Northfield Spring Sports 2019

Northfield High School Wednesday, April 10, 2019 GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD (pg. 3)

BOYS TRACK AND FIELD (pg. 3)

GIRLS GOLF (pg. 5)

BOYS GOLF (pg. 6)

CLAY TARGET (pg. 7)

2019 SPRING SPORTS SPOTLIGHT

BOYS LACROSSE (pg. 8)

GIRLS LACROSSE (pg. 8)

BASEBALL (pg. 9)

SOFTBALL (pg. 10)

BOYS TENNIS (pg. 11)

PAGE 2

Spring Sports Spotlight A special project of the Northfield News 115 W. Fifth St., Northfield, MN 55057 www.southernminn.com/ northfield_news Editor/Publisher: Chad Hjellming Associate Editor: Sam Wilmes Sports Editor: Michael Hughes Creative Services: Kate McGillen Sales Associates: Jay Petsche Kari Clark The Northfield News’ 2019 Spring Sports Spotlight is distributed to subscribers and readers of the Northfield News at no additional charge.

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Northfield Spring Sports

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

2019 SPRING SPORTS SCHEDULES BASEBALL

April 11 — vs. Austin, 5 p.m.

April 16 — at Mankato East, 5 p.m.

April 18 — vs. Owatonna, 5 p.m.

April 23 — at Rochester Century, 5 p.m.

April 24 — vs. New Prague, 5 p.m.

April 25 — vs. Winona, 5 p.m.

April 26 — vs. Elk River, 5 p.m.

April 30 — vs. Red Wing, 5 p.m.

May 2 — at Austin, 5 p.m.

May 3 — at Burnsville, 6 p.m.

May 7 — vs. Mankato West, 4 p.m. (DH) May 9 — vs. Albert Lea, 5 p.m.

May 10 — at Rochester Mayo, 4 p.m. (DH) May 14 — vs. Faribault, 5 p.m.

May 16 — at Rochester John Marshall, 5 p.m.

May 20 — vs. Park Center, 7 p.m. (Dundas)

CLAY TARGET April 14 — Reserve Week at Morristown Gun Club April 21— Competition Week 1 at Morristown Gun Club April 28 — Competition Week 2 at Morristown Gun Club May 5 — Competition Week 3 at Morristown Gun Club May 12 — Competition Week 4 at Morristown Gun Club

POSTSEASON GLANCE Baseball — Section 1AAA tournament May 25-June 4 at highest seed, Austin.

Clay target — MSHSL state tournament qualification June 10-18 at Alexandria Shooting Park.

Boys golf — Section 1AAA championships May 28-29 at the Jewel Golf Club in Lake City.

Girls golf — Section 1AAA championships May 28-29 at Legacy Golf Course in Faribault.

Boys lacrosse — Section 1 tournament May 25-June 4 at highest seed.

Girls lacrosse — Section 1 tournament May 25-June 4 at highest seed.

Softball — Section 1AAA tournament May 21-30 at highest seed, Austin.

Boys tennis — Section 1AA team tournament May 14-21 at highest seed, Farmington; Section 1AA individual tournament May 23, 28 at Farmington, Rochester John Marshall.

Boys track and field — Section 1AA championships May 31, June 2 at Lakeville South.

Girls track and field — Section 1AA championships May 31, June 1 at Lakeville South.

May 19 — Competition Week 5 at Morristown Gun Club

BOYS GOLF April 15 — vs. Mankato East, 2:30 p.m.

April 16 — at Emerald Greens Golf Course, 1:30 p.m.

April 18 — vs. Albert Lea, 2:30 p.m.

April 25 — at Faribault, 2:30 p.m.

April 29 — at Mankato Country Club, 10 a.m.

April 30 — at Lakeville Legends Golf Club, 10 a.m.

May 2 — at Northfield Golf Club, 2 p.m.

May 8 — at Rochester Eastwood Golf Course, noon May 9 — at Owatonna, 2 p.m.

May 10 — at Red Wing Mississippi National Golf Links, noon May 13 — at Mankato West, 2:30 p.m.

May 18 — at Owatonna,

1:30 p.m.

May 20 — at Lake City Jewel Golf Club, 2 p.m.

May 21 — Big 9 Conference Championships at Winona, 10 a.m.

West, 1 p.m.

May 17 — at Emerald Greens Golf Course, 2 p.m.

May 21 — Big 9 Conference Championships at Albert Lea, 10 a.m.

GIRLS GOLF

BOYS LACROSSE

April 12 — at Mount Frontenac Golf Course, 1 p.m.

April 16 — at Albert Lea, 2:30 p.m.

April 17 — at Red Wing Mississippi National Golf Links, 12:30 p.m.

April 23 — at Prior Lake, 1 p.m.

April 25 — vs. Faribault, 2:30 p.m.

April 29 — at Austin Country Club, 10 a.m.

