Speaking of Sports

By John Fragot, Sports Reporter

The playoffs began last week when the girls tennis team hosted Melrose in the Section 6A quarterfinals, Thursday.  This week, the boys soccer team opens up the playoffs and in the following weeks, the football, volleyball and cross-country teams, along with the Gators, will also commence with the postseason.

The boys soccer team is currently ranked fifth in its six-team sub-section and will play at fourth-seeded St. John’s Prep in the first round, Tuesday (tomorrow).

The Lakers have lost to SJP twice this season by 5-3 and 2-1 scores so Minnewaska Area knows it can play with them and it should be another great match. With a win, the Lakers would play top-seeded St. Cloud Cathedral, Thursday, a team that has been ranked in the top-three teams in Class A most of the season.

•  The cross-country teams are set to compete at the Section 6A Meet, Thursday, Oct. 24 at WDC.  It should be a great meet as Minnewaska and WDC have been ranked among the top 10 teams in state for the last 4-6 weeks.  There have been three different athletes that have led the Laker girls at various meets this year (Nori Song, Lauryn Ankeny and Jillian Deutsch) while the boys have been led by Ian Mills and Zach Palmer. If the Laker girls, ranked fifth in state, don’t advance to state as a team, there should still be a great chance for a few individuals to advance to state.  

•  The Gators have a number of individuals who have a chance to advance to state in their specialties, including Melena Longtin, Becca Femrite, Lyla Stadtherr, Mesa Kittelson, Clare Barnstuble and Ella Roering, and the team should also have a great chance of sending at least one or two relays to state as well.

•  The Laker volleyball team was 11-4 going into its match with Melrose, Thursday.  The Lakers are currently seeded fifth of 14 teams in their section, but definitely have a chance to move up (or down) a few spots in the coming weeks.  Seven of the 14 teams have winning records, including the top three teams — Albany (22-2), Sauk Centre (16-3) and Royalton (17-5).  If the seedings were determined today, the Lakers would open up the Section 6AA tourney at home against 12th-seeded Osakis (7-13) followed by a match against Pequot Lakes (13-7).

•  In football,the Lakers play in Section 6AA, which has only six teams.  With their win over Montevideo, the Lakers are basically guaranteed a second or third seed (unless there’s a big upset this Friday over top-seeded Albany).  If Minnewaska is second, it would get a first-round bye and then host the winner of NLS and Sauk Centre, and if the Lakers are seeded third, they would open up at home against Montevideo with the winner playing at NLS on a Saturday night.

Yes, it’s always fun to look ahead to the playoffs, especially when the teams are doing so well.  Go Lakers!