Speaking of Sports

by John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

It won’t be long before the Lakers and Gators take to the field, court or pool this fall.  Yes, the start of the first official fall sports practices for high school athletes is three weeks away.  And, the Fall Sports Meeting for parents and student-athletes is also fast approaching.  The fall meeting is planned for Thursday, Aug. 3 and the start of official fall practices is set for Monday, Aug. 14.

Here are some of the starting dates for the teams.  We’re also running a story on the new Minnesota State High School League section alignments for 2023-24 and 2024-25 in this week’s paper.

•  The girls tennis team is the first to get its season going Friday, Aug. 18 at the Park Rapids Area quadrangular.  The first home meet is set for Tuesday, Aug. 29 against Benson-KMS.  The best time to see them at home is from Aug. 29-Sept. 12 when they have four home meets scheduled during that span.

•  Next up is the soccer team, which is set to host Fergus Falls, Thursday, Aug. 24 and Heritage Christian, Saturday, Aug. 26.  The soccer team, which has a new coach this year in David Vinje, opens up the season with four-straight home matches, Aug. 24, 26, Sept. 5 and 7.  The soccer Lakers have one particularly-busy portion of their season with 12 matches in a span of 30 days from Sept. 5-Oct. 5.

•  The swimming and diving Gators are set to compete at the Willmar Invitational, Friday, Aug. 25 and the first home meet at Minnewaska is set for Tuesday, Sept. 5 against Albany.  Last year, the Minnewaska pool was unusable, meaning all the home meets were at UM-Morris.  This year, three home meets are scheduled for MAHS.

•  The Minnewaska boys and girls cross-country teams open up the season Monday, Aug. 28 at the Morris Area Invitational.  The Minnewaska Area Invitational is set for Tuesday, Oct. 10 and the WCC Meet is set for Oct. 16 at the Benson Golf Course.  

•  The Laker volleyball team is set to host a scrimmage at home Friday, Aug. 18 and compete at the Concordia College scrimmage, Saturday, Aug. 26 before hosting Benson for the season opener, Tuesday, Aug. 29.  The home meets are spread out for the volleyball Lakers, but the volleyball team does have four early home matches Aug. 29, Sept. 5, 7 and 12.

•  And, the Minnewaska Area football team is set to take part in a scrimmage at Melrose Area, Saturday, Aug. 26 before getting ready for the season and home opener, Thursday, Aug. 31 versus Morris Area-CA.  The Homecoming game this year is set for Friday, Sept. 29 against Rockford Area.  Four of the football team’s first six games are scheduled at home.

Yes, it won’t be long before the start of another year of Minnewaska Area sports and I’m already getting excited about covering the Lakers and Gators again during the 2023-24 school year.  In the meantime, though, enjoy the rest of your summer!