M-SC Fusion take 4th at State True Team!

What a day at Minneapolis for the Melrose-Sauk Centre boys' swimming and diving team! It's their highest finish ever at a State True team meet.

Co-head coach James Schreiner said about the team's performance, "We definitely exceeded our expectations going in. We were hoping to get in the top six. To finish fourth and be one of the top five teams in the state is pretty amazing."

*Team standings: 1st) St. Thomas Academy; 2nd) Sartell-St. Stephen; 3rd) Breck/Blake; 4th) Melrose-Sauk Centre; 5th) Alexandria; 6th) Simley; 7th) Monticello; 8th) Austin; 9th) Spring Lake Park; 10th) Red Wing; 11th) Mankato East/Mankato Loyola; 12th) Orono; 13th) Virginia.

Up next: another huge test as they face Section 3A favorite Sartell- St.Stephen (6-1) Tuesday night for a dual meet at Melrose. It will be a great meet, as the Fusion team has amassed a superb 7-1 dual record thus far this season.

SC-M has 7 in finals round at WCC tourney

Artruo Stefanoni getting a pin in the 3rd place match at 170 tonight at the Minnewaska Area High School during the 2013 West Central Conference championship meet. PHOTOS BY RANDY OLSON

Jordan Winter won 5-3 at 106 to claim 5th place in his bracket. He beat the 4 seed from Quad County. Will Funk is going for 3rd at 126. He lost a close match 4 to 3. Update: heading into the 170 bracket, Winter's win was all SC-M had in the finals. Then Artruo Stefanoni won by fall in the second period at 170 pounds to earn third place. Saul Ellering will go for fifth at 220 to finish the day for SC-M.

Jordan Winter (left) tries for an escape during his fifth-place match today at 106 pounds.

Stefanoni, Tommy Latzka and Will Funk all earned All-WCC honors, with Funk placing fourth and getting Honorable Mention.


Celebrating Stefanoni's win at 170...

Read more coverage in the Jan. 31 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

WCC Wresting action including SC-M is today at Minnewaska

The West Central Conference wrestling tournament is today starting at 9 a.m. at the Minnewaska High School in central Pope County. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City is the favorite to win it, but after that second and third places are really up for grabs between a large number of teams in the rest of the field, including Sauk Centre-Melrose. Other teams competiting are Benson, BOLD, Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle Valley, Minnewaska Area, Montevideo, Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta, Paynesville Area and Quad County (MACCRAY, Renville County West, Yellow Medicine East pairing).

Stay tuned to the Streeter Sports Blog for further updates later in the day from this WCC meet.

Mainstreeter boys defeat a very good MA/CA team

Against Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (12-2 coming in), the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team won 60-52 tonight in a West Central North Conference game. The Tigers led 33-22 at halftime, but the Mainstreeters stormed back in the second half. Nick Adams' double-double of 20 points and 13 rebounds paved the way for Sauk Centre, who launched 67 total field goals and made 28 of them. Their defense was incredible in the second half by limiting MA/CA to 19 points after the break.

The Tigers were undefeated and leading the WCC-North standings (slightly ahead of Melrose) heading into the contest.

A big win for Sauk Centre, who's now 4-1 in the WCC-North and 9-4 overall! Great job!

More to follow later.

Mainstreeter girls' basketball annihilates Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta, Fusion edges Montevideo in boys' swimming and diving

Final score at Morris: Sauk Centre 53, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 22. Whew! Up next: a home game with Minnewaska Area next Monday. Tonight in Morris, senior Macy Weller eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in her varsity career.

In the Sauk Centre pool, the Melrose-Sauk Centre Fusion boys' swimming and diving team edged a very good Montevideo squad by a 97-89 score. Felipe Barreto re-set his Sauk Centre pool record in the 500 freestyle by winning that event with a time of 5:06.66. The Fusion take a fine 7-1 dual meet record into this weekend's Class A State True Team meet in Minneapolis.

The Thunderhawks led 12-2 after the first event, but the Fusion picked it up after the third event to make an exciting evening out of the meet.

