Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Austin Daily Herald BY ROCKY HULNE [email protected]The Packers are hoping a strong mix of young talent with smart veterans can lead to a winning formula this upcoming boys basketball season. “We’ve got a chance to be ex- tremely competitive,” Austin head coach Kris Fadness said. “Knock on wood, but with our young kids being as talented as they are and the growth I expect to see over the course of the year, come section time we could be a contender to go to the state tournament. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but I think we can contend and there’s not too many years where you can say that.” While Austin, which gradu- ated six seniors from last year’s team that finished 13-13, will look to two sophomores and a freshman to contribute this sea- son, it will also look for its vet- erans to lead the way. In the backcourt, seniors Matt Duren, Jay Ettinger and Zach Fadness should all step up along with freshman Zach Wes- sels. “Those three (seniors) give us some nice leadership ability and they’re all smart kids,” Fadness said. “The thing I like about our seniors is that they’re they play smart basketball. They recog- nize the talent in our young kids and they’ll pull them along and really help them.” Inside, the Packers will look to get the bulk of their scoring from sophomores Tom Aase, a 6- foot, 4-inch post player, and Joe Aase, a 6-6 center. “I think you’re going to see Tom’s offensive game develop as the year goes along,” Fadness said. “He’s gotten a lot more con- fident and I think he’ll be a little more aggressive. Joe’s just a flat out scorer with the ability to shoot the three and post up. He Packers hope mix of youth and veterans means wins can stretch the defense and make us tough to guard.” Tom Aase played varsity last season and he’s ready to come out a little stronger this season. “It helped a lot to know what it’s like to be out there,” he said. “We worked a lot in the offsea- son and I think we should be a lot better than last year.” Duren is ready to take on a strong leadership role and he’s looking forward to a season that will see Austin press and run as much as it possibly can. “All the seniors have to be leaders, beacuse we’ve got a lot of young players,” Duren said. “Somebody’s got to step up and we’re pretty comfortable with (the younger guys). We’ve been playing with them all summer and last year, so it’s nothing new.” Max Coffey, Caleb Knorr, An- drew Kaiser, Collin Weisert and Nathan Weisert should all con- tribute for Austin this season. wRocky Hulne/sports@austinda ilyherald.com Austin head boys bas- ketball coach Kris Fadness speaks to his team during a re- cent practice in Packer Gym.
The Packers are hoping astrong mix of young talent withsmart veterans can lead to awinning formula this upcomingboys basketball season.“We’ve got a chance to be ex-
tremely competitive,” Austinhead coach Kris Fadness said.“Knock on wood, but with ouryoung kids being as talented asthey are and the growth I expectto see over the course of theyear, come section time we couldbe a contender to go to the statetournament. I’m not saying it’sgoing to happen, but I think wecan contend and there’s not toomany years where you can saythat.”While Austin, which gradu-
ated six seniors from last year’steam that finished 13-13, willlook to two sophomores and afreshman to contribute this sea-son, it will also look for its vet-
erans to lead the way.In the backcourt, seniors
Matt Duren, Jay Ettinger andZach Fadness should all step upalong with freshman Zach Wes-sels.“Those three (seniors) give us
some nice leadership ability andthey’re all smart kids,” Fadnesssaid. “The thing I like about ourseniors is that they’re they playsmart basketball. They recog-nize the talent in our young kidsand they’ll pull them along andreally help them.”Inside, the Packers will look
to get the bulk of their scoringfrom sophomores TomAase, a 6-foot, 4-inch post player, and JoeAase, a 6-6 center.“I think you’re going to see
Tom’s offensive game develop asthe year goes along,” Fadnesssaid. “He’s gotten a lot more con-fident and I think he’ll be a littlemore aggressive. Joe’s just a flatout scorer with the ability toshoot the three and post up. He
Packers hope mix of youth and veterans means wins
can stretch the defense andmake us tough to guard.”Tom Aase played varsity last
season and he’s ready to comeout a little stronger this season.“It helped a lot to know what
it’s like to be out there,” he said.“We worked a lot in the offsea-son and I think we should be alot better than last year.”
