Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion geared up for state

Here's M-SC senior Brent Blommel talking about the state meet, which begins at 12 p.m on Friday, Feb. 28 at the U of M Aquatic Center in Minneapolis:

M-SC Fusion get state entries in seven events!

Isaac Schreiner (left) and John Schwieters earned medals in the 100 backstroke today at sections with eighth and fourth-place finishes, respectively. PHOTO BY RANDY OLSON

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion swimming and diving team advanced five team members to the Class 1A state meet coming next weekend in Minneapolis.

M-SC's five state athletes will compete in seven different events. Those advancing to state are: Justin Hoppe (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay); John Schwieters (200 IM, 100 BK); Ben Heller (500 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay); Matthew Beste (200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay); Brent Blommel (200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay).

"We had a terrific day today. We're very proud of the guys' efforts, and getting five down to state will be a lot of fun," said co-head coach James Schreiner following the conclusion of the Section 5A meet in Alexandria.

Plenty of TEAM on display for the M-SC Fusion.

Here's video from the 200 freestyle relay race tonight, in which M-SC took third place (1:33.39) to advance to state:


And here's a clip from the 400 freestyle relay race, in which M-SC finished third with a season-best time of 3:24.52:


2014 Section 5A team standings:
1st Fergus Falls 390 points
2nd Alexandria 361 points
3rd M-SC 357 points
4th - Detroit Lakes 258
5th - Bemidji 240
6th - Park Rapids Area 237
7th - Perham-Dent 151
8th - Thief River Falls 105
9th - Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 58

In other news...the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team beat Litchfield 61-55 in a matinee game today. The Dragons are a top team in Sub-Section 6AA-South.

Sauk Centre improves to 16-5 and hosts Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta on Monday with a 7:30 p.m. tip off.

Sports-related information for this weekend

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team is gearing up for the Section 5A meet tonight and tomorrow in Alexandria.

Action begins at 5:30 p.m. tonight, Friday, at 5:30 p.m. at Discovery Middle School. The weather hasn't affected this event, at least not yet. The second day is tomorrow with diving starting at 11 a.m. and swimming finals to follow at 3 p.m.

The Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team is in Perham today for the Section 8-2A individual tournament. That event is still on, and day two takes place tomorrow at the Perham-Dent high school. **KASM 1150 AM is in Perham covering the event.

Wrestling action starts today at 1:30 p.m.

Further time/scheduling updates will follow as they are announced by school officials.

M-SC Fusion gearing up for State True Team meet

Here's a conversation with Ted Uphus and Brendon McElwain, two senior members of the Melrose-Sauk Centre boys' swimming and diving team. The Fusion team begins the state meet at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.



See more in the Jan. 24 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

Fusion swimming and diving earns section true team title

Here's a glimpse of the post-meet celebrating by Melrose-Sauk Centre athletes as they swam a few cool-down laps:


For the first time in the team's history, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion earned the Section 5A True Team championship. They defeated second-place Alexandria by 89 points at the Discovery middle school pool today.

In 2010, in a computer-run tally of the section teams, the Fusion team was named the champions after the section true team meet was called off due to bad weather. They've also appeared at the State True Team meet other times through wildcard invitations.

2014 Section 5A True Team final standings:
1st - Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion 1,177
2nd - Alexandria 1,088
3rd - Fergus Falls 983.5
4th - Detroit Lakes 905
5th - Park Rapids Area 880.5
6th - Bemidji 749
7th - Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 173

Additional video, photos and more will be posted later tonight. Don't miss extended coverage of M-SC's achievement in the Jan. 23 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

Here's more video, showing one of the heats of the 200 IM race:


The Class 1A State True Team meet is at 1 p.m. next Saturday, January 25 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

Fusion earns second at Brainerd

The Melrose-Sauk Centre boys' swimming and diving team had an outstanding showing in a tough field at the Brainerd Invitational on Friday with a second-place finish to their credit.


The Mainstreeters girls' basketball team beat Crosby-Ironton (5-3) 60-44 to win the Pierz tournament on Saturday night. They put their 7-0 record on the line on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Albany when they face the 10th-ranked team in Class 3A.

On Friday, the Prairie Centre Area North Stars boys' hockey team beat Minnehaha Academy 5-2 for their eighth win of the season while winning the tournament title. The Redhawks fall to 6-4 overall with the loss.

Check next week's Sauk Centre Herald to read more.

Exciting thriller won by Fusion swimming and diving team

At the Dassel-Cokato pool against Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato tonight, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team picked up their third win of the season against no losses by a 96-90 score.

Co-head coach James Schreiner reported that the Fusion didn't lead the entire night until after the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. Facing a sizeable deficit in the team points, the Fusion got a huge 1st/2nd finish in the 100 backstroke with John Schwieters and Isaac Schreiner gaining the top two spots.

