Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion takes home runner-up trophy at Section 3A True Team!

The team with their trophy. PHOTO SUBMITTED

At Sartell today for the Section 3A True Team boys' swimming and diving meet, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion took second place in an eight-team field. The host Sabres won the team title with 1,492 points.

M-SC was second with 1,278 points, and Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato took third with 1,030 points.

An incomplete list of team members earning medals (top eight finishes) were: Caleb Rothfork (diving), Felipe Barreto (500 free champion with a new section record, 200 freestyle runner-up), Ethan Ross (50 free, 100 fly), Keenan Pearson (100 fly), Brent Blommel (100 free), Ben Heller (500 free), Aaron Stalboerger (500 free) and John Schwieters (100 backstroke).

Relay teams earning medals included the 200 free (Pearson, Ross, Blommel, Barreto) and two 400 free squads (Justin Hoppe, Heller, Tobie Danielson, Stalboerger 6th and Schwieters, Ross, Blommel, Barreto champions).

"The guys did well today, especially on the relays," commented co-head coach James Schreiner following the meet.

Read more coverage of the team's performances at the True Team meet in the Jan. 17 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald. Great job!

~RO

Prairie Centre Area, Mainstreeter girls' basketball events postponed for tonight

Due to Sauk Centre schools being closed for the day from bad weather/road conditions, both the North Stars boys' hockey team and Mainstreeters girls' basketball team will not host events tonight in Sauk Centre.

Streeters smoke Lakers in boys' basketball action, Fusion team wins at Morris

It was a blow out win for the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters boys' basketball team at Minnewaska Area tonight. In a West Central North Conference game, the Mainstreeters (6-3, 4-0 WCC-North) won 77-51 for their third win in a row.

Senior post Nick Adams led the charge with 27 points on red-hot 8-of-13 field goal shooting and 10-of-11 at the free throw line. Junior Josh Buschette also had a fine game with 11 points while hitting three of his four three-point shots.

Up next: Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (7-3) visits the SCHS gymnasium for a non-conference border battle next Tuesday night. LP-GE has won 7 games in a row

Sauk Centre, Morris Area-Chokio-Alberta and Melrose Area are all still unbeaten in West Central North Conference play this season.

In a West Central Conference boys' swimming and diving meet, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion team defeated Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta by a 105-21 score; their dual meet record improves to 5-1 with the win. They head to Sartell on Saturday for the Section 3A True Team meet.

In non-conference boys' hockey action, the Morris-Benson Area Storm defeated Prairie Centre Area 4-1 on the Sauk Centre ice to square their overall record at 6-6. The North Stars, who host another game on Friday in Sauk Centre, fall to 2-9-1 overall. They face Breckenridge/Wahpeton tomorrow.The B/W Blades are 3-9 overall; they beat a Wisconsin team 5-0 in Spooner, WI over the Christmas break; beat Wadena-Deer Creek 5-4 on Dec. 4 and beat Northern Lakes 2-1 in their season opener on Nov. 24.

More photos from Tuesday's swimming and diving meet

Cheering on their fellow teammates.

Keenan Pearson sailing through the 100 butterfly race against Park Rapids Area. PHOTOS BY RANDY OLSON

Video from the 100 fly at last night's home swimming and diving meet

M-SC's Keenan Pearson won the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.74 seconds. Fellow senior teammate Ethan Ross was second with a finish in 59.67 seconds. Eighth grader Isaac Schreiner was third with a time of 1:07.01.

M-SC's 200 freestyle relay team of Ross, Pearson, Brent Blommel and Felipe Barreto won that event with a time of 1:35.00. That finish also set a new pool record in Sauk Centre.

Barreto took first place in the 100 and 200 freestyle races.

The Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion (4-1) defeated Park Rapids Area by a team score of 110-74.

~RO

Mainstreeter girls' basketball cooled off by Osakis, SC-M wrestlers pummel LP-GE, Fusion dunks Panthers!

A rousing girls' basketball border battle between the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters and the Osakis Silverstreaks played out at the SCHS gymnasium on Tuesday night. In the end, the Silverstreaks got the best of the Mainstreeters and went home with a 49-40 win. At halftime, Osakis led 28-18.