Duren is ready to take on astrong leadership role and he’slooking forward to a season thatwill see Austin press and run asmuch as it possibly can.“All the seniors have to be
leaders, beacuse we’ve got a lotof young players,” Duren said.“Somebody’s got to step up andwe’re pretty comfortable with
(the younger guys). We’ve beenplaying with them all summerand last year, so it’s nothingnew.”Max Coffey, Caleb Knorr, An-
drew Kaiser, Collin Weisert andNathan Weisert should all con-tribute for Austin this season.
wRockyHulne/sports@austinda
ilyherald.com
Austin head boys bas-ketball coach KrisFadness speaks tohis team during a re-cent practice inPacker Gym.
The Austin girls basketballteam has the playmakers to get itdone this year — it just needs theguards to get them the ball.As the Packers, who went 5-20
overall last season, are preparingfor this season, the point guardposition is the biggest questionmark.“We don’t have much size and
we’re going to have to rely on ourspeed,” Austin head coach GaryPeterson said. “It depends onhowthe point guards play. They’ve gotto control the offense andwe can’tbe turning the ball over. It de-pends on how things play to-gether.”Peterson said that five players
are competing for time right nowat point — Mary Kate Barinka,Nina Carney, Merideth Fritz,Olivia Grev and Steph Justice —and he hopes someone emerges
from that group.“There’s a bunch of different
kids that could play point guard.(Fritz) kind of proved herself inthe summer.We’ll have to seewhosteps up,” he said.One thing Austin has that it
didn’t have last year is quite a bitof players with varsity experi-ence. Sophomore forwards JennaSvoboda and Taylor Lady playedlast season and junior forwardBabayeOjawasAll-BigNine hon-orable mention last year.Oja,who should be thePackers
go-to scorer, is feeling good abouther team’s chances this season.“We’re going to take it to them
(this year.) We’re looking forwardto winning most of our games,”she said. “We’re pretty confidentand we have a great team goingout this year.”Svoboda and Lady haven’t
quite found their rhythm in theearly practices as both missed
time with injuries, but Petersonsaid they will still play big roles.“Those two are important
parts of our team,” he said. “Tay-lor’s going to be a lot better thisyear with a year of experience.”Austin is also looking to get
solid play from senior guard So-phie Hebrink, senior forwardMeredith Molhusen and juniorforward Danielle Tschann.“(Danielle) is our tallest and
strongest kid, but last year washer first year of basketball.We’rehoping to get some minutes outher as she comes along,” Petersonsaid. “We’d like to get (Sophie) totake it to the basket more.”Peterson sees Owatonna and
Mayo as the top two teams in theBig Nine, while Mankato WestandMankato East should be solidas well.
Austin girls basketball team hoping to improve
Eric Johnson/[email protected] Svobada shoots a lay-up in practice as one of the returners to thePackers girls' basketball team.
