's (April 4) track and field meet in Morris. However, I did take a glance late Tuesday night and saw that junior Kyle Felling won the 100, 200 and 400 open races and also took third place in the long jump.

I also saw that the girls' 4x100 relay team took second place out of 10 squads.

Very cool!!!

Today the B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams are competing at the Minnewaska meet. I will be unable to attend due to health reasons. I am hoping to get up to speed next Tuesday for a home baseball game.

Transition period

Currently the sports department at the Bonanza Valley Voice has remaining work to wrap up winter sports coverage while also getting ready for spring.

We're also getting some much-needed rest.

Some exciting news (I think) for our B-B-E Jaguars track and field teams...after talking to the coaches on Thursday I learned that they have an ambitious goal of getting turnout to 40 members between the boys' and girls' squads. That hasn't happened in quite a few years for this program.

I haven't gotten a handle on turnout for the other spring sports...baseball and the golf teams don't hold their first practice until next Monday.

State track

After the first jump at the state track and field meet, Kinlee Swanson sits in third place. She made it into the finals, earning All-State honors for the second year in a row!

Going into the finals, Swanson is ranked fourth overall. Her best jump was 16'10.5".

**Update: Swanson finished in fourth place today at Hamline University. Swanson's best jump ended up as 16'10.5", which equals her best jump at the state meet in 2014. The state champion, Mara Quam of Kenyon-Wanamingo, had a best jump of 17 feet, seven inches.

A special accomplishment

Logan Schwinghammer, a first-year member of the B-B-E Jaguars track and field team, ran a flawless race on Tuesday at New London-Spicer high school on his way to earning the Sub-Section 5A-20 championship in the 3200 run.

Here's video of the final seconds of his race plus reaction to his first-place finish:


He and five other teammates compete at the Section 5A meet on Wednesday at St. John's University.

Speaking of the Jaguars, here's the link you should bookmark to see the Bonanza Valley Voice spring sports photo galleries. It currently has 10 albums:
http://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Jaguar-spring-sports-15

Speaking of photo galleries, did you miss the Sunburg Syttende Mai parade? Here's that photo gallery:
http://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/2015-BBE-Bonanza-Valley-area-e/Sunburg-Syttenda-Mai-parade

(Video) Sub-Section track and field

Finally got some video uploaded from Tuesday's track and field meet. And what a meet it was!

Here's reaction after Jen Boyle took second in the 800 run:


Here's video from the long jump field event with junior Taylor Knight:


And below is the Bonanza Valley Voice photo gallery with 80+ photos from Tuesday night:
http://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Jaguar-spring-sports-15/BBE-Jaguars-at-subsection-trac

I hope for the same level of sunshine and beautiful conditions at next Wednesday's Section 5A track and field meet at St. John's University.

Subsection track and field

Six headed to sections! A terrific group of student-athletes! ##JaguarStrong

At least three individual competitors for the B-B-E Jaguars are advancing to the Section 5A meet after shining in today's Sub-Section 5A-20 meet at NL-S.

First is Kinlee Swanson who advances in the 100 dash and long jump. Weston Gregory advances in the long and triple jump events. Courtney Brandt is going in the 300 hurdles. Logan Schwinghammer is going in the 3200 run. Sidney Shacter is going in the Discus Throw, and Jen Boyle will run at sections in the 800 open. These six Jaguars will represent B-B-E at the Section 5A track and field championships at St. John's University on Wednesday, May 27. The action begins at Clemens Stadium at 10:30 a.m.

More awesome news! At Upsala/Swanville, the B-B-E Jaguars baseball team won 8-5 over the USA Patriots. USA is the second-seeded team in Sub-Section 5A-West. The Jaguars (7-13) open the sub-section playoffs this week Thursday in Elrosa when they host Eden Valley-Watkins at 4:30 p.m.

Another update: at the last CMC meet of the season, two members of the B-B-E Jaguars boys' golf team earned All-Conference honors: Jayden Miller and Austin Trustheim.

See complete coverage in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice. It prints in less than 10 hours! Video from the sub-section track and field meet will be posted here on Wednesday.