In the 100 breaststroke, the Fusion got a crucial 2nd/3rd/4th finish to gain momentum before clinching the win with great performances in the last event.

M-SC now has a ragged practice schedule around the Christmas holiday before traveling to a very tough Brainerd tournament on Friday, Dec. 27.

Read more coach's comments from the past week of action in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

A few other sports updates from tonight:
The Mainstreeters boys' basketball team stayed undefeated in the West Central Conference with an 85-70 win over visiting Minnewaska Area. They led 45-34 at the break.

The Prairie Centre Area boys' hockey team won their sixth game in a row with a 6-2 final score at the Benson Civic Arena over the winless Morris/Benson Area Storm. The North Stars are 6-3 overall and put their win streak on the line against undefeated (7-0) and fourth-ranked St. Cloud Cathedral tomorrow night (Dec. 20) at the MAC in St. Cloud.

This was noteworthy: the Melrose Area Dutchmen boys' basketball team defeated a very good Montevideo squad tonight in a WCC game by a final score of 64-63 in overtime. They've got a big day coming up for their basketball program on Saturday...be sure to read a copy of the Melrose Beacon to learn more about that.

Tomorrow night, the Mainstreeters boys' and girls' basketball teams travel to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high school for a WCC double-header. The varsity girls play at 6 p.m. in the main gymnasium, while the B-squad boys play at that time in the auxiliary gym. They switch for the nightcap around 7:45 p.m., when the varsity boys and B-squad girls tip off.

More coverage from the Class A state swimming and diving meet

Here's Felipe Barreto in the 500 freestyle preliminary round on Friday:

More scenes from the Class A state swimming and diving meet

Ethan Ross leaping into the pool during one leg of the 400 Freestyle Relay race during Friday's preliminary round.

A bus brought down 40 fans from Sauk Centre and Melrose to cheer on their Fusion team members at state on Friday. A large number were also in attendance for Saturday's finals as well.  PHOTOS BY RANDY OLSON

Check out more coverage of the MSC Fusion from the state meet in this week's Sauk Centre Herald.

**Update on Tuesday morning: the playoff game tonight between Sauk Centre and Staples-Motley for the Sub-Section 6AA-North girls' basketball crown will be played on Wednesday night at St. John's University instead of tonight. (Weather-related announcement)

Tip-off for the game will be at 6 p.m.

Fusion state swimming results

As a team, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion team placed 20th out of 38 teams represented at the Class A state swimming and diving meet this past weekend. Six members of the Fusion team competed in eight events overall. Read more in this week's Sauk Centre Herald. Other photos and video from 'state' will be added later today.

M-SC State Tournament Finishes:

Preliminary round- 200FS: 12th -Felipe Baretto 1:48.81  200IM: 20-John Schwieters 2:07.89 100FLY: 17-Keenan Pearson 56.16. 100FS: 23-Ethan Ross 50.09. 500FRS: 4-Felipe Barrett 4:53.05. 200FSR: 14-Ross, Pearson, Matthew Beste, Brent Blommel. 100BK:  16-Schwieters 58.21. 400FSR: 12-Schwieters, Ross, Blommel, Barrett 49.02. Championship/Consolation finishes-200FS: 10-Barreto 1:46.76. 500FS: 3-Barreto 4:50.52. 200FSR: 14-Ross, Pearson, Beste, Blommel. 100BK: 15-Schwieters 58.05. 400FSR: 13-Schwieters, Ross, Blommel, Barrett 3:22.24.

Barreto 4th in 500 Free at state

Felipe Barreto is shown at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center following his fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle. PHOTO BY RANDY OLSON

Felipe Barreto finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle Friday during the opening round of preliminaries for the Fusion. We are waiting on results of the other races and will post them as they become available.

Barreto will advance to Saturday's finals.

Here's video from the meet:

Fusion team has much to be proud of

Parents and family gather to take photos of the Fusion team with their section runner-up trophy.

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team earned a team playoff trophy for only the second time in the program's history since the 1996-97 pairing.

Great job!

Here's the video of the end of Felipe Barreto's swim through the 500 freestyle race finals...he broke the five-minute mark!


State will be great!

Fusion punch five tickets to state! Take section runner-up honors!

Through the first five events at the Section 3A boys' swimming and diving meet, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion had a great showing with a number of guys finishing in the Top 8.

Felipe Barreto made the state cut in the 200 freestyle and took second place in that event. In the 200 IM, John Schwieters made the state cut and finished fourth.

The 200 medley relay team finished sixth; Justin Hoppe took eighth in the 200 freestyle, Ethan Ross took sixth in the 50 freestyle and Brent Blommel took eighth in the 50 freestyle to round out the rest of the Fusion team members who earned medals so far today.

Diving completed at about 15:20, and the remaining events will get started at about 15:40.

**Update at 17:25: the Fusion swimming and diving team won the Section 3A runner-up trophy after outdistancing Montevideo for the top spot behind section favorite and eventual champion Sartell-St.Stephen.