Austin girls hockey team is hoping to share the wealthBY ROCKY [email protected]
TheAustin girls hockey teamis making changes on offense tomake life easier on their newde-fensiveplayers this season.Aftergraduatingfourdefense-
man and a three-year starter atgoalie, the Packers are splittingup their top six skaters into twosolidoffensive lines.There will be no clear No.1
group.“I’m looking at four or five
girls to get thirty plus points thisyear. They look pretty good rightnow,” Austin head coach DennyBraysaid.Of the top six skaters, four of
themhad over 20 points last sea-son.“Forthepastfiveyears,there’s
always been a dominant line,”seniorAlex forwardLarsonsaid.“Nowthatwe’reequalitwillhelpus stay fresh andwe’ll be able tokeep our feet. But it’s going to bea lot of pressure to try and stopother teams fromscoring.”Larsonplayeddefenselastsea-
sonandismovingbacktooffensethis year. Her line will includesenior Kirsten Stanek, who had29 points and senior AshleyArhart, who had 24 points lastseason.The other line will include
sophomore center CarleyGrunewald, who was All-Big
Nine with a team-high 38 pointslastseason,juniorAbbyGallaher,who had 22 points last season,and juniorRebeccaBartlett.“Abby and I have skated to-
gether since wewere little so it’seasier to maneuver around theice together,” Grunewald said.“We just have to learn to skatewithRebecca.”Defensively, Austin’smain re-
turner is junior Vanessa Tala-mantes and she will anchor theback of the ice with her sister,Justina Talamantes, who is afreshman.LeslieFuerstenberg,asophomore, andMarie Clennon,ajuniorshouldalsostepuponde-fense.Austin sophomore Sam
LeBarron will step up as thestarting goalie after being thebackup for the last twoseasons.“Sam’s got great mechanics,
but sometimes she loses focusand that’s because of her age,”Bray said. “We’ve got to get overthat and we’ll work every prac-tice.”LeBarronisa littlenervousto
start her varsity career, but shedid learn some lessons fromwatching former Austin goalieAudreyDeVries.“WhenIfirstgotoutontheice
the first thing coach said ‘this isAudrey, she’s really good, justshadow her.’ I do everything shedoes and I’ve gone to camps overthesummer,”LeBaronsaid.
Bray is pretty confident with his backupgoalieaswellasseventhgraderAllisonHobanhasshownsomepromiseearlyon.“She’s going to be a good goalie, but right
nowshe’s real green,”he said. “Ihaveacoachwith her every day and she’ll be the backupgoalie fornowunless somethingchanges.”She looksrealpromising.”The Packer offense will bemissing one of
The Austin boys swim-ming and diving teamshould feature a largeteam with plenty ofdepth this season.It brings back to state
qualifiers in MichaelThorsheim and NickBrehmer, and Alex Knoll,Mark Thorson, GabeFranta and Gabe Deyoshould also chip in for theteam.“We plan to work early
to see where the membersof the team will be thestrongest individuallyand where they can makeus the strongest team pos-sible,” Austin head coachLynn Gulbrandson, whois in his 25th year, said.“We know as we improveindividual times we lookto improve on our finishin the Big Nine Confer-ence.”Austin has 14 return-
ing athletes from lastyear’s team.“We have a solid team
balance of student-ath-letes in each grade thisgroup has excellent po-tential to develop into avery competitive team,”Gulbrandson said.
Last year, the Austin boyshockey team showed it canwin some games and thisyear they’re hoping to comeout on top a lot more.Austin rebounded from a
winless season to go 9-17 lastseason and with a few key re-turnees, Packers head coachTim Peterson is feeling opti-mistic.“We’ve been talking about
the opportunity the guyshave,” he said. “If we playhard enough and work hardenough, we’ve got a shot atbeing in the top part of theconference and we haven’tbeen there for a couple ofyears.”Austin returns it’s top two
defenseman in sophomoreMarcus Stoulil and seniorJosh Detwiler. Those two willbe aided by sophomoresConor Petersen and Pat Wag-ner.“We’ve got a good young
team and we’re hoping to getsome wins,” Detwiler said.“We’ve been working hardand we haven’t had any com-plaints. We’ve had a good at-titude.”Offensively, the Packers
will look to seniors JoshHart, Devin McCune andJaret Retterath to lead theway along with sophomoreZach Miller and junior DylanHoium.“Zach Miller looks really
good right now. We’re im-pressed with how he’s play-ing,” Peterson said. “DevinMcCuin is a great hardworker. Hopefully he can gethis scoring touch back and
get some points for us.”Hart is hoping the forwards
can do more than just score.“We have two really good de-
fenseman returning, but we haveto have to make plays as for-wards to keep pressure offthem,” he said. “We’re all work-ing really hard and that showsthat we’re committed.”The biggest question mark for
the Packers this season will be innet, where the job of goalie upfor grabs between the trio ofAlex Sheldon, Rainer Londino-
Green, and Logan Schuster.Peterson plans on using a ro-
tation early in the season beforeestablishing his starter at goalie.“We’ve got three kids that are
battling for that spot and they’restepping up,” Peterson said.“That’s going to be good becauseit’ll be a competition and thatwill make them better. Once weget it going, we’ll have one guythat’s standing out on top thatwe can rely on.”Austin will still look to play
an up-tempo style this season
and Peterson said the team hasthe speed to play that way. Healso says that a positive attitudeshould help the team this year.“We’ve got some great team
chemistry and it’s been posi-tive,” he said. “The older kidshave been working with youngerkids and they know the systemso they can help out. That givesus a few more coaches otherthan just the four of us.”
