Speaking of Sports

By John Fragodt, Sports Reporter

I worked at the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson for a long time; a very long time.  In fact, after covering BHS sports for so long, I went from covering kids playing sports to covering their kids playing sports, while also having many of the kids I covered end up coaching the sports that I covered for Benson and KMS.  

In other words, I worked there a very long time.

Well, I’ve been working at the Pope County Tribune for a little less than two years and already there have been changes with head coaches in half of the sports at Minnewaska Area High School that I cover.

Since I started working at the PCT in August of 2022:

•  Jared Lyle started out his first season as the head coach of the Laker football team during the fall of 2022;

•  Mitch McGuire was recently hired to take over the Laker volleyball program;

•  Sam Oellien began her first year as head coach of the swimming and diving Gators during the fall of 2022;

•  David Vinje took over for Ted Hill as the head coach of the soccer program in 2023;

•  Sidney (Schiffler) Barker started coaching girls basketball in 2022-23, the first year I covered the Laker girls basketball program;

•  Zach Traphagen took over for Hunter Salathe as head coach of the boys basketball team this winter;

•  Luke Barkeim took over this spring as the head coach of the softball team;

•  Zach Traphagen is also the boys track coach, taking over as head coach in the spring of 2023;

•  And, Dion Harste recently took over as the head coach of the boys golf team.

Meanwhile, Tara Reichmann continues coaching girls tennis and boys tennis, earning her 500th career win, Friday; Jennifer Johnsrud continues with boys and girls cross-country in addition to her eighth season as head coach of girls track (she’s been coaching for 28 years in some capacity); Jennie Stone continues to lead the Trap team, now in its 10th season as a lettering sport at MAHS; Chip Rankin closed out his seventh year as head coach of wrestling; Tana Ziesmer continues to lead the Laker dance teams (four state berths in the last five years); Joe Alexander is still head coach of the strong baseball program and Tony Janu continues to lead the perennially-strong girls golf team.  Overall, that means nine coaches have either started as head coaches the year I started working at the PCT, or a little thereafter and nine programs still have the same coach as when I started.

I will say, MAHS has a great group of dedicated coaches in all of their sports’ programs.  I’ve been around a lot of sports programs over the last 37-plus years in working for newspapers and I can truly say the Minnewaska Area coaches and school staff are as good as any I’ve seen and they do everything possible to make sports a fun, enjoyable, productive and rewarding experience for all those involved.  Student-athletes you are very lucky!

Will I still be working at the Pope County Tribune when some of the new, younger coaches have kids competing at the varsity level or when some of the current seniors have kids of their own competing at MAHS?  On one hand, no way, but on the other hand, if I’m able and healthy, why not . . . I truly love sports!