Sports from the week of January 24, 2007

5 wrestlers are Camden champs

Five Tracy/Milroy/Balaton wrestlers won individual Camden Conference championships Saturday.

Zach Campbell (103), Luke Prairie (130), Derek Evans (140), James Prairie (171), and Nathan Jacob (275) won their classes in front of the hometown Veterans’ Memorial Center crowd. The five individual champions was the best of any team in the tournament.

Erik Cooreman (112) and Chad Cooreman (135) were second-place winners for the Panthers.

Canby won the team championship with 209 points. Minneota was second with 172, and the Panthers a half point behind in third. Other schools were: 4) KMS, 145.5; 5) Dawson-Boyd, 124.5; 6) RCW, 101; 7) Ortonville, 71; 8) MACCRAY, 60.

“It was a fun day,” said Panther Coach Brian Michelson. “The kids wrestled very well, that is the best conference showing we have had in several years.”

Canby had four individual class champions, and Minneota three.

103- Zach Campbell, bye; won, fall, 3:03, Timmons (RCW); won, dec., 7-2, Skillings (Min).

112- Erik Cooreman, bye; won, fall, 3:53, Berends (Mac).

119- Leng Thao, lost, fall, 3:56, Citrowski (Can); lost, fall, 4:27, Bottleberghe, 5th.

130-Luke Prairie, won, fall, :41, Longtin (Min), won, dec., 6-0, Baer (Can); won, fall, 3:30, Jurgenson (D-B).

135- Chad Cooreman, bye; won, dec., 2-1, Kontz (Can); lost, dec., 3-2, Skillings (Min).

140- Derek Evans, bye; won, dec., 7-4, Strand (DB); won, dec., 6-2, Jelen (Can).

145- Arturo Bautista, lost, fall, :54, Roggenbuck (Ort); lost, M.dec., 8-0, Rehbein (RCW), 6th.

152- Sam VanVevel, lost, fall, :48, Merritt (Can), lost, fall, 1:45, Illies (Min), 6th.

160- Dan Dieter, won, dec., 2-1, Dambroten (RCW); lost, dec., 10-4, Buysse (Min), lost, dec., 5-3, Merrill (KMS), 4th.

171- James Prairie, bye; won, T.fall, 15-0, Bauman, (KMS); won, fall, Oellien (Can).

189- Colton Evans, lost, dec., 5-4, Beiningen (Can); lost, dec., 2-0, Beiningen (Can), 6th.

275- Nathan Jacob, bye; won, fall, 5:13, Wollum (Can); won, fall, 1:56, Kinney (KMS).

Dismay turns to joy

Twisters win Marshall high-kick event

A first-place high-kick trophy wasn’t even a dream for the Twister dance team as the squad walked off the floor Saturday.

Many of the Twisters looked glum. Two of the dancers had slipped during the routine. One was hurt.

“I thought maybe we could get fourth,” a Twister said of their Marshall Dance Invitational performance.

When the awards ceremony began later, Minneota, a team that had topped the Twisters in earlier competition, was announced as the fourth place winner.

Third-place went to MACCRAY, and Paynesville was announced as the runner-up.

“I thought, well, I guess we didn’t place,” Coach Lynn Carlson recalled.

But disappointment turned to elation a moment later when Tracy/Milroy/Balaton was pronounced the Class A Precision High Kick winner of the Marshall meet.

“It was a total surprise,” Carlson said.

The high-kick trophy capped an already glittering day for the Twisters, who also won runner-up honors in Class A jazz competition. The Twisters topped eight other Class A teams in the high-kick competition, and were second among seven teams in the Class jazz.

Carlson felt that the Twisters’ performances were their best of the season.

“They did an excellent job,” Carlson said. “The girls executed their routines well.”

Dance teams are judged on criteria that include precision, difficulty, visual impact, choreography, and execution.

Placing high at the Marshall meet, Carlson feels, will boost the team’s confidence for their final regular season competition at Moundsview Saturday, and for Section 3A competition in Montevideo on Feb. 10.

The Twisters’ goal, she said, is to qualify for state competition in St. Paul Feb. 16. While the Twisters aren’t favored to win either jazz or high-kick at section, Carlson said a third-place state qualifying performance is within reach, especially in the jazz category. Carlson said it was encouraging that the Twisters were only three placing points behind BOLD, last year’s Class A Section jazz champion, in the Marshall meet.