Eric Johnson/[email protected] Josh Hart skates the puck out of the corner during a practice this year.
The Austin gymnastics teammay be without its top two gym-nasts from last year’s squad thattook sixth at the Class ‘A’ statemeet, but the Packers are defi-nitely not panicking.Austin head coach Mark Ray-
mond thinks his teamwill be justfine, despite graduating SabrinaSnater and having Sela Fadnessmove on to compete for a USAGyear-round club in Pine Island.Raymond is also acknowledg-
ing that his group is not guaran-teed a trip back to state.“Last year’s accomplishments
belong to last year’s team. Thisyear’s team has yet to determinewhat their accomplishments willbe. They’re going to have to workfor everything they get,” Ray-mond said. “We’re going to betighter on the bottom (of ourlineup). Our bottom three scoreswill be higher than our bottomthree last year. As a team, I thinkwe can get right where we werelast year and we have the possi-bility of doing better.”The majority of Austin’s core
will be back from last year andthe team should get a boost fromsenior Selena Hataye, who hascompeted for a year-round USAGclub in Rochester before comingto the high school team this year.“She’s going to be a solid var-
sity gymnast for us,” Raymondsaid of Hataye. “I think she’sgoing to show real well, she’ll bea top girl in the Big Nine and ifwe fix things correctly, she’s got ashot at making at little noise atthe state meet.Hataye is looking forward to get-ting a chance to compete with herclassmates and she thinks thePackers have a good chance to getback to state.
“I thought it would be agreat experience to be able todo it with my classmates andit’s just more fun,” Hataye said.“The team’s going to be greatthis year and it’ll be a blast.”Austin has a young core in
place as it will look to eighthgraders Abby Bickler and Car-olyn Hackel to contribute andsophomores Abby Snater andCasidy Bawek should also bekey contributors.The squad also has three
seventh graders — Ila Ander-son, Rachel Quandt and LoganTisher — who could help the
varsity team.“(The seventh graders)
should really fill in for us andthey’ll be solid gymnasts,” Ray-mond said. “They could be re-ally good, we’ll see how theyadjust to everyday practice andmore personalized coaching.We got younger and it’s goingto be a different look. I thinkwe’ll probably be a littlestronger as group.”Senior BreannaWehner was
on last year’s state qualifyingteam and she’s ready to helpout some of the younger gym-nasts this year. She thinks the
squad has a good chance to re-peat last year’s success.“I’m ready to go back to the
state tournament and I reallythink we can do it with thisteam. We have a lot of talent,”she said.Austin will also have two
new assistant coaches this sea-son in Kate Schoonover andKatie Lamb.While it hurts his team to
lose Fadness this season, Ray-mond understands her deci-sion. In Pine Island she cancompete all year round andwork with coaches, but if she
stayed with the high schoolteam, she’d only be able towork with coaches for fourmonths out of the year. Fad-ness is still enrolled at AustinHigh.“This was a really good de-
cision for her, it’s somethingwe couldn’t provide her with,”Raymond said. “We’d love tohave her on the team, she’s agreat kid. But it’s good for herand we’re planning on goingout and watching her in De-cember.”
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AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Hayfield girls basket-ball team is looking to replacesix graduated seniors, includ-ing two 1,000 point scorers, asit prepares for the upcomingseason.
Hayfield, which went 19-9overall last season, is lookingto it’s five returning players tochip in along with a couple ofnew faces.“We need to find some scor-
ing to replace what we havelost,” Hayfield head coach
Fred Kindschy, who hascoached the girls team forseven years, said. “We havesome quickness and some girlswho like to get after it. We mayneed to open it up a little thisyear to create some transitionbaskets.”