May 2 — at Northfield Willingers Golf Club, 2 p.m.

May 6 — at Mankato East, 2:30 p.m.

May 8 — at Lake City Jewel Golf Club, 2 p.m.

May 13 — vs. Mankato

April 13 — vs. Duluth Denfield, 4:30 p.m.

(Dundas Dome) April 15 — vs. Owatonna, 7:30 p.m.

April 22 — at Rochester Century, 7:30 p.m.

April 25 — at Rochester Mayo, 7:30 p.m.

April 30 — vs. Mankato, 7:30 p.m.

May 2 — at Rochester John Marshall, 7:30 p.m.

May 3 — at Apple Valley, 6 p.m.

May 6 — at Owatonna, 7:30 p.m.

May 9 — vs. Rochester Century, 7:30 p.m.

May 13 — vs. Rochester Mayo, 7:30 p.m.

May 16 — at Mankato, 6 p.m.

May 17 — at Park 7:30 p.m.

May 20 — vs. Rochester John Marshall, 7:30 p.m.

GIRLS LACROSSE April 12 — at Tartan, 7 p.m.

April 13 — vs. Duluth East, 1 p.m.

April 15 — at Owatonna, 7:15 p.m.

April 18 — vs. Mankato, 7:15 p.m.

April 22 — vs. Rochester Century, 7:15 p.m.

April 25 — vs. Rochester Mayo, 7:15 p.m.

April 27 — vs. St. Croix Preparatory Academy, 11 a.m.

April 30 — at Mankato, 5:45 p.m.

May 2 — vs. Rochester John Marshall, 7:15 p.m.

May 6 — vs. Owatonna, 7:15 p.m.

May 9 — at Rochester Century, 7:15 p.m.

May 13 — at Rochester Mayo, 7:15 p.m.

May 20 — at Rochester John Marshall, 7:15 p.m.

SOFTBALL April 12-13 — at Forest Lake Tournament April 15 — vs. KassonMantorville, 5 p.m.

April 16 — vs. Mankato East, 5 p.m.

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Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Northfield Spring Sports

PAGE 3

Northfield boys track and field teeming with athletes to start season

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

Northfield senior Elizabeth Acheson finished second at state last year in the 400-meter run in addition to helping the 1,600-meter relay to a fourth-place finish. (News File Photo)

With 4 all-state returners, girls track and field ready to show off elite speed

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

Last season was a surprise for Karl Viesselman.

So much so that the interim coach decided to make his position as the man in charge after Northfield overpowered its way to a Big 9 Conference title, a secondplace finish in Section 1AA and a ninth-place finish in the state.

He’s not willing to make any pre-

dictions for how this year will go, but with so much back from last season, he certainly won’t be surprised again.

“I didn’t envision that last year, that was a wild dream last year,” Viesselman said. “You never know, but we’ll be good. We’ll compete at all of those levels, I think, but if things go really well that could happen.”

The Raiders lose seven seniors, including four all-state performers in Katie Brust, Hailey Mack-

enthun, Sofia Sparby and Annalee Olson-Sola, but also bring back three all-state performers in Elizabeth Acheson, Emma Roethler and Karissa Ricks, in addition to three athletes who competed at last year’s state finals.

Add to that top-end talent with a deep roster that extends to just under 80 names, and Viesselman said he’s overwhelmed by the depth at his disposal.

“I think we may even be deeper

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than we were last year,” Viesselman said. “Obviously you can’t replace those elite athletes, but we might be deeper across the whole team.”

In terms of top-end talent, Northfield is still the class of the conference, and possibly the section with seniors Ricks and Kasey Mohlke back for their senior years in the pole vault. Last year, the duo finished first and second at

See gtrack on 4C

In Tyler Balow’s first year in charge last season, the goal was to replenish Northfield’s depth.

Now, at the start of the second season, he has a roster that’s bursting with 75 names. “(That’s) the biggest number we’ve had since I’ve been even an assistant in the program,” Balow said. “That will help out with depth in the relays, since we’ll have more athletes we’ll be able to plug in if we need to and won’t have to rely on three or four guys to be in as many relays as they were last year.”

It appears Northfield has replaced that with a wave of new blood, although with that jump in numbers comes the fact that 30 to 40 haven’t competed in high school track before.

That means that for the early, and possibly into the middle of the season, Balow will be operating as more of a chemist to try and find the right combination of events and athletes to maximize his team’s potential points and discover the best match for the individual athlete.

One area where that won’t be necessary will be with Eli Bowman and the shot put and discus.

After bouncing around the middle of the field most of last year, Bowman emerged as a section finalist in the shot put.

“He wants to be there more

Northfield junior Eli Bowman will attempt to build on a career-best throw at the Section 1AA championships that earned him seventh place last year. (News File Photo)

consistently this year,” Balow said.

