FAIRMONT — Caden Baarts has evolved into a household name pertaining to excellence in high school athletics throughout south-central Minnesota. The sure-handed junior cornerback pocketed four interceptions and recorded 73 tackles to help engineer Fairmont football team’s march to Class ...
FAIRMONT — Fairmont Area head girls soccer coach Matt Nielsen used two words last fall to accurately and endearingly describe Cardinal senior midfielder Lexi Kaufman — whirling dervish. “She never seems to run out of energy. She has an uncanny natural inner drive,” Nielsen said in ...
FAIRMONT — Fairmont High School senior wide receiver Blake Buntjer quietly generated solid numbers on the prep gridiron during the past two seasons. Ironically, standing a legitimate 6-foot-5 and weighing 185 pounds, the Cardinals’ main secondary offensive end somehow managed to fly under ...
When a spindly freshman qualified for the Class A state cross country during the fall of 2016, Blue Earth Area High School long-distance mentor Tom Plocker knew he literally had a runner in the prep sport for the long haul. Little did the Bucs’ legendary cross country and track & field ...
FAIRMONT — Levi Becker and Matt Lytle probably feel like it’s the bottom of the ninth inning, game-winning run on third base, an 0-2 count and two outs. Unfortunately, neither Becker can deliver the clutch hit from the batter’s box nor Lytle can record the final out from the pitcher’s ...
FAIRMONT — “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Tyrell Zieske truly understands the meaning of John Steinbeck’s famous line from his 1937 novella, “Of Mice and Men.” Zieske and fellow senior co-captain Aaron Hendricks created workout practices for their Fairmont ...
FAIRMONT — Three-sport standout Jacob Rahn’s senior year at Fairmont High School will come full circle in 32 days. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Rahn kicked off his final prep football campaign within the friendly confines of Mahoney Field last August before wrestling his way to the Xcel Energy ...
FAIRMONT — Sentinel sports editor Lyle Domek probably never envisioned the climatic challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century when he created the Relays’ track & field invitational in 1955. Torrential rains, tornadoes and even snow on the first Friday in May have forced the ...
BLUE EARTH — Thomas Lindsey has developed a penchant for defying gravity. The Blue Earth Area High School senior literally elevated his pole-vaulting skills to new heights during the 2019 track & field campaign. After reaching a season’s-best 10 feet, 6 inches as a sophomore in 2018, ...
FAIRMONT — Adversity, hardships, misfortune. While coaches, players and sports writers often overuse those words to define both major and minor difficulties in athletics, University of Jamestown senior basketball player Courtney Mosloski more accurately describes those tough times as ...
SHERBURN — As each “every-day-is-the-same” slowly clicks off the calendar, the chances that the regularly-allotted athletic events for the rest of the Minnesota prep spring schedule being played are not favorable. In an effort to salvage some semblance of normalcy, cognizant coaches, ...
FAIRMONT — Her long blonde locks stream from under her white visor as she quickly retreats to snare a sinking liner with her two-toned Wilson glove in the shallow outfield grass. The quick flick of her wrists as her powerful compact swing drives the opposing pitcher’s delivery through the ...
FAIRMONT — Josh Heinze had his sights set on literally making a run — and hop, skip and jump — this spring at a track & field scholarship offer to South Dakota State University. Fairmont’s senior co-captain stepped onto Bob Bonk Track during the original first day of practice — ...
FAIRMONT — Fairmont High School head golf coach Brad Haugen received the one birthday gift that he wanted more than anything else on Friday — golf courses throughout the state of Minnesota being reopened. “It actually happened. Incredible,” said Haugen, who turned 42 on the day that ...
FAIRMONT — Go for a 4-mile run around Budd Lake, shower, finish her PSEO (postsecondary enrollment options) homework online and spend quality time with her family. Like her approach to competing in high school soccer in the fall and track & field during the spring, Fairmont senior ...
ARMSTRONG — Hope Steinberger literally and figuratively sets the bar high when it relates to achieving individual and team goals in prep athletics. The North Union senior three-sport standout cleared 5 feet even to capture a seventh-place medal in the high jump during the 2019 Iowa Class 1A ...
BLUE EARTH — Caitlin Rorman’s precision timing and improvisational skills on the basketball court continue to produce dividends. The Gustavus Adolphus College hoopster utilized every inch of her athletic 5-foot-11 frame to pace the Gusties women’s team in scoring via a 16.5-point clip ...
FAIRMONT — After turning in successful fall and winter athletic seasons on Mahoney Field and the wrestling mats at Cardinal Gym and in Sherburn, Cale Steuber was ready to cap his senior year with a stellar baseball campaign this spring. In the fall, Steuber helped lead the Fairmont Cardinal ...
BLUE EARTH — Gaven Bruellman was bringing a new mindset into his senior golf season. Now he will have to wait to find out if it works. Bruellman, the lone senior on the Blue Earth Area Bucs’ boys golf team, was prepared to help lead the team to its fourth consecutive state ...
FAIRMONT — Jack Hested had been looking to repeat as the Fairmont High School baseball team leader on the mound after pitching 42 1/3 innings last season as a junior. Now Hested just has to hope for American Legion baseball in the summer. Hested spent the first part of the 2019-20 school ...