Junior point guard AlyssaSelk should move into thestarting lineup to guide Hay-field’s offense and juniorsAbby Blanchard and KelseySeverson should also chip in.Sophomore Abby Pollack
stepped into the lineup last
year and she will be a big fac-tor again and seniors MollyStreightiff and Liz Ristau willbe looking to step up as well.“It will be an interesting
early season, with a lot ofspots up for grabs,” Kindschysaid.
Hayfield girls basketball team must replace scorers
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Vikings are lookingto six seniors to lead theway for them as they gradu-ated just one wrestler fromlast year’s team that hadone state qualifier.The Vikings bring back
Mason Moreno, a ninthgrader who went to statelast season and seniorsTyler Nelson, Jake Siemers,and Blake Arndt should alsobe key.Hayfield has 13 wrestlers
coming back from lastyear’s team and three ofthem took third at the sec-tion meet last season.“We have two returning
wrestlers with state experi-ence,” Hayfield head coachMark Evjen said. “Our topthree weights finished thirdin the section last year so allof them would like to jointhe other two in St. Paul.”
Hayfieldwrestlershave solidexperience
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Vikings are going to try and getdown the court as fast as possible this yearto get their top gunner involved as theyprepare for the boys basketball season.Hayfield graduated two big scorers and
six seniors from last year’s team that went11-15 overall, and the attention will likelyshift to junior guard Bobbie Stephens, whohit 40 percent on threes last season.“We have one of best, if not the best
three point shooter in the area,” Hayfieldhead coach Chris Pack, who is in his 11thyear at the helm, said. “We are going to runas much as we can, looking to get Bobbieopen looks in transition. We look to be bet-ter defensively, especially containing peo-ple off the dribble. We are looking atmaking a couple key changes in our defen-sive philosophy to help with it.”Hayfield should also get a scoring boost
from sophomore Brady Kramer, who cameon strong at the end of last year. SeniorsEvan Bungum and Tyler Kreklingwill alsostep up.“We have a few guys capable of beating
people off the dribble and finishing in thelane and getting to the free throw line,”Pack said. “But overall size and rebound-ing is a concern. We are going to be young,playing a freshman and two sophomores,which isn't always a recipe for success inthe HVL.”Hayfield also returns Brady Stevens,
Tyler Anderson and Ryan Connelly fromlast year’s team.
Herald file photoHayfield's Tyler Krekling drives in the first half against NRHEG in the Section 2A-South quarterfi-nals last season in New Richland.
The Lyle/Pacelli boys basketball teamwill have four new starters and a newcoach after going 20-6 last season.The Athletics, who graduated two 1,000
point scorers in Cody Meyer and BradyStier, will look to sophomore SkylarMeyer to lead the way along with seniorsRyan Rust and Carter Guthmiller.“The L/P basketball program has high
expectations as a whole. We’re young andlearning some new things once we under-
stand our roles as a team we will be fine,”L/P head coach Casey Anderson said.Colton Scherer, Mike Hutchinson,
Mike Kline and Max Brennan will alsolook to contribute.“We have a lot of younger kids who
want to step up and play so it should be afun year,” Anderson said. “I’m hoping tosee the kids come together and compete.”Anderson said that his style will be
similar to former coach Reid Olson’s styleand the team will still focus on defensefirst.
Herald file photoColton Scherer holds up to pass during a game from this past 2009-2010 season.
L/P boys get a new coach Athletic girls look toimprove this seasonAUSTIN DAILY HERALD
Lyle/Pacelli returns six startersfrom last year’s squad that went 2-22,but won two of it’s last four girls bas-ketball games last season.The Athletics are set to peak at the
end of the season, according to headcoach Brad Walter, who is in hisfourth year and he likes his team’sdepth.“We’re looking for our seniors to
step up and be able to get our team togel together,” he said. “We will have alot of mix between older players and
young players moving up. We reallystarted playing our best basketball atthe end of the season last year, andhopefully that will transfer over tothis season.”Walter said the biggest challenge
for L/P is how fast his team learns toplay together.He hopes the team can improve
drastically and play close to .500 ball.“I’m looking forward to a much im-
proved season,” he said. “We return alot of girls with experience, but wewill also be adding players this yearthat can really help our team.”