“We were having a conversation about that, to get consistently to the throw he had at sections.”

Balow also said he sees state-level potential in senior Josh Grabau in the 300 hurdles, but with Grabau and many other Raiders, time will tell.

That’s especially true for sophomore Martin Brice, who was the second-fastest runner on the cross country team in the fall.

“He’s looking like he’s going to have a big year,” Balow said. “This is his first season that I know of that he hasn’t been injured at the start of the season, so we’re hoping he can stay healthy and maybe throw

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Northfield Spring Sports

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

GTrack: Northfield has depth to compete at top of Big 9 Conference, Section 1AA Major departures

From Page 3C the Big 9 meet and first and seventh at the Section 1AA meet.

“It’s great having the experience,” Viesselman said. “This is the fifth year I’ve been working with those two, and it’s a lot of fun, and they’ve got a lot of experience.

Hopefully they’ll have the same type of year they did last year.”

The Raiders will also attempt to maintain their top-level speed in the 1,600-meter relay, which finished second at state in 2017 and in fourth place last year. Northfield loses three of the four legs from that relay, although the one returner is Acheson, who finished second at state in the 400-meter run.

Based on Acheson’s return, and the times the B-relay put up throughout last year, Viesselman said he’s hoping there’s little to no drop off in the event.

“I’ve been involved in several track programs, and it can sometimes be like pulling teeth to get them to run the four-by-four,” Vies-

Katie Brust Hailey Mackenthun Sofia Sparby Annalee Olson-Sola

Key returners

Northfield senior Karissa Ricks won a Big 9 Conference title and a Section 1AA crown before vaulting to a spot on the podium at the state championships last year. (News File Photo)

selman said. “I’ve also learned you’ve got a healthy program when they’re competing to run on that four-byfour, and that’s what we’ve got right now. That’s an indication we’ve got a

strong program right now.”

First competition: 4 p.m.

April 9 at New Prague Last year’s finish: The Raiders won the Big 9

Conference title by over 100 points, finished second at the Section 1AA meet and snagged ninth at the Class AA state championships.

Grace Acheson, middle distance and hurdles, senior Elizabeth Acheson, middle distance, senior Mallory Godfrey, hurdles, senior Rachel Kelly, senior, throws Kasey Mohlke, pole vault and high jump, senior Karissa Ricks, pole vault, senior Emma Roethler, senior, throws Zoe Graham, distance, junior Grace Neuger, middle distance and hurdles, junior Ella Palmquist, junior, middle distance and hurdles, junior Emma Hodapp, sprints, sophomore Maddie Smisek, sprints,

SECTION 1AA Albert Lea Austin Faribault Farmington Hastings Kasson-Mantorville Lakeville North Lakeville South Northfield Owatonna Red Wing Rochester Century Rochester John Marshall Rochester Mayo Rosemount Winona sophomore Nicole Theberath, distance, sophomore Mya Wesling, distance, sophomore Grace Dickerson, sprints, freshman Clara Lippert, distance, freshman

SCHEDULE: Mark your calendars, but use a pencil From Page 2C

April 23 — vs. Austin, 4:30 p.m.

April 18 — at Owatonna, April 25 — at Winona, 4:30 5 p.m. p.m.

April 23 — vs. Rochester April 27 — at Cretin-Derham Century, 5 p.m.

Hall, 9 a.m.

April 25 — at Winona, 5 p.m. April 30 — at Rochester April 30 — at Red Wing, John Marshall, 9 a.m.

5 p.m.

May 2 — vs. Mankato East, May 2 — vs. Austin, 5 p.m. 4:30 p.m.

May 4 — vs. Rochester May 3 — at Lakeville North, Mayo, 11 a.m. (DH) 4 p.m.

May 7 — at Mankato West, May 7 — at Red Wing, 4:30 5 p.m. p.m.

May 9 — at Albert Lea, May 9 — at Rosemount, 3:30 5 p.m. p.m.

May 14 — at Faribault, May 11 — Big 9 Conference 5 p.m.

Tournament at Rochester, May 16 — vs. Rochester 9 a.m.

John Marshall, 5 p.m.

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April 11 — vs. Rochester Century, 4:30 p.m.

April 13 — at Rochester Mayo, Albert Lea, 9 a.m.

April 16 — at Mankato West, 4:30 p.m.

BOYS TRACK AND FIELD

April 16 — at Faribault, 4:30 p.m.

April 23 — at Mankato East, 4:30 p.m.

April 30 — at Rochester Century, 4:30 p.m.

May 14 — at Faribault, 4:30 p.m.

May 23 — Big 9 Conference Championships at Owatonna, 10:30 a.m.

GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

April 16 — at Mankato West, 4:30 p.m.

April 23 — at Winona, 4:30 p.m.

April 30 — at Mankato West, 4:30 p.m.

May 14 — at Rochester John Marshall, 4:30 p.m.

