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.

Mainstreeter girls' basketball takes tough loss at BOLD

A final score from Olivia tonight: BOLD 61, Sauk Centre 54. The loss ends a 12-game winning streak for the Mainstreeters girls' basketball team.

The Warriors (22-3) were rated 41st in the latest QRF state power rankings, while the Mainstreeters were up at number 10.

Tonight's game was the West Central Conference inter-divisional championship game. BOLD won the South division with a 13-2 mark.

Streeter girls No. 2 seed in 6AA-North

The Sauk Centre girls' basketball team earned the No. 2 seed in the 6AA North Sub-Section today. Staples-Motley is the No. 1 seed. The seedings are as follows:
1. Staples-Motley
2. Sauk Centre
3. Osakis
4. Albany
5. Pierz
6. LPGE
7. Melrose
8. Holdingford

The first round of sub-sections is slated for next Thursday, Feb. 28 with high seeds hosting.

No. 1 Staples-Motley vs. No. 8 Holdingford 6 p.m.
No. 2 Sauk Centre vs. No. 7 Melrose 7p.m.
No. 3 Osakis vs. No. 6 LPGE 7 p.m.
No. 4 Albany vs. No. 5 Pierz 7 p.m.

If the Streeters win they will play the winner of Osakis and LPGE. Osakis is the only team to beat Sauk this season, defeating them 49-40. That game will be at St. Johns on Saturday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m.

The sub-section finals are Tuesday, March 5 @ SJU at 6 p.m.

This is one of the toughest sub-sections in Class AA if not the toughest. Staples-Motley has four losses with three of them coming to Class AAA teams or higher. Albany is 18-3 and New London is in the south with an 18-4 mark.

Should be a great week of playoff basketball! Don't miss it!!!

Back and forth game!

We've got a great game playing out between neighboring rivals at the Sauk Centre high school gymnasium.

With 7:14 left before halftime, Melrose holds a slim 21-19 lead.

*The Dutchmen scored at the buzzer on a layup by Isaac Sawyer to take a 39-31 lead into halftime. The Alexandria Aces are performing at halftime.

Final: 81-67 Melrose Area wins. The Mainstreeters (15-5) fell behind as many as 22 points in the second half but rallied in the last five minutes. They cut it down to 10 points with 63 seconds left, but the Dutchmen got a 6-for-6 performance at the line by Scottie Stone to win by 14 points.

Melrose Area improves to 23-1 overall with the win while remaining perfect in the West Central North Conference.

Game on!

Make tracks to SCHS gymnasium tonight, when the Mainstreeters boys' basketball team hosts Melrose Area in a first-place clash of the top two teams in the West Central North Conference and Sub-Section 6AA-North. Sauk Centre was ranked number 12 in the latest Class 2A poll, while the Dutchmen have been at number one for the past few weeks.

Tip-off for the varsity game is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be aired on BOB FM, 105.5 of Albany.

Prior to the playing of the National Anthem, Sauk Centre senior Nick Adams will be given a plaque in honor of earning over 1,000 career points as a varsity player at SCHS.

No girls basketball game tonight

There is no game tonight against Morris for girls' basketball fans. The game has been rescheduled for Saturday in Morris at 5 p.m.