Herald file photoLyle/Pacelli's Ann Rysavybrings the ball up-courtagainst Hope Lutheran'sFelicia Meyer during thesecond half last year inLyle.
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AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Southland wrestlers willreturn one state qualifier andnine returning letterwinnersfrom last year’s squad as they pre-pare for the upcoming season.The Rebels will look to senior
Grant Hegge, who took sixth atstate at 145 pounds last season tolead them. Mike Churchill should also be
a leader for the Rebels, who haveexperience, but won’t fill out afull team.“As in the past, we will con-
tinue to work hard and look forimprovementfrom week to week,” said
Southland head coach BillFeuchtenberg, who is in his 24thyear at the helm, said. “Our goalis to do as well as we can as weprepare for the tournaments atthe end of the year.”
Rebelsbringback onestatewrestler
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Southland basket-ball team is hoping itseight returning playerswith varsity experiencefrom last year’s team thatwent 11-15 overall are all ayear better as its girls bas-ketball team prepares forthe upcoming season.“We are hoping to finish
high in the conference andmaybe contend for thetitle, but we have a lot ofwork to do for that,” South-land head coach Bob Shee-han, who is in his secondyear, said. “We also wouldlike to make a deep run inthe postseason.”
The Rebels graduatedtwo seniors, but they bringback their second-leadingscorer in sophomore shoot-ing guard Jana Schammel,who averaged 13.2 pointsand 4 assists last season.“Jana has started for
the past two years and hasbeen very good all aroundand we expect her to con-tinue to get better and con-tinue to lead this team,”Sheehan said.Southland will also
bring back senior centerBrandi Schammel and jun-ior Kelli Smith, who wasone of the team’s top de-fenders last season.“We expect Kelli to do
the same this year alongwith scoring more on theoffensive side of the ball,”Sheehan said.Madi Schmitz, Lindsey
Bottema, BriannaReinartz, Breanne Vogeland Haley Kirkpatrickshould all chip an as wellfor Southland, which looksto avoid foul trouble andturnovers this year.“The biggest strength
that we have this year isour quickness and outsideshooting,” Sheehan said.“We are going to rely onusing these strengths toget us through the confer-ence schedule.”
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Rebels are looking to get out and run tomake up for a lack of size this basketball sea-son.While Southland doesn’t have any big
plaeyrs up front, it has some good athletes insophmore Mike Goergen, who averaged 10points and six rebounds last season, Alan May,a fourth-year starter who averaged 11 pointsper game last season, and senior Sam Noter-man, a third-year starter.“With the athletic ability we have this year
we are going to fast break and press. We wantto run the other team out of gas,” Southlandhead coach Jon Thalberg, who is in his fifthyear s coach, said.Sophomore Nick Schmitz should also give
the Rebels, who graduated eight players fromlast year’s team, a lift.Thalberg is hoping his veterans can lead the
way for their younger counterparts.“Alan and Sam both bring many years of
varsity expereince with them and will be agreat help to the younger guys,” he said.
Rebel girls look for strong season
Rebels will be on the run
Herald file photoAlan May goes up for a lay-up during agame in December of 2009.