May 23 — Big 9 Conference Championships at Owatonna, 10:30 a.m.

*All schedules are current as of Friday, April 5. Any games preceding the publication date of Wednesday, April 10, were left off the spring sports schedule.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Northfield Spring Sports

PAGE 5

Girls golf return all but 1, including Class AAA runner-up

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

After a season in which Northfield nabbed second in both the Big 9 Conference and Section 1AAA, the Raiders are returning the bulk of their experienced golfers for another season.

The lone departure is Hannah Breiland, who operated primarily as the team’s No. 2 golfer, but other than that, Northfield coach Brian Stevens believes his team is starting a step or two ahead.

“Essentially, we’ve got six girls back with some varsity experience, which always helps,” Stevens said. “It’s not a brand new situation for them, so that’s really helpful to have.”

SECTION 1AAA Austin Faribault Farmington Hastings Lakeville North Lakeville South Northfield Owatonna Rochester Century Rochester John Marshall Rochester Mayo Winona

Among those six is Molly Stevens, a senior who last year won an individual section title before finishing second at the Class AAA state championships. She’s joined by senior

Sydney Noel is one of two seniors this year for the Raiders with ample varsity experience. Noel will golf at Southwest Minnesota State next year.

Northfield senior Molly Stevens is coming off a season in which she claimed a Section 1AAA title and soared into a tie for second place at the Class AAA state championships.

She’ll try to make one last run at a state title before heading to Augustana University next year. (News File Photos)

Sydney Noel, sophomore Sylvia Koenig and freshman Paige Steenblock as returners with significant varsity experience, while junior Audrey Pagel and sophomore Anna Nesseth played varsity rounds as well last year.

That group is followed by a host of others, who Brian Stevens said it’s still too early to make an accurate assessment on given the first official practice was April 1. As the year goes along, though, he said there’s potential for varsity assistance in

that cluster.

Part of the vagueness is because many of the Raiders will be playing their first rounds of golf since last fall during the first couple weeks of the season. That has meant the goals of early practices have been centered around solid contact rather than where the ball might end up.

As the rust begins to chip away, the fine-tuning of swings will start and clarity will begin to be seen.

Once that happens, the Raiders will find themselves in

BTRACK: Northfield with questions to start season From Page 2C

Key returners

Jack Bartelt, senior, distance down some distance times in the Josh Bisel, senior, distance mile and the 2-mile this year.”

Josh Grabau, senior, sprints and hurdles Major Pachomius Nyaronge, departures senior, middle distance Eli Bowman, junior, throws Curt Haan, sprints Chris Frago, junior, distance Joe Neufeldt, distance Martin Brice, sophomore, Kenyon Nystrom, distance distance Ben Palmquist, hurdles Josh Charleton, sophomore,

a top-heavy Big 9 and Section 1AAA field. Last year’s Section 1AAA champ, Lakeville North, soared to third at the state championships and returns all but its No. 1 golfer, Megan Welch, who finished third to Molly Stevens and Winona’s Lexi Partington at the section championships and is now golfing at Bradley University.

Partington is now competing at Concordia College in St. Paul.

Red Wing, last year’s Big 9 champion, finished third in the state at Class AA and returns

seniors Sophia Yeomans and Leah Herzog, who finished first and second individually at the state championships and will both play Division I golf next year.

While it’s still early, Brian Stevens believes his team should end the season back near the top of both leaderboards.

“That’ll be interesting to see,” he said. “I think we would be in the top three for sure, and my goal in the Big 9 is to always be in the top third of the conference, so one through four somewhere.

I think we’ll meet that goal again this year.”

First competition: 2:30 p.m.

April 8 vs. Owatonna Last year’s finish: Northfield finished two shots behind Red Wing for second in the Big 9

Conference and slotted into second in Section 1AAA behind Lakeville North.

Major departures Hannah Breiland

Key returners Sydney Noel, senior Molly Stevens, senior Audrey Pagel, junior Sylvia Koenig, sophomore Anna Nesseth, sophomore Paige Steenblock, freshman

Reach Sports Editor Michael Hughes at 645-1106. Follow him on Twitter @NFNSports. ©Copyright 2019 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.

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Important newcomers Oskar Kuehl, junior, sprints Caleb Meeker, sophomore, middle distance Will Tidona, sophomore, distance Nathan Amundson, eighth grade, distance

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Northfield Spring Sports

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Boys golf vying to follow up last year’s historic success

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

How do you follow-up history?

By making it seem normal, or at least that’s what Northfield is hoping to do this year after it won its first Big 9 Conference title last year and won the Section 1AAA title to qualify as a team for its first state championships since 1972.

Returning for the Raiders from that section champion team is senior Danny Gill, junior Owen Bernstorf, sophomore Haakon Rustad and freshman Nate Stevens, who won an individual section title last year as an eighth-grader.