"Tonight was a very good meet for us," said Fusion co-head coach James Schreiner about the win over Montevideo. "Four records were broken tonight, including Felipe beating both the school and pool record in the 500 and Thunderhawk swimmers breaking the back and breaststroke records."

Schreiner was pleased with his team's effort and added, "It's good to have a tough meet like this one as we head into the True Team State meet on Saturday."

At the Sauk Centre Civic Arena, Prairie Centre Area lost a close boys' hockey game against Breckenridge/Wahpeton by a 5-3 score. B/W improved to 4-13 with the win. Up next: the North Stars host Detroit Lakes (7-9) on Friday in Long Prairie in a Mid-State Conference game. The Lakers are 4-0 and lead the Mid-State Conference. Defending champion Park Rapids/Menagha/Nevis/Walker-Akeley-Hackensack is 5-1 in the conference in second place.

Read more on all the action in the Jan. 31 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

M-SC Fusion star Felipe Barreto interview

Click on the link to see a Herald video interview with Felipe Barreto, a senior stand out foreigh-exchange student on the Melrose-Sauk Centre boys' swimming and diving team:

http://www.saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=381&NewsVideoID=182

Video from last night's Melrose game

Video by Herman Lensing, Melrose Beacon...Josh Buschette (23) scores an outside bucket from the baseline, with an assist credited to Seth Otte (5).



*Another score from last night: in boys' hockey action, Prairie Centre Area lost in Long Prairie to Northern Lakes (7-9) by a 7-2 score in a Mid-State Conference match up.

Other news: congratulations to Macy Weller, who was just named West Central North Conference girls' basketball player of the week.

Mainstreeter boys in a classic rivalry battle at Melrose

With 3:16 left in the first half, Sauk Centre pulled in front 26-24 on a Josh Buschette three-pointer at Melrose Area. *Update: with 10 minutes left, the Dutchmen have a 57 to 44 lead with 10 minutes left after Nick Adams hit a bucket. It got worse from there; with under five minutes left, it's Melrose 71, Sauk Centre 52.

With 9 minutes left at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team has a 51 to 27 advantage on the scoreboard.

SC-M wrestling has tough going vs. Montevideo

In the first match of a triangular in Sauk Centre tonight, the SC-M wrestling team has picked up only three wins in the first 12 matches.

Winning for SC-M so far have been Tommy Latzka, Dalton Reinke and Shawn Wiese. Montevideo won the match 39-26.

Against Big Lake, the SC-M wrestlers lost 45-25. Will funk, Latska, Artruo Stefanoni and Saul Ellering all won matches for SC-M.

Up next for SC-M: the West Central Conference tournament, featuring 10 teams, at the Minnewaska Area High School on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.

Plenty of action tonight, including SC-M wrestling in Sauk Centre

Good luck to the Sauk Centre-Melrose wrestling team, as they host a triangular tonight beginning with a 5 p.m. match against Montevideo. That match is considered a West Central Conference dual. Later in the evening they face Big Lake.

Also, don't forget, this weekend is the West Central Conference wrestling tournament, featuring the 10 teams in the league all gathering at the Minnewaska Area high school. Action starts at 9 a.m. in central Pope County.

Also tonight: Prairie Centre Area hosts Northern Lakes in Long Prairie; the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team plays at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa; and the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team has a crucial game at Melrose Area in conference action of first-place teams.

North Stars pick up 4th win

At Bagley on Saturday afternoon, the Prairie Centre Area North Stars picked up a 3-2 win over Fosston/Bagley/Clearbrook-Gonvick for their fourth win of the season.

Now 4-10-1 overall, the North Stars host Northern Lakes (6-9, 0-4 Mid-State Conference) on Tuesday night in Long Prairie. Both teams are winless in Mid-State Conference play this year, so it's a good chance for the North Stars to move up in the league standings as the regular season hits the final stretch. On Thursday they host Breckendridge/Wahpeton (3-12) in a make-up game in Sauk Centre.