The Austin wrestling teamwill feature many new facesthis season, and that may notbe a bad thing.While the team graduated
both of it’s state qualifiers
from last season — Howie Un-derwood and Mike Hirsch,who both had over 100 careerwins — head coach Bill Kin-ney is looking forward toteaching his new squad athing or two.“I’m pretty excited about
the year because I’ve gotten to
the point in my coaching ca-reer where I really like the de-velopment of young kids andinexperienced kids,” Kinneysaid. “With the veterans, youcan improve them a little bit,but you don’t see the dailygrowth that you see out of thekids that are new to the pro-
gram.”Austin will be strong in the
lower weights, and ThomasHerrera enters his fourth yearin varsity at the heavyweightposition, but some of theother spots are yet to be taken.“If we aren’t able to fill
weights, then we’ll struggle. If
we’re able to fill the weights and keepeverybody healthy, we could do well,” Kin-ney said. “There’s some kids that havebeen waiting to get in the varsity lineupand there’s some guys waiting in thewings that can do some really goodthings.”Herrera has already stepped up as an
early leader for the Packers, as he re-cruited some new wrestlers and he hopesfor a quality year for himself.Herrera was All-Big Nine last year and
seeded No. 2 in the section tournament,but he missed out on state.“Hopefully I’ll turn that section place-
winning into a state entrance,” he said.“I’ll be seeing a few of the same wrestlers,but there’ll be some new guys too.”Austin sophomore Erick Power, who
may wrestle at 119 pounds this season, isalso looking to make some noise. He lost amatch that would’ve sent him to state lastseason and he’s used that as motivation.“I’ll try to be that much better this year
and hopefully get to state,” he said.While Kinney acknowledges that
Power and Herrera both are in the mix ofcontenders to get to state, he also pointedout that it will not be an easy task.“I think Eric’s as good as anybody out
there, but he’ll be back in a similar weightclass and this year he’ll be going againstlast year’s smaller weights and there wasa lot of quality in those classes last sea-son,” Kinney said. “Not going last yearhas left Thomas very hungry and I likewhat I see so far from him. He’s focusedand ready to roll, but that’s going to be atough heavyweight section.”Some of the other wrestlers who
should step up for Austin are Dylan Diek-mann and Brennan Russell in the lowerweights and Kyle Meyer, who shouldwrestle at 152 or 160.
Herald file photoAustin's Erick Power tries to pin Faribault Marcus Riggle in the 119 true second place match for a trip to the state tournament during theSection 1AAA tournament last season at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.
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AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Blooming Prairie boys basketballteam will have a very different look thanlast year’s squad that went 8-15 overall.“We lost a lot from last season’s team,
but we are still very optimistic for the up-coming season,” BP head coach JohnBruns, who is in his 12th year at the helm,said. “We will have a lot of inexperience,but we hope to counter that with a lot ofenthusiasm and energy on the court.”The Awesome Blossoms graduated
seven players and they return just onestarter in center Cooper Nelson, who av-eraged 16 points and 11 rebounds pergame last season while setting the schoolrecords for rebounds and blocks.The only other returnee to play signfi-
ficant minutes is junior shooting guardLuke Hueman.“Luke will be a major contributor this
year in the backcourt,” Bruns said. “He isa strong player that can score inside andout, and is a very good rebounder from
the guard position.”Seniors Isaac Clark, a 6 foot, 2-inch for-
ward and Tom Fogarty, a 6-4 center willboth play bigger roles season, along withjunior guard Luc Zellmer.“Tom will get a chance to play a lot
more and Isaac is one that we hope canfulfill a big role this year,” Bruns said.“Luc is a very unselfish player who we arehoping will make a big impact this year.”BP will also be without Jordan Ressler,
who was set to play varsity ball this year,but he died in a car crash in November.“Jordan was a member of the basket-
ball program and we will all miss his abil-ity to shoot the ball from anywhere on thefloor,” Bruns said. “However, this loss isminor compared to what he meant to allhis classmates, teachers, community,friends, and family. We are comforted inknowing that Jordan will be with us all inour hearts every time we step on the bas-ketball floor.”
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Blooming Prairiewrestling team is packed inthe middle weights as itbrings back eight wrestlersfrom last years squad.“We have several return-
ing letter winners that willprovide for a solid founda-tion,” BP head coach KevinDriessen said. “We're heavywith wrestlers in the 130-160weight classes. There is thepossibility that we may havesome quality wrestlers notwrestling varsity due tobeing stacked up at certainweights.”BP will look to Seth John-
son, Adam Driessen, DerekDrees, Jarrod Grunklee andTom Shawback to lead theway this year.