A total of five Fusion team members are heading to the Class A state swimming and diving meet, including: Felipe Barreto, Brent Blommel, Ethan Ross, John Schwieters and Keenan Pearson. Barreto broke the vaunted five-minute mark in the 500 freestyle while winning that event by a wide margin (4:58).

Highlighted by a stellar finish by the 400 freestyle relay team (3rd place, 3:23.1 that beats the state cut by over 4 seconds), the Fusion team earned 295 points to edge Montevideo (279 points) and Hutchinson (266 points).

State powerhouse Sartell-St.Stephen won the Section 3A title with 447 team points.

The team reacts to hearing the news about their superb team finish today...

Check out more in the Feb. 28 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald. The Class A state swimming and diving meet will be held on March 1-2 at the U of M Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. The Class A preliminaries for swimming begin at 12 p.m. on Friday, with the finals at the same time on Saturday.

Further information about the state swimming and diving meet will be posted later.

Fusion!

Check this out! A total of 14 members of the Melrose-Sauk Centre boys' swimming and diving team will compete in the Sweet 16 round of the Section 3A meet tomorrow at Sartell-St. Stephen high school.

The Fusion squad had a terrific night in the preliminary round of the section meet.

Chuck-a-Duck video from the Western Regional Championship meet

Last Thursday at the SCHS pool...

(Video) 500 freestyle race at Western Regional Championship meet

Video from last night's meet including the boys' swimming and diving teams from Melrose-Sauk Centre, Morris Area and Montevideo...

Here's the photo album at the Sauk Centre Herald website from the swimming and diving meet last night:
http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1608174&CategoryID=69414&ListSubAlbums=0

Two varsity events tonight in Sauk Centre

Fresh off of their ninth dual swimming and diving win of the season, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion team hosts the Western Regional Championships tonight in Sauk Centre. Teams included are M-SC, Morris Area and Montevideo. It's their last competition before the Section 3A meet, which is Feb. 22-23 in Sartell.

The Mainstreeters girls' basketball team hosts Paynesville Area in a key West Central North Conference match up. The Bulldogs are 7-3 in the WCC-North and 11-7 overall. A win for Sauk Centre (10-0 WCC-North) would clinch a share of their fourth straight conference title! The Mainstreeters were co-champions of the WCC-North in 2009-10 with New London-Spicer (15-1), a perfect 16-0 in the WCC-North in 2010-11 and went 8-2 for a sole championship in the league in 2011-12.

Just saw this: Albany (17-3) is ranked #9 in the Feb. 7 girls' basketball state rankings poll. The Mainstreeters are sixth, same as they were last week.



Also in action tonight is the Prairie Centre Area boys' hockey team; the North Stars face Morris/Benson Area at the Benson arena in a Section 6A match up. The JV game begins at 5:15 p.m.

Overall, a great night for Sauk Centre athletes

In boys' swimming and diving action at Cold Spring, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion defeated Rocori 111-73. They take a 9-2 dual meet record into the playoffs; this Thursday they host the Western Regional Championships in the Sauk Centre pool with Montevideo and Morris Area coming to town.

Against state-ranked (#13 in Class 1A) Little Falls, the Prairie Centre Area North Stars lost 6-0. Up next: a trip to Benson on Thursday to face section rival Morris/Benson Area. The Storm hold a 13-8 overall record and a 6-4 mark in the Southwest Conference.

At Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team won a shoot out by an 83-70 final score over the state-ranked (Class 1A) Falcons. Up next: a 1-14 Paynesville team on the home court this Friday.

At Minnewaska Area, the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team won 46-28 to improve to 18-1 overall. Up next: Paynesville Area (11-7, 7-3 West Central North Conference) in a WCC-North match up this Thursday at home.

On the Sauk Centre mats, the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team won 50-24 over Albany Area in a non-conference dual meet. Up next: a wrestling invitational this Friday at Albany that begins at 4 p.m.; teams included are Becker, Montevideo, Mora, Osakis, St. Cloud Apollo/Cathedral/St. Cloud Christian and Staples-Motley.

Fusion, Mainstreeter boys' hoops both win tough battles tonight

Final in boys' basketball: Sauk Centre 73, Albany Area 61.

At Hutchinson, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team won 96-90.

From late in the first half at Albany tonight...

More to follow later.

Girls' basketball wins at Benson, M-SC Fusion cooled off by Sartell

Sartell-St. Stephen won 104-74 in a non-conference boys' swimming and diving dual meet against Melrose-Sauk Centre on Tuesday night. The Fusion team is next in action at Hutchinson for a dual on Friday.

At Benson, the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team won 77-54 for the team's sixth straight win. The Braves fell to 6-12 with the loss. Sauk Centre is 16-1 overall and hosts Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City this Friday in a West Central Conference game.