The Mainstreeter girls' basketball team is 10-1 on the season and host #7-ranked (Class 2A) Staples-Motley this Friday night. The Cardinals are 9-4 overall and 4-0 in the Mid-State Conference. Their losses have been to Class 4A Woodbury, Class 4A Rogers as well as #1-ranked Maranatha Christian (Class 1A) and #1-ranked Richfield (Class 3A).

In the home pool in Sauk Centre tonight, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team had an early 46-32 lead over Park Rapids Area entering the diving portion of the meet. Final: M-SC 110, Park Rapids Area 74. Due to their wide lead heading into the last two events, the final two varsity scores were recorded as exhibition races - that's standard procedure for M-SC's swimming and diving team. Up next for the Fusion: a trip to Morris (U of M-Morris Recreational and Fitness Center) this Thursday for a West Central Conference dual beginning at 6 p.m. It's a good tune-up for what comes two days after that: a trip to Sartell for the Section 3A True Team meet.

At Long Prairie tonight, the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team had a 23-10 lead through the 152 weight class. Final: SC-M 38, LP-GE 22. Picking up wins for SC-M were Jordan Winter, Kolten Kuhlman, Will Funk, Luke Glasener, Dalton Reinke, Artruo Stefanoni, Jade Olson and Charlie Barhorst. As a team, SC-M is 3-8 so far this season.

The wrestling meet was a true K-12 event, with K-6 grade wrestlers competing from both schools earlier in the evening. According to co-head coach Glasener, SC-M had 30 elementary youth wrestlers competing against LP-GE. A B-squad match followed that, and then the varsity teams capped off the night. Up next for the wrestlers: a trip to Zimmerman this Friday for a triangular. SC-M faces Dassel-Cokato at 5 p.m. and then the host Thunder squad at approximately 6:30 p.m. SC-M's next home action is in Melrose. Also on the horizon for the wrestlers: on Thursday, Jan. 17, SC-M will host a dual meet against Alexandria (7-12 event) and not a triangular.

At Monticello, the Prairie Centre Area boys' hockey team lost 4-0 to Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake. Up next: the North Stars (2-8-1) host Morris/Benson Area (5-6, 2-2 Southwest Conference) this Thursday in Sauk Centre in a key Section 6A match up; that game will be aired on BOB FM. They also host on Friday night, when Breckenridge/Wahpeton visits the Sauk Centre arena.

Read more in this week's Sauk Centre Herald. Further coverage of the Fusion team's win over Park Rapids Area will be posted on this blog later today.

~RO

Streeters thump Willmar in girls' basketball action

The Class 3A Willmar Cardinals didn't bring much punch to the Sauk Centre high school gymnasium on Monday night, as the host Mainstreeters girls' basketball team picked up a 70-49 non-conference win.

Now 10-0 overall, the Mainstreeters continue their four-game home stand when Osakis (8-1) visits tomorrow night for a non-conference border battle. The game has seeding implications, as both are members of Sub-Section 6AA-North come playoff time.

The lone loss this season for the Silverstreaks came on Dec. 20 at state-ranked Upsala by a 45-37 score in a Prairie Conference game. Osakis holds a 56 points per game offensive average to go with a robust 36.9 points per game defensive average.

A scheduling note: Sauk Centre-Melrose's Tuesday night wrestling match at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle will be broadcast on BOB FM 105.5 FM.

This past Saturday in Minneapolis, the Sauk Centre-Melrose Fusion boys' swimming and diving team placed fifth out of 15 teams in a tough U of M Maroon and Gold Invitational. They host Park Rapids Area in the Sauk Centre pool tomorrow night (Tuesday) beginning at 6 p.m. Read more about the Fusion team's win at Willmar last week and their trip to the Cities in the upcoming issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

Prairie Centre Area action photo vs. Bagley

Photo courtesy of Taylor Lunemann, Long Prairie Leader

Shown in the photo is Prairie Centre Area's sophomore forward Noah Schmidt getting the puck around a Bagley/Fosston/Clearbrook-Gonvick player during Friday night's 5-2 win over the Flyers. It was the second win of the season for the North Stars team. They travel to Monticello next Tuesday for their next game of the season.