BP boys look different
Herald File PhotoCooper Nelson works inside against Bethlehem Academy last season in Blooming Prairie.
BP wrestlers are packedin middle weights
“ .”We may havesome qualitywrestlers notwrestling varsitydue to beingstacked.
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AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Grand Meadow girls basket-ball team may be in a bit of a re-building mode as it graduated itsentire starting lineup from lastyear’s team that went 15-10 overall.The Larks will be led by their
three seniors — guards Hailey Han-ken and Beth Mallory and forwardHillary Churchill.
GM re-loads
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Grand Meadow boys basket-ball team is looking for some newplayers to help it rebound from lastyear’s 9-16 campaign.The Superlarks bring back a cou-
ple of players with experience inDezmon Johnson and Bryce Ben-son and it will also look to new-comers Caleb Liechtnam and JasonStier to make an impact.“We will have quite a few guys
playing significant varsity minutesfor the first time,” GM head coachChad Burmester, who is in his fifthyear, said. “We will be looking toimprove with each practice andeach game. Our team goal for theyear will be to finish in the top fivein the conference.”The Larks will excel at rebound-
ing and team speed, but they will belittle short on experience at somepositions.
GM boyshave newplayers
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Cardinal girls bas-ketball team graduatedthree 1,000 point scorersfrom last year’s team thatwent 22-5 and this yearlooks to be a bit of a re-building one.L/O returns two
starters in juniors ChandaRiedemann and KristaBunne, but the team hasjust a couple of other play-ers back who played sig-nificant minutes lastseason. Senior Sam Ham-lin is one key returnee.“We are going to be
very young,” said secondyear head coach AaronHungerholt. “I will beplaying a lot of sopho-mores and a freshmanalong with my two juniors.Sam brings an aggressive-ness to the team that Ihope will be contagious.”The Cardinals will lack
size, but they hope to turnup the pressure to off-setthat.“We are hoping to play
a lot of girls and play amore up-tempo game bothoffense and defense,”Hungerholt said.
Cardswillhave anewlook
Herald filephoto
LeRoy-Ostran-der's ChandaRiedemanncontends fora reboundwith Rush-f o r d - Pe t e r -son's KenzieLind duringthe secondhalf in theirSection 1AEast semifi-nal game lastseason at theMayo CivicCenter inRochester.
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AUSTIN DAILY HERALD
The Blooming Prairie girls basket-ball team is looking to a few key re-turnees to lead the way for them thisseason as they look to bounce backfrom last year’s 13-13 record.BP will be led by senior guard Erica
Manske, who averaged 8.4 points and3.6 rebounds last season, and seniorforward Whitney Burt, who averaged7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds last season. Junior center Kelli Naatz will give
the team a strong presence in thepaint.“We should be deeper than we have
been in the past,” said BP head coachJohn Worke, who is in his 18th year atthe helm. “We have a number of kidsthat can play several positions so itwill give us some flexibility.”Sophomore Janelle Morem, who av-
eraged 4.8 points and 2.4 steals pergame, also returns to the BP lineup,along with senior Tayla Jones.
Herald file photoErica Manske goes up for a layup againstLyle/Pacelli last season in Blooming Prairie.
BP bringsplenty back
Cards are ready to rollAUSTIN DAILY HERALD
LeRoy/Ostrander will rely on allseniors and underclassmen this boysbasketball season as the team has nojuniors out.The Cardinals are hoping the
leadership of senior Kirk Nelson, aplay-making guard, and senior bigmen Mark Miller and Jordan Os-mundson can lift the squad.Mitch Scaglione and Dom Lazzara
will also be asked to step up for L/O.“We will be looking to several un-
derclassmen to step up and play bigminutes and have to make big con-tributions,” second year head coachJason Jude said. “All of the studentshave gotten a year to play in my sys-tem so they should be more comfort-able running all of my sets andplays.”Jude is hoping L/O, which went 4-
21 overall last season, will stay ingames this year and compete intothe second half. He looks to startthings with the Cards’ defense.
