Fusion win Morris triangular, North Stars win

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team took first place in a triangular at the University of Minnesota-Morris on Thursday night. Taking second was Perham, while host Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta was third.

At Grove City, the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team lost to state-ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City by a 42-25 score. They take a 4-2 record into the Christmas break.

At the Benson Civic Arena, the Prairie Centre Area North Stars won their second game in a row by defeating Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta/Benson Area 6-2. MA/CA/BA falls to 2-8 with the loss. Next for the North Stars is a road game Tuesday, Dec. 30 at Breckenridge against Breckenridge/Wahpeton. The Blades are 1-5.

Girls' basketball, Fusion win

Matthew Keller placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.43). PHOTO BY HERMAN LENSING

At the Melrose pool last night, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion swimming and diving team was a big winner in their season opener. Against Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, the Fusion won 111-74.

Coach Schreiner commented after the win, "This was a very good start to the season. This is our first time having a meet this early in the season and we didn't know exactly what to expect. The boys didn't disappoint. They came out very strong for the limited amount of practice we had."

At the home gymnasium, the Sauk Centre girls' basketball team got back on the winning track with a hard-fought 73-67 win over Class 3A Albany, a section finalist a year ago. The Mainstreeters led 42-37 at halftime and then poured it on with an 8-0 run during the first 59 seconds of the second half. Senior Mauren Thiesen led Sauk Centre with 18 points.

At the Paynesville triangular, the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team lost 40-35 to Quad County in West Central Conference action. SC-M led 29-10 through 152 pounds before QC earned five pins in a row to go up 40-29. SC-M's Jimmy Thomas then earned a fall (1:19) to cap the scoring. The Paynesville match results are not available at this time.

MSC Fusion gearing up for new season

Here's a brief look at the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion swimming and diving team's preseason drills on Thursday this week at the Melrose pool.

The team is preparing for their season opener next Thursday, Dec. 11, at Melrose against Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato.

At Minnewaska Area on Thursday night, the Sauk Centre girls' basketball team won 55-38 to improve to 2-0 overall and in the West Central North Conference standings. Their next game is a non-conference outing at New London-Spicer next Tuesday. The Wildcats are 1-0 after beating sub-section rival Eden Valley-Watkins 49-44 in their season opener last night.

Tonight the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team (2-1) holds their home opener when Minnewaska Area comes to town. The Lakers are 1-1 overall with a 63-45 win over Paynesville Area in their season opener and then a 73-63 loss to Melrose Area on Nov. 25.

Also tonight, Prairie Centre Area (0-3, 0-1) travels to Detroit Lakes for a Midstate Conference boys' hockey game. The Lakers are 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference. On Saturday the North Stars host Willmar (1-1) in non-conference action at the Sauk Centre civic arena at 5:15 p.m.

Later this afternoon, the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team travels to the Willmar tournament.

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:

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 wins Western Regional championship

At the University of Minnesota-Morris last night, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team prevailed over a strong challenge from Montevideo to win the Western Regional Championship. M-SC tallied 264 team points compared to 215 for the Thunderhawks.

Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta finished third with 42 points.

(Video) Schreiner's 100 butterfly at the State True Team meet

Isaac Schreiner, just a freshmen, finished 26th out of 47 athletes with a time of 1:04.06 to add 23 points to M-SC's team total yesterday.

Here's his 100 butterfly race:


Melrose-Sauk Centre competed at the U of M Aquatic Center...here's a view from the top deck: 

Fusion swimming and diving 9th at State True Team

In a field of 12 teams, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team finished in ninth place on Saturday at the Class 1A State True Team meet.

Team scores:
1st St. Thomas Academy 2,436.5; 2nd Northfield 1,814.5; 3rd Breck/Blake 1,813.5; 4th Sartell-St. Stephen 1,804.5; 5th Simley 1,626; 6th Mankato West 1,343.5; 7th Austin 1,338.5; 8th Monticello 1,273; 9th Melrose-Sauk Centre 1,268.5; 10th Spring Lake Park 1,208.5; 11th Alexandria 1,089; 12th Mesabi East 546.

Up next for the M-SC Fusion: a trip to Sartell-St. Stephen on Tuesday night for a 6 p.m. dual meet. After that is the last home meet of the season on Monday, Feb. 3 when M-SC hosts Rocori in Melrose. Just three dual meets are on the schedule between now and the Section 5A meet on Feb. 21-22 in Alexandria.

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.

Mixed bag for varsity sports teams

The good news first.

In non-conference boys' hockey action tonight, Prairie Centre Area defeated Redwood Valley/BOLD 8-2 in Redwood County. The North Stars improve to 5-3 overall and travel to Benson this Thursday to face Morris/Benson Area (0-7) in a Section 6A match up.

The Mainstreeters girls' basketball team pounded on Paynesville Area in an 82-40 win.

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team defeated visiting Alexandria 99-87 in an exciting home dual win.

The Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team (2-5 overall) dropped two West Central Conference duals in a home triangular. They lost 45-25 to Quad County and 39-31 to Paynesville Area. In the other dual, Quad County topped Paynesville 39-33.

At St. Cloud, the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team suffered their first loss of the year by a 63-58 final score to St. Cloud Cathedral. The Crusaders are 6-2 overall, while the Mainstreeters are 6-1. Up next is a home game against Minnewaska Area in a key West Central North Conference meeting this Thursday night.

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

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.