U-17 softball splits with Chargers

Sam Wessel slides home just ahead of the tag while tying the game at 2-2 in the second inning of game two vs. Brandon/Evansville. PHOTOS BY RANDY OLSON

Coach Schmiesing rallies the troops in game two.

The Sauk Centre Mainstreeters U-17 softball team went 1-1 against Brandon/Evansville in a West Central Softball League home doubleheader on Thursday afternoon. The Chargers won 1-0 in game one before the Mainstreeters picked up a 4-3 win in the second game after Sauk Centre fell behind 2-0 in the second inning.

Details will be announced soon regarding the upcoming league playoffs. Sauk Centre will host the east half of the tournament on Thursday, June 24.

Here's the Sauk Centre Herald photo gallery from game two:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Sports/Summer-2014-Sauk-Centrearea-sp/Sauk-Centre-U17-softball-vs-BE/

What a wild day for the Mainstreeters

The track and field complex was loaded with action tonight with the first home meet since 1991.

So much to report from Tuesday's action!

The Mainstreeters boys' golf team shot their way to third place in a West Central Conference meet hosted at Greystone Golf Course with a score of 178. They trailed second-place BOLD by just three strokes and beat fourth-place Melrose Area by two strokes.

The Mainstreeters girls' golf team took third place at a WCC meet in Melrose and then fourth place at a WCC meet at Greystone to hold firm to their grip on third place in the overall 10-team standings.

Head coach T.J. Schmiesing and his Mainstreeters team huddle up early in game two of tonight's double-header with MA/CA. At stake was first place in the conference standings.

At Sauk Centre, the Mainstreeters softball team dropped two nailbiter games by 1-0 and 2-1 scores against powerhouse Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta. Both teams entered the night with perfect West Central North Conference records. The Mainstreeters fell to 7-3 overall, while MA/CA is 11-2. Up next: the Mainstreeters host Montevideo at 4:30 p.m. this Thursday in another big WCC-North game.

The Mainstreeters track and field teams hosted their first-ever track meet on the new athletic complex with four area teams participating: Upsala/Swanville Area, Browerville, Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball Area and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa. A host of photos from the meet will be in this week's Sauk Centre Herald. Up next: the track and field teams compete at Melrose Area this Thursday (3:45 p.m.).

Finally, at Morris, the Mainstreeters baseball team won two huge WCC-North games over the MA/CA Tigers. They won in five innings in the first game by a 16-4 score and then withstood a stiff challenge in the night cap to win 9-8 in nine innings for the series sweep. Sauk Centre (6-2 overall) now holds first place alone in the WCC-North with a 6-1 record. Montevideo is in second place at 6-3. Minnewaska Area is 4-2 in third, with MA/CA in fourth at 1-3 and Melrose Area in fifth place at 0-7. Up next: the Mainstreeters have another big game this Thursday at home at 4:30 p.m. against Montevideo.

Read more details on all the action in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

Softball, track postponed

Due to the rain, Sauk Centre will not have a home softball game. Also, the track and field team's won't be going to the Big Lake meet; that was cancelled.

Cold, cold, cold

Two varsity events scheduled for today are being affected by the cold weather.

The Mainstreeters baseball team's game against Paynesville on the home diamond is postponed to next Monday (April 21). The Mainstreeters softball team's game at Wadena-Deer Creek has been cancelled, and no make-up date has been set.

The home track and field meet for Tuesday has been postponed. No make-up date has been announced.

For now here's the Tuesday schedule: boys' and girls' golf will have meets at Greystone Golf Course and also in Melrose during the day; the varsity baseball team hosts Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City at 5 p.m., while the varsity softball team travels to Grove City for a 5 p.m. game against A-C-GC. 

**Update: and just like that, in almost the blink of an eye, Tuesday's action is whittled down to just a pair of junior high softball games at home. The golf, baseball and softball varsity teams have their games/meets postponed.

Mainstreeters collect numerous medals at State

Tiana Molitor finished her stellar swimming and diving career in style, garnering three All-State medals today at the Class 1A state meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

She and the rest of her 200 freestyle relay team members (Julie Bushard, Alyssa Kohorst, Hanna Waldhart) earned All-State medals with an eighth-place finish in today's finals. They also reset Sauk Centre school record with a time of 1:40.49.

Here's video from the state meet today at the conclusion of the 200 FSR:


Here's a few comments immediately following today's action from Coach Schreiner:

Great job to the Mainstreeters for their efforts at the state meet!

Quite the night at Section 6A prelims

Emily Mensen, Sarah Nelson and Alyssa Kohorst.

A large group of Mainstreeters cheer on the 400 freestyle relay squad in tonight's final event.

At the 11-team Section 6A girls' swimming and diving preliminary round tonight, the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters had numerous drops in times - including some huge drops - to build a great deal of momentum heading into the finals on Saturday.

Head coach James Schreiner had this to say after the last race tonight, "Holy Cow!!!!  We had some amazing swims. I wouldn't even know where to start there were so many! I'm so happy for them all. What a great way to represent our school."


Here's more of what Coach Schreiner had to say after prelims tonight:


 Action resumes on Saturday at Discovery Middle School with diving at 11 a.m. in Alexandria.

Shania Baum in the 100 breaststroke prelims. PHOTO BY TIM MIECZKOWSKI

One example of the huge drops Sauk Centre swimmers had in times was with freshmen Sarah Bushard in the 100 breaststroke event. Her seed time was 1:21.58, good for 25th place coming into the night. She turned in a lifetime best time of 1:16.08, good for ninth place in the field and putting her in the finals round.
That type of night brings this type of smile...!