“We have four guys returning from the state tournament team and another senior, Zach Frank, who played some varsity last year,” Northfield coach Adam Danielson said. “Then we’ve got some nice battles with some younger kids competing for the last spot on varsity and our first JV guys.”

The combination of Frank and

that group of younger golfers will be tasked with filling the fifth and sixth spots in the varsity lineup and replacing departed seniors Casey Parker, who is now playing for St. Olaf, and Jimmy Fischer, both of whom had varsity rounds under their belts dating back to their middle school years.

What Danielson views as good news is many of the current crop of varsity golfers can say the same when it comes to breadth of experience, which bodes well for this year as well as the next few years.

“We have experience, but we’re also pretty young, too,” Danielson said. “That’s exciting for the program.”

That experience, which includes a pair of rounds at the state championships, is the driving force early in the season to power past top-level Section 1AAA competition like Lakeville North, Lakeville South and Rochester Mayo, in addition to the powers of the Big 9 Conference in Rochester Mayo, Red Wing and Mankato East.

94

$

SECTION 1AAA Austin Faribault Farmington Hastings Lakeville North Lakeville South Northfield Owatonna Rochester Century Rochester John Marshall Rochester Mayo Winona

While Danielson said his team is approaching this year independent of any success last year, he also acknowledged how the memories of last year serve as motivation to return to those heights and improve on the eighth-place finish at state.

“Obviously we have a ton of work to do, but our guys believe we’ll be in the mix at the end of the year,” Danielson said. “Even if Northfield freshman Nate Stevens won a section title last year as an eighth-grader and will be

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Northfield Spring Sports

PAGE 7

Clay target team with big numbers to go with big goals

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

Numbers have never been a problem for Northfield, although the Raiders are currently boasting a total of 108 shooters that are out for this spring.

What’s more important in a competitive sense, though, is that Northfield coach Scott Quiring believes his team can essentially go seven squads deep. Taking averages from last spring and this fall, Quiring said his seventh squad, all consisting of five shooters, is averaging around 19 hits per 25 targets.

His top set of five is averaging a hair under 23 hits per 25.

“Those top seven squads, 35 kids that really have the potential to continue to improve and help us in those weekly competitions, but I really strive to practice for the (section) competition,” Quiring said. “The (section) competition is what gets us into the state tournament.”

At last year’s state tournament, Northfield finished 25th, and it returns four of the five shooters from that day with the lone exception being Noah Miller. Derek Salaba, Cole Dack, Matthew Riehm and Sam Miller all return, as well as the first two alternates, Elias Quiring and Zach Malecha.

With that depth and experience coming back, Scott Quiring said he’s got big goals for the state finals, and if things go well there, potentially nationals.

“We had our safety meeting and I was challenging the kids to get us all the way to nationals this year,” Scott Quiring said. “Let’s try to win the state tournament and compete at nationals, so I’m really excited for this year.”

Where that success might not show up is throughout the conference season, which averages the scores from each of the shooters that compete.

Quiring likes to send out each shooter that comes to practice in competitions, so the overall aver-

championship and we can compete with everybody because of those top seven squads. We can put up some great numbers when it’s just a select group of shooters.”

First competition: April 14 Last year’s finish: The Raiders earned 25th place at the state finals.

Major departures Noah Miller

Key returners Cole Dack Zach Malecha Noah Miller Northfield’s Derek Salaba drilled 98 out of a possible 100 targets during the state finals last Elias Quiring year, and is one of four Raiders who competed at state back this spring. (News File Photo) Matthew Riehm “It’s an ongoing train,” Scott fundamentals with them to train Derek Salaba age is somewhat anchored by inex-

perienced shooters. The flip side of Quiring said. “A lot of those new them up. The week-to-week Reach Sports Editor Michael that is that inexperience eventually shooters are seventh and eighth competitions are challenging a Hughes at 645-1106. Follow him turns into top-end talent. grade, so we’re focusing on the little bit, but we get to the state on Twitter @NFNSports.

BGOLF: Raiders young but still experienced From Page 6C as a team we don’t go to state, we have a lot of individuals — those four guys that went to the state tournament last year, all of them could go as an individual and Zach Frank has a chance, too.”

First competition: 2:30 p.m.

April 9 at Owatonna Last year’s finish: Northfield won its first Big 9 Conference title last year before claiming the Section 1AAA crown as well. The Raiders slotted into eighth as a team at the Class AAA state championships.

Major departures Jimmy Fischer Casey Parker

Key returners Zach Frank, senior Danny Gill, senior Owen Bernstorf, junior Haakon Rustad, sophomore

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Northfield Spring Sports

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

and Athleticism to fuel well-rounded boys lacrosse Young old propelling

By MICHAEL HUGHES

girls lacrosse

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

After only a week of practice, Jeff Wright is ready to make a bold proclamation.

