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Spring
Cougars look for all-around success in 2014 spring Mankato East has a lot going on during the spring and all programs are looking to see multiple winning records and deep trips into the state tournaments.
Photo Courtesy of SPX The cougars' boys tennis roster includes three seniors, four juniors, three sophomores, one freshman and one eighth grader.
LUKE CARLSON Staff Writer Now that the snow and ice are finally evaporated from the fields, tracks and courses in Mankato, the Mankato East spring athletic programs can finally get to work. And the Cougars bring forth an impressive lineup of young men and women in each of their spring sports, which include boys and girls golf, baseball, softball, boys and girls track and field and boys tennis. Last season, the Mankato East girls’ golf squad finished fifth at the Big 9 Conference meet
and sixth overall in the conference standings, yet did not have any All-Conference golfers last season. This spring looks to be a promising one though for the girls and head coach Aaron Anderson, as the team returns six senior letter winners from last year’s team. They include Caylin Steinberg, Caitlin Clause, Amanda Broman, Molly Manning, Emily Stengle and Alexis Just. Mankato East, along with Mankato West, will host the third annual Mankato Invitational at North Links Golf Course on May 10th. The conference meet will be at Owatonna Community College, which head coach An-
derson says is “a tough course to end the year with.” The team will be going from class AAA to class AA this year, and facing the likes of Fairmont, New Ulm and Belle Plaine. Anderson mentions that a switch to class AA should give his team a competitive advantage heading into the season. “We hope to improve on last year’s finish, with jumping to 4th place being a possibility,” Anderson said. The Cougars will have the added advantage of playing the first day of the section tournament back at North Links, before day two heads to New Prague Golf Course. Another team that is looking to add onto its success in recent years is the East boys’ golf team. Last year, the boys took seventh in the Big 9 conference and second in their section. Behind a team average shot score of 327, head coach Nathan Fuller exclaimed that it was their best season in the last five years. The Cougars return four varsity golfers from last season, including seniors Josh Sloniker and Bryce Milbrandt, junior Chris Sadaka and sophomore Carter Haley. Haley represented the boys’ team at the state meet last year. “Overall, I think it should be a great year for the Cougars… assuming we ever get outdoors!” Fuller said. This year’s Mankato East girls’ track and field team is getting ready for an exciting season. The size of the team this year is huge, with 118 athletes from grades 7-12 representing the squad. Of that large throng of athletes, three of the four captains
Photo Courtesy of SPX Alice sat on the mushroom, pondering her fate. “One side will make me grow larger and the other side will make me smaller.”
from last year’s team return, having competed at the state meet at the end of last spring. These include seniors Alyson Enderle in the discus, Mishya Rowe in the 400 and Claire Ziegler in the discus and shot put. These seniors, along with standout senior Taylor Karge, are expected to be leaders and make huge contributions during meets. “Taylor brings a ton of experience in the high jump, triple jump, and the sprints,” head coach Neil Paarmann said. With their early season indoor meets already behind them, Paarman looks forward to an exciting outdoor season in the months ahead. Paarmann said that his team’s season goals are to repeat as Section True Team Champions and to return to the state meet to improve on last year’s seventh place finish. Paarmann says that he expects the girls to finish in the top three in the conference and send three or more athletes to the state individual meet. “The girls have been working hard through yet another crazy spring and can’t wait to be tested in these early outdoor meets!” Paarmann said. Jon Dierks, head coach of the Cougars Boys Track and Field team, says that the future of his team looks bright heading into this year’s competition. The boys currently have 75 athletes between grades 9-12, with 28 of
those being freshmen. The team also has 50 athletes from the junior high level, which is the most they’ve had in school history. “The freshmen and sophomore classes have a lot of talent as well, but our leaders this year come from the junior and senior classes,” Dierks said. Captains on the squad include seniors Nate Dreyer, Calvini Deike, and Mat Bornholdt, ands s junior Nic Seiler. Dierks said that this year’s0 team has a goal of placing in theA top three in the Big 9 confer-S ence and getting back to the Truet Team State Championship andt placing in the top five. Getting back over 50 total wins is also ae priority, after last season saw thea team drop to 35 wins, which ise only the second time in the lasts 15 years that the team failed to o reach 50 wins. Mankato East boys’ tennist placed fourth in the Big 9 lastp year and third in their section,S but this year they are hungryi for more. Mason Bultje, a seniorw who last year qualified for statep in singles competition and won his first round match there after ae posting a 22-3 record on the year,w T is back to lead the squad. Along with other top singlesw players like Dominic Cannellaf and Chris Liu, head coach Paulm Williams expects “a similar sea-o son as last year or maybe even ao little better since we only lost oneo t player to graduation.” A