Sarah Bushard right after hearing her name announced as a qualifier for the 100 breaststroke finals.

Tracy Kortan with the lap board while cheering for Josephine Mensen in the 500 FS. PHOTO BY TIM MIECZKOWSKI

In another example of a stellar performance, senior Josephine Mensen swam the 500 freestyle race with a career-best time and dropped under six minutes for the first time ever.

Menley Rehm flies off the block in the 500 freestyle race. PHOTO BY TIM MIECZKOWSKI

Coach Schreiner giving some last-minute instructions. PHOTO BY TIM MIECZKOWSKI

Additional details will follow tomorrow as well as Saturday night after the conclusion of the meet.

Mainstreeters fall practices begin

Coach Jarvi explaining serving technique to a handful of JV and varsity girls' tennis players.

Fall sports are underway at SCHS!

Spring openers today!

The track and field, softball and baseball teams are all opening their 2013 seasons today.

The softball and baseball teams travel to Benson, while the track and field team competes at Princeton.

Good luck, Mainstreeters!!

Mainstreeters softball may open on Thursday

They could travel to Benson on Thursday, while the track and field team may head to Princeton for a season-opening meet.

Busy, busy, busy, busy!

Christmas is behind us, the New Year's holiday has been put to rest...time to get back into the flow of things for the remainder of the 2012-13 winter sports season. A mountain of high school sports is in store over the next three days/nights for the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters. With the start of the new year on the calendar, we at the Sauk Centre Herald strive to be your one-stop spot to keep up to date on all the varsity teams at SCHS. As we have for the past four years, we'll continue posting fresh information at this blog on results throughout the week on games/meets/tournaments...and continue with feature articles and exciting action photos in the weekly print edition.

Thursday night: a boys' basketball game at LQPV (Hantho Township, Lac qui Parle County)...the Eagles compete in the West Central South Conference and hold a 4-5 overall record (1-4 WCC-South), but the game does count towards both teams' conference standing...Sauk Centre is 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the WCC-North; also, the Fusion boys' swimming and diving team competes at a meet at Willmar in a Section 3A match up.

Friday night: a home girls' basketball game against a very tough Albany Area squad that's 8-2 overall and holds the top spot (3-0) in the Granite Ridge Conference. Both teams are the top contenders for the Sub-Section 6AA-North championship...but of course, there's much left to play for during the regular season, including jockeying for a high playoff seed. Sauk Centre ended the December campaign with an unblemished 8-0 record and a 3-0 mark in the West Central North standings.

**Also Friday: a "home" boys' hockey game at the Long Prairie Expo Arena, where the Prairie Centre Area North Stars host Bagley in a make-up contest.

Saturday: the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team travels to an invitational at Benson. Teams included are Barnesville, Minnewaska Area, Mahnomen/Waubun, Fergus Falls, Breckenridge/Campbell-Tintah, Border West, Benson and West Central Area. SC-M has a good shot at finishing in the top four of the field.

A nice bookend to the fall sports season at SCHS

Here's a photograph of a print out of a picture taken at the Xcel Energy Center earlier in November during the Class 2A state volleyball tournament. In the photo are Coach Klaphake and a handful of members of the senior players.

It's been an impressive three-year run at the state tournament for the Sauk Centre volleyball team!

Thanks for the memories.

More coverage from the state swimming and diving meet

Alyssa Kohorst heads back to the finish line during her leg of the 200 freestyle relay race at state.

Click on the link to view the photo gallery from the preliminary round held on Friday at the Class A state girls' swimming and diving meet in Minneapolis:
http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1569849&CategoryID=69413&ListSubAlbums=0

Photos are added of athletes from four area schools and four different newspapers.

Below, video from the 100 freestyle preliminary round on Friday with Tiana Molitor...


Don't miss the feature article in this week's Sauk Centre Herald on the swimming and diving meet! The paper hits newsstands later today with an early publishing date due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Swimming and Diving team Pep Rally photos, video at the Sauk Centre elementary

Beginning with classes of very excited and anxious kindergarten students,  the state-bound swimming and diving team members walked through the hallways of the elementary school getting well wishes, high fives and words of support.

The six state-bound swimmers gather with their poster before walking through the hallways of the elementary school.

The upper-elementary grades were just as excited as the younger students for the walk-through of the Sauk Centre swimming and diving team members.

...and a video clip showing all the excitement at the elementary school!

Kudos to the school administrators and coaches for getting the Pep Rally details lined up at lunch time and this afternoon! It was a fantastic way to honor these special Mainstreeter student-athletes at SCHS.

State-bound girls' swimming athletes honored today

At the lunch periods today in the high school, the Sauk Centre girls' swimmming athletes who are heading to the Class A meet this weekend will be recognized. In the elementary school, they will go through the hallways at 2:45 p.m. to meet students at their classrooms.

Go Streeters!

More scenes from the Section 6A girls' swimming and diving meet prelims

Julie Bushard in action...

Progress made at the Sauk Centre athletic complex improvements

The fence is up! Landscaping is near completed, and other items are moving along smoothly...video taken on Thursday, September 20...

The football/track area gets a pressbox!

Video taken on Thursday morning, September 6...

Sauk Centre's new track is installed!

A photo of the new track, right after it was installed last week.

Football field's new turf takes shape

As this past week developed, the football field took shape with stripes, yard markers and the Sauk Centre Mainstreeter logo all being added to the turf surface.
 ...and by the way, the opening date for varsity fall sports practices is next Monday. Stay tuned to the Sauk Centre Herald for fall season previews for the Mainstreeters.

The football field's facelift starts to take shape!

The new turn began going down on the football field on Thursday.

(Left) video from Thursday afternoon