The first-year coach, who served as an assistant last season, believes he’s been blessed with as good a set of four captains he could ask for. Well, that any coach could ask for.

“I believe I have the best four captains in the state from a leadership perspective,” Wright said.

“On and off the field I’ve been blown away and we just started (last) week.”

Those four are seniors Dawson Foster, Dan Nelson and Logan Bornick, along with junior Cristoph Tisdale, and have convinced Wright the script of the 2019 season will invert what transpired in 2018, when the Raiders struggled to only three wins.

With only a handful of seniors lost from that squad, and the amount of varsity experience returning, Wright said Northfield is in a position this year to leap up in both the Big 9 Conference and Section 1.

“With those four, those are our focal points, and then we have a lot of great players around them,” Wright said. “I have a brandnew staff this year and one of the things they talk about is how athletic our team is. If everything goes as planned, we should have a much better run than we did last year.”

Devon Jirik, who captained the hockey team this winter, has decided to join the lacrosse team at the urging of those captains af-

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

Northfield senior Dawson Foster scored 12 goals and racked up 10 assists last year, both of which lead the returning players for the Raiders. (News File Photo)

ter he played the sport through middle school.

They’ve also convinced Mason Zick, who captained football and basketball teams this year, and Luke LaPanta to swap baseball gloves for lacrosse sticks this spring.

“Those guys are newer additions to our roster, and we’re hoping to get them in the mix early and often and use their athletic ability,” Wright said.

Those reinforcements couple with the returners from last year

who played junior varsity or sometimes contributed to the varsity squad to provide the Raiders with a deep roster and more talent than last year.

That was the primary pitfall last year, the focus on a couple players who weren’t able to power past some of the tougher teams on the schedule all on their own.

“One of our focuses this year is playing as a team,” Wright said.

“We didn’t have that sense of unity last year, and just four days in I

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believe we’re light years ahead of where we were last year. Our guys are embracing one another, and that will continue to be a thing we focus on. We can’t play our best on the field if we’re not truly a team and we’re not clicking on all cylinders.”

First game: 4:30 p.m. April 13 vs. Duluth Denfield at the Dundas Dome Last year’s record: 3-10 Last year’s finish: Lost in the Section 1 quarterfinals 15-11 to Lakeville South.

Major departures

In terms of contrast, there might not be a more extreme example than this year’s Northfield girls lacrosse team. With 12 seniors, it’s easy to label the Raiders as experienced.

Although with 18 freshman, it also doesn’t take much work to highlight the youth and potential inexperience. For Northfield coach Dan DuPay, it just means more competition.

“They want to get out and they want to play and they want to break into that varsity lineup, so it pushes the seniors and the upperclassmen hard to keep their positions,” DuPay said. “They may have been playing for four years, five years and think that they have their spot, but if they see these younger girls coming in, they know they have to pick up their game. ” In the attacking half of the field, the Raiders bring back plenty of experience in Becca Hollister, Julia See GLAX on 9C

Brandon Foster Ben Lucas Skyler Parsons

Key returners Zach Anderson, senior, midfield Gabe Baggot, senior, attack Logan Bornick, senior, defense Northfield midfielder Julia PeterTyler Cemenski, senior, son is one of 12 seniors on this

See BLAX on 10C year’s team (News File Photo)

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Northfield News

NORTHFIELDNEWScom

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Northfield Spring Sports

PAGE 9

Baseball searching for arms to start the season

By MICHAEL HUGHES

SECTION 1AAA

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

If Northfield coach Mark Auge knows anything, it’s that a high school baseball team can never have enough arms capable of throwing varsity innings. n Whether it’s because of postponements stacking five games within a week or just typical attri.tion, there always seems to come a opoint in the year in which a coach tmight start having to scrounge for innings.

That leaves the Raiders in a .precarious spot, after losing their ytop two pitchers from last year in Derek Albers and Jasper Blundred to graduation.

“It’s not like they left us dry -in terms of pitching, but there’s ecertainly some opportunities for esome younger guys to show their stuff,” Auge said. “You know as well as I do that games can pile up in the spring. It’s not looking as bad as it was three weeks ago, ,but we’ll need all arms.”

The bulk of innings figure to go to seniors Luke Johnson, Michael Ims and Joe Malecha, who all garnered significant varsity experience on the mound last year.

After that, though, the rest will be up for grabs among a group of hurlers with little to no experience in a varsity game.

Behind those pitchers will be a few new faces as well, as Northfield graduated two-time all-conference shortstop Carter Hodapp and a few other valuable bats.

