Looking ahead to the postseason 

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

Boy, that didn’t take long for things to get really busy.  Last week I had a chance to take pictures at a home track meet and tennis match Tuesday, a Laker baseball game Thursday, a girls golf meet Friday and the Starbuck Stars’ opener Sunday.

With all the pictures though, I didn’t have a chance to run all the ones I wanted so that’s the only bad thing about having so many activities to cover.

Looking ahead to the postseason, and yes, the playoffs are not far away, here is some information for each of the Lakers’ spring teams. 

•  Softball tourney — The opener of the Section 3AA Softball Tourney is Tuesday, May 23 and right now, it looks like the Lakers will open up the postseason on the road.  WCA (3-0), ACGC (4-2) and Dassel-Cokato (4-3) are the early top seeds in the section, while other teams include NLS, Litchfield, Morris Area and Montevideo.  In the other half, Windom Area (3-0), Minneota-Canby (4-1) and RCW/BOLD (9-2) currently lead the way.

•  Track and field true-team this week — The section true-team track and field meet is set for Tuesday (tomorrow) and the Lakers are hoping to do well enough to qualify to the State True-Team Meet, set for Saturday, May 20 at Stillwater.

After that, the Sub-section Track Meet at Maple Lake is set for Tuesday, May 23 with the Section 5A Track Meet set for Wednesday, May 31 at St. John’s.

The Minnewaska girls track team has already won two meets this year, while the boys team has two seconds and a third.  There is no doubt both teams are capable of sending at least a handful of athletes to the State Track and Field Meet, set for June 9-10.

Among the leaders for the girls track team this year are Mya Lindemann, Dacia Fleury, McKenzie Luetmer, Brooke Kolstoe, Lauryn Ankeny, Elsey Hagen and Jayda Kolstoe, while among the leaders for the boys team are Carter Meyer, Maeson Tank, Zach Palmer, Nick Ankeny, James Ward and Jayce Kovarik.

However, the track teams are loaded with so many great all-around and hard-working athletes and there are many others that have been doing a great job for the Lakers this spring.  I’ve been totally impressed with how many track athletes compete in multiple events for the Lakers.

•  Boys tennis sections — The Minnewaska boys tennis team plays in Section 8A, which includes Crookston, East Grand Forks, Fergus Falls, NLS, Osakis, Perham and Thief River Falls.  The Section 8A Tourney is set to take place May 23-25 at Perham.

The Lakers qualified to state last year with an upset win over Thief River Falls, but TRF will be very tough to beat this year.  In addition, Tate Reichmann earned a state berth last year where he went on to place fourth for the highest finish for a boys tennis player at MAHS.  The top team and the top two singles players and doubles’ teams advance to state from the section.

So far this season, Noah Palmer leads the team with a 13-1 record, while Carter LeClair and Drew Bleick are both 12-2, Marshall Kopp and Landon Schiffler are both 10-2 and Connor Quelle and Tenzin Dahl are 10-4.

•  Golf tourneys start May 24 — The Section 3AA Girls Golf Tourney prelims are set for May 24 and the boys’ prelims are set for May 25 at Buffalo Lake.  The top teams and golfers will return to Buffalo Lake, Wednesday, May 31 for the Section 3AA finals.

Last year, the Minnewaska/BBE Bluejackets qualified to state, while Riley Larson earned a state berth for the boys team.  This year, Minnewaska Area is not paired with BBE for golf.  This year’s state tourney is set for June 13-14.

Leading the way for the girls team are Ava Kollman, and Arivia and Annika DeBoer, while the top golfers for the boys team are Riley Larson, Zach Gugisberg and Blake Nelson.

•  Baseball playoffs — The Lakers have started out 4-3 on the baseball diamond this spring.  The start of the Section 3AA playoffs is Saturday, May 27.

Section 3AA looks loaded this year with Montevideo (4-0), Paynesville Area (4-0) and NLS (7-1) leading the way through the early part of the schedule.  Other teams in Minnewaska’s half are Morris Area-CA, ACGC and WCA while the top two teams in the other half of the section are Fairmont (10-1), Luverne (8-2).

•  Trap state tourney — The last regular-season shoot for the Minnewaska trap team is Sunday, May 14 and the state shoot at Alexandria is set for June 13.

Go Lakers!