Carlson said that the team will continue to polish its routines this week.

“We’ve been really working hard in our practices to develop our technique,” she said.

The Twisters had 18 girls on the floor for the high-kick competition, and 14 for jazz on Saturday. (Two varsity dancers were sidelined with injuries). Last year, the Twisters often had only six girls performing in jazz and a nine in high-kick,

“It’s nice to have the big numbers this year. It looks much better on the floor,” Carlson said.

Elizabeth Rayman, Maria Schmidt, Kylie Meyer, and Paige Hansen are the team’s choreographers this season.

In addition to 20 girls on varsity, the Twisters also have 13 competitors on junior varsity. Twisters are:

Varsity

Katy Baskerville, Ann Byrne, Paige Hansen, Ashley Knott, Kayla Lanners, Kayla Lanoue, Vicki Lau, Kylie Meyer, Samantha Meyer, Carly Miller, Zer Moua, Jessica Peterson, Monica Przybilla, Mackenzie Radel, Allison Rasmussen, Elizabeth Rayman, Maria Schmidt, Megan Van Essen, Dayna Vosberg, Cheri Willard.

Junior varsity

Morgan Babcock, Arlin Bautista, Lexi Beierman, Jazmin Birman, Shauna Bjorklund, Ashley Hedges, Rahely Jorde, Bernadette Lavoie, Katie LeClaire, Nicole Pool, Kassidy Van Gelderen, Mai Ka Yang, Kayla McCaffrey.

TMB defense keys victory

The Panther girl’s basketball team won over CMCS Tuesday night at Tracy 53-42. The win improved Tracy/Milroy/Balaton’s season record to 5-10 and they are now 2-7 in the Camden Conference.

“We played our best game of the season on defense,” said Panther Coach Ryan Kruse. “We did a better job of keeping them out of the lane and contesting their shots. On offense we got good shots and were making them when we did not turn the ball over. Hopefully we can finish the season playiing better basketball.”

Lindsay Daniels led the Panthers in scoring with 10 points while Mallory Fultz added 8 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks, Jackie Haecherl scored 8 points , 4 assists and 5 steals and Ashley Kirk had 9 points. The Panthers had 35 rebounds to 32, 10 assists to 9, 11 steals to 12, 3 blocks to 1 and turned the bll over 23 times.

T/M/B 27 26 53

CMCS 20 22 42

T/M/B-Kirsh, 1,0/0,2; Lanoue, 2,2/2,6; Vroman, 2,0/0,4; Haecherl, 4,0/5,8; Miller, 0,2/4,2; Daniels, 2,6/6,10; Ryan, 2,0/0,4; Kirk, 2,5/6,9; Fultz, 4,0/4,8. Totals, 19, 15/23,53

B-Squad gets first win

The Panther B squad won over CMCS 34-33 for their first win of the season. “We got our first win of the season,” said Panther Coach Gale Otto. “After starting out very slowly on defense in the first half, we became more intense and played the type of defense we are capable of. We also took a little better care of the ball in the second half. The girls are beginning to play hard for more of the game and their efforts are paying off.”

Jen Vroman led the Panther scoring with 7 points while Anna Snyder and Shelbie Jones followed with 6 points each. Bridget Kirsh had 4 points, Jessica Noaks and M’hesi Haugen 3 each, Michelle Lanoue and Roxy Ryan 2 each and Malinda Her added 1 point.

Panther boys' beat Prinsburg 66-49

The Panther boys basketball team beat Central Minnesota Christian School 66-49 at Prinsburg Tuesday night. The win improved Tracy/Milroy/Balaton’s season record to 8-7, and 6-3 in the Camden Conference. Central remained winless in 13 games.

David Schmidt led the Panthers in scoring with 14 points and was followed by Andrew Prairie with 13 and Isaac Dolan with 10. The Panthers trailed 32-30 at the half but their defense created many turnovers and held CMCS to only 17 points in the second half to gain the win.

T/M/B 30 36 66

CMCS 32 17 49

T/M/B- A.Dolan, 2,3/5,8; I.Dolan, 4,1/2,10; Gervais, 3, 2/2,8; Kaup, 1,0/0,2; Nelson, 1,1/3,3; Paradis, 3,0/0,6; Prairie, 5,3/6,13; Schmidt, 4,6/6,14; Zwaschka, 1,0/0,2. Totals 24,16/24,66.