“Replacing those guys is key, and there’s going to be some competition for some of those

Albert Lea Austin Kasson-Mantorville Northfield Owatonna Red Wing Winona Tom Sickler, senior, catcher and outfield Mitchell Stanchina, senior, outfield Jim Vitito, senior, outfield Joey Glampe, junior, infield Luke Stanga, junior catcher

Important newcomers

Northfield senior Luke Johnson spent a lot of time last year manning third base, but will be one a few pitchers returning this year with varsity experience on the mound. (News File Photo)

spots,” Auge said. “That’s good, because that means we’ll be better. Nothing is really set in stone here yet.”

What the Raiders will have at their disposal is a nine-player senior class who experienced a bevy of ways in which a season could spiral last year, before reversing the nosedive to enter the postseason by winning six of their last seven games.

“I would hope that experience gave them some good momen-

tum going into this season,” Auge said. “I’d rather not start off with a slow start to this year, I’d rather just keep it going throughout the season. Guys who were around for that, there were some big wins halfway through the season and toward the end of the season that I would call character-builders.”

First game: April 4 at Winona Last year’s record: 8-11 Last year’s finish: Eighth in the Big 9 Conference before

GLAX: Raiders return ample attacking talent Major Peterson, Abby Borene and Ella departures From Page 8C

Mayer, while the defensive corps will be spearheaded by Lauren Weber.

The rest of that defense, as well as the offense, will be supplemented by other upperclassmen with sporadic varsity experience or the group of younger players, which is still in the process of sorting itself out.

First game: April 12 at Tartan Last year’s record: 4-10

attack/midfield Ella Mayer, senior, attack/ midfield Emma Brezina Cassie Mortensen, senior Serena Malecha Julia Peterson, senior, Sarah Will attack/midfield Linnea Thurnheer, senior, Key returners Abby Borene, senior, attack/ goalie Katie Travaille, senior midfield Lauren Weber, senior, Gabby Hernandez, senior Becca Hollister, senior, defense

winning its first game of the Section 1AAA tournament against Red Wing and then dropping a pair to Austin and Winona.

Major departures Derek Albers, pitcher Jasper Blundred, pitcher Carter Hodapp, infield Luke Pesta, infield Seth Thompson, outfield

Key returners Blake Christensen, senior, infield Michael Ims, senior, pitcher and outfield Luke Johnson, senior, pitcher and infield Joe Malecha, senior, pitcher and infield Garrett Sawyer, senior, outfield and pitcher Griffin Schmoll, senior, infield

Cavan Blandin, junior, outfield Simon Dickerson, junior, outfield Kevin Grundhoefer, junior, pitcher Derek Malecha, junior, outfield Daniel Monoghan, junior, outfield Justin Pascua, sophomore, infield Gavin Rataj, junior, infield and outfield Nathaniel Lanthier, junior, pitcher Jaydn McGovern, junior, pitcher Nick Wagner, junior, pitcher

Reach Sports Editor Michael Hughes at 645-1106. Follow him on Twitter @NFNSports.

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Northfield Spring Sports

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

With glut of starters, softball eyeing section title

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

At the moment, the biggest adversity plaguing Northfield is a glut of options.

With seven or eight starters returning, depending on how you define the term, plus a few high-level transfers coming in and a steady stream of players who appear ready to graduate from junior varsity to varsity, Northfield coach Ryan Pietsch will have his hands full when he fills out his lineup card.

“We’ve got a lot of good softball players in our program right now, which is a good problem to have,” Pietsch said. “That brings out the best in everybody every day so we can continue to get better. Every day is like a tryout with the talent we have in the softball program.”

The Raiders graduated three varsity contributors in Emily Block, Molly Gehrke and Sara Weed, but bring back their pri-

mary starting pitcher, Caroline Pritchard, shortstop (Jillian Noel) and center fielder (Anika Guggisberg), all of whom are seniors.

There’s also a pair of catchers (Anne Fossum and Chloe Rozga), plus sophomore Payton Fox, who took hold on the second base job toward the end of last year.

“Those middle positions are some of the most important in softball, and we bring back our pitcher, our catcher, our shortstop, our center fielder, so we’re excited about that,” Pietsch said. “We’ve got four or five seniors now and a lot of them have been playing varsity softball since eighth grade, so they have a lot of years under their belts.”

This year’s group will also have the benefit of practice, which sounds obvious until you consider the pace in which games piled up last year.

The Raiders still managed to advance to the Section 1AAA final, where it lost 9-4 to top-seeded Winona, but an extra year of ex-

SECTION 1AAA Albert Lea Austin Kasson-Mantorville Northfield Owatonna Red Wing Winona

Northfield sophomore Payton Fox established herself as the regular second baseman toward the end of last season. (News File Photo)

perience plus that influx of talent scape of the section this June. high school are any indication, and depth might shift the landIf the numbers throughout that shifted landscape might be

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the new normal for Northfield, even after a bump up to Class AAAA in 2020.

“As a whole right now, in my 12 years of Northfield softball, this is probably the healthiest I’ve seen it for our high school programs all the way down to our youth programs,” Pietsch said. “We’ve got multiple teams at U12, U14, U10.

