SC-M wins thriller

Clayton Mensen got a pin for SC-M at 182 pounds just one minute into the match. PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING

The Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team trailed 36-31 heading into the heavyweight match on Friday night in Melrose to visiting St. Cloud Tech, but thanks to a pin in 79 seconds by Charlie Barhorst the night ended with SC-M as 37-36 victors over the Tigers.

SC-M improves to 9-8 overall with their third straight team win. Their next action is a home match at SCHS next Thursday against Annandale/Maple Lake. JV wrestling starts at 6 p.m., with varsity to follow at 7 p.m.

SC-M travels to Alexandria on Feb. 7 for a quadrangular with the host Cardinals, Little Falls and Fergus Falls. That quad completes the regular season.

The Section 8AA team tournament begins the following week, with dates and sites to be determined.

Other action on Friday involving Sauk Centre teams:
In Sauk Centre, the Prairie Centre Area North Stars lost 5-1 in non-conference boys' hockey action to Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake. Their overall record stands at 12-8, 2-3 Mid-State Conference.

The North Stars have a short turnaround before traveling to Sauk Rapids-Rice on Saturday, Feb. 1 for a 2:45 p.m. game. The SR-R Storm are 12-7 overall and 7-5 in the Central Lakes Conference. It's a huge Section 6A match up for the North Stars, who hover around sixth place in the 11-team playoff section. The Storm sit around third to fourth place.

Beyond Saturday, the North Stars have a make-up conference game against Park Rapids Area (Park Rapids/Menagha/Nevis/Walker-Hackensack-Akley) on Monday, Feb. 3 in Long Prairie. JV action begins at 5:15 p.m. The Panthers (13-4-3) are 6-0 in the Mid-State Conference, one match ahead of Detroit Lakes (5-1). A win would clinch a share of the conference title for their team.

The Melrose-Sauk Centre boys' swimming and diving team has a break in competition until Thursday, Feb. 6 when they travel to the University of Minnesota-Morris to face the Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Tigers.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters boys' basketball team won a very exciting West Central Conference game on Thursday at SCHS by a 44-43 score over Benson. The Braves slipped under .500 with the loss to 9-10 (5-6 WCC), while the Mainstreeters won their fourth in a row to improve to 13-5. More importantly, Sauk Centre is now 7-3 in the West Central North Conference standings, just one game behind front-runner Montevideo (8-2). Also in the mix is Melrose Area, who sports a 5-2 WCC-North Mark. Sauk Centre has five WCC games remaining, so the conference race could go down to the wire depending on how the rest of the season plays out. Up next: the Mainstreeters host Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta next Friday, Feb. 7 in a WCC-North contest. The Tigers are 7-11 overall (5-6 WCC-North) but are 7-3 in their last 10 games after an 0-8 start to the season while breaking in an entirely new lineup.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters girls' basketball team blew out Minnewaska Area 71-31 on Friday night at SCHS to improve to 11-2 overall. They host Yellow Medicine East on Monday.

The Mainstreeters are 9-0 in the West Central North Conference, while the Lakers are 6-10 overall and 4-6 in the conference. YME is 4-11 overall and 4-5 (second) in the West Central South Conference.