We’re fielding U8 teams now. Softball is really thriving right now in Northfield.”

First game: April 5 at Farmington Last year’s record: 13-8

See SOFTBALL on 11C

BLAX: Northfield more balanced than last year From Page 8C midfield Matthew DeBuse, senior, midfield Dawson Foster, senior, attack/midfield Zach Marvin, senior, midfield Dan Nelson, senior, defense Nick Orosco, senior, attack Brady Mingo, junior, defense Paul Neumann, junior, attack Cristoph Tisdale, junior, goalie Emerson Herbig, freshman, midfield Spencer Klotz, freshman, midfield

Important newcomers Devon Jirik, senior, defense Luke LaPanta, senior, midfield Brian O’Meara, senior, defense

Defender Brady Mingo, left, and goalie Cristoph Tisdale, right, are both back for their junior seasons. (News File Photo)

Trevor Shimota, senior, midfield Mason Zick, senior, midfield

Reach Sports Editor Michael Hughes at 645-1106. Follow him on Twitter @NFNSports.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Northfield Spring Sports

PAGE 11

Boys tennis deals with top losses, but returns plenty of varsity experience

By MICHAEL HUGHES

mhughes@northfieldnews.com

With the loss of four seniors who occupied either No. 1 or No. 2 singles or doubles positions, there will be some new faces for Northfield this year on the top courts.

What the Raiders will have at their disposal, though, is a young group that received plenty of ,experience last year and seems poised to make that next step up.

“I told the team and parents that I think we’re in a good spot,” Northfield coach Marty Johnson nsaid. “We’re right in the middle of the pack, not knowing what other -teams lost, but I think that we’ve tgot everything to win and nothing .to lose. We’re just going to try and improve.” n Northfield loses last year’s No. 1 singles player, Tim Roback, as well as Griffin Rod (No. 2 singles), Jeremy Nelson (No. 1 doubles) and Brant Wieber (No. 2 doubles).

Even with that, Johnson said his roster has grown to 29 names,

with one of those, senior Larson Ringlien, already possessing varsity experience. Ringlien played tennis through his sophomore year, baseball his junior year and is now back on the tennis courts.

Coming back from last year will be senior John Krenzel, who spent the entire last season at No. 1 doubles as well as junior Owen Halls (No. 2 doubles), sophomore Ryan Will (No. 3 singles), freshman Oden Hoff (No. 4 singles), sophomore Pascal Cogan (No. 3 doubles) and sophomore Robert Swenson (No. 3 doubles).

“Anything that we do out here, we’re going to be making progress and progressing with our skills,” Johnson said. “That’s what I’m looking for. We’re not expecting so much, except for improvement.”

That improvement has a head start this year, as Johnson recalls last year not having an opportunity to practice outside until a day before the team’s first competition. This year, the Raiders had five days scheduled outside before

Last year’s finish: Northfield advanced to the quarterfinals of the Section 1AA tournament, where it lost to Rochester Mayo.

Major departures Jeremy Nelson Tim Roback Griffin Rod Brant Wieber

Important returners John Krenzel, senior Oscar Hanifl, senior Owen Halls, junior Pascal Cogan, sophomore Northfield sophomore Ryan Will was named all-conference honorable mention as a freshman Robert Swenson, last year at No. 3 singles. (News File Photo) sophomore they played meaningful tennis. portance of consistently getting aging you to do better than what Ryan Will, sophomore One constant throughout the ball over the net to force the you do on your own, you’re not Oden Hoff, freshman

going to improve,” Johnson said. those five days was Johnson’s re- opponent to hit a winner. minders about making sure feet “We’re going to have to remind First match: 4:30 p.m. April Key newcomers don’t remain stagnant and the im- them, because if nobody’s encour- 11 vs. Rochester Century Larson Ringlien, senior

SOFTBALL: Raiders looking to make history From Page 10C Last year’s finish: The Raiders powered into the Section 1AAA title game, where it lost 9-4 to top-seeded Winona.

Major departures

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Emily Block Molly Gehrke Sara Weed

Key returners Anika Guggisberg, senior, outfield Marissa Nelson, senior, infield Jillian Noel, senior, infield Caroline Pritchard, senior, pitcher Anne Fossum, junior, catcher and infield Emma Johnson, junior, outfield Payton Fox, sophomore, infield and outfield Chloe Rozga, sophomore catcher

Northfield senior Caroline Pritchard handled the bulk of the innings in the circle as a junior for the Raiders. (News File Photo)

Important newcomers Noelle Hauskins, junior Sophia Schwartz, junior Mikaela Girard, sophomore Brynn Hostetler, sophomore

Avery Valek, sophomore

Reach Sports Editor Michael Hughes at 645-1106. Follow him on Twitter @NFNSports.

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Northfield Spring Sports

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