Headlight Herald - Serving Tracy, Minnesota, since 1880

Sports from the week of December 8, 1999

Relentless Panthers score 89 in opener

The Panther girls' basketball team opened the season with an 89-59 212 Conference win over Belview-Danube-Renville-Sacred Heart at Tracy last Friday night.

It was a very close game in the first quarter with the Jaguars holding a 12-111 lead with 3:30 remaining. The Panthers then borer down and took a 20-15 lead at the end of the period.

The second quarter was close except for a 7-0 run by Tracy-Milroy as the first half ended with the score 46-34 in the Panthers favor. A three pointer by Marcia Ankrum with four seconds left was her third of four three pointers for the game.

The Panthers out-scored BDRSH 18-15 in the third period and overcame a Jaguar rally early in the fourth quarter with a 19-0 run that opened the score to 85-53 with 2:13 remaining in the game.

Heidi Peterson and Rhonda Bitker led the team in scoring with 18 points each. They were followed by Marcia Ankrum with 14 and jenny Otto and Stephanie Welvaert with 12 each. T-M hit 7 of 10 three point attempts and were 25 of 55 from 2 point range for 45%. BDRSH was 0-2 from three point range and 18 of 46 from the field for 39%.

The Panthers out-rebounded the jaguars 26-22 and had 17 steals to 8 for BDRSH. T-M had 16 turnovers to 18 for the Jaguars.

Huskies roll over Panthers, 53-41

The Tracy-Milroy girls basketball team saw their record drop to 1-1 with a 53-41 loss to Jackson County Central at Tracy Tuesday night. The JCC Huskies' record improved to 2-1.

The Panthers held a 7-6 lead after 4 minutes of play but nine straight possessions without scoring, while their opponents converted at a 67% rate, left them behind 18-7 at the end of the first quarter.

It proved to be a margin the Panthers could not overcome. They closed to within eight points by the end of the second period, on the strength of seven quick points by Melissa Sweetman, to trail 28-20 at the half.

The third period was quite close and ended with JCC leading 37-27.

Both teams opened up their offenses in the fourth quarter with the Huskies posting 16 points to 14 for T-M to reach the 53-41 final score.

T-M was out-rebounded by the taller Huskies and had an off night shooting, a combination that will not win many games.

Heidi Peterson led the Panther scoring with 9 points. She was followed by Stephanie Welvaert with 8, Jenny Otto and Melissa Sweetman with 7 each, Marcia Ankrum and Laura Zwach with 4 each and Rhonda Bitker with 2 points.

The girls will travel to Kerkhoven Friday to take on KMS in a 212 Conference matchup. They will not have another home game until December 21 when they host the Southwest Christian Eagles.

Panther boys travel to Granite Thursday, host Redwood Friday

First-year Panther boys' basketball Coach Jon Barsness is working his charges hard in preparation for his debut Thursday night against Yellow Medicine East at Granite Falls.

"I am going to see Yellow Medicine East play tonight (Tuesday) and I am reviewing last year's tape against Redwood Valley," he said.

Expected to provide most of the playing time are seniors Jeremy Goltz, Ben Lightfoot, Pat Coquyt and Chris Gervais, plus juniors Derek Rignell, Jeremy Cauwels, Nathan Clark, Matt Daniels, Tony Lanoue, Matt Loeslie and Brady Schmidt. However positions are wide open and all of the candidates have a chance to play.

"Any of the 12 seniors and juniors could be playing quite a bit in the first few games," commented Barsness. "The opportunities for them are there."

The Panthers will be home when they play host to Redwood Valley on Friday, December 10.

Wrestlers take-down improved start

The Panther Wrestling Team won two and lost one in the quadrangular meet at Clara City Friday with BDRSH, MACCRAY and Benson.

They lost to BDRSH 48-17, won over MACCRAY 39-35 and over Benson 39-36.

Aldon Struchen and Eric Jacobson led the Panthers with 3-0 records for the day. Both wrestlers gained a decision and two falls for their efforts.

Wabasso, Minneota provide tough matches for wrestlers

The Panther wrestling team won one and lost two in a quadrangular meet held at Marshall Monday night. The individual results of the loss to Minneota were not available. The Panthers defeated Marshall 39-32, lost to Wabasso 58-12 and to Minneota 56-7. The Panthers are now 3-3 in dual meets for the season and that is more wins than they had all of last year.

Tae Kwon do training gives senior athlete added dimension

Justin Morin is not just a Panther football player. The all-conference, all-area tackle who also handled the punting chores and was chosen one of the team captains this season is also heavily involved, along with his Father Tom and Brother Jason, in Tae Kwon Do.

"It all started back in the fall of 1993," said Tom Morin. "I wanted to get the boys started in some type of discipline such as Tae Kwon Do, and I was having so much fun myself that I didn't want to quit."

All three tested for the black belt level in August of 1997 and Tom and Jason reached the second degree level in August of this year. Justin will test in February. Justin won the South Dakota State Championship in 1997 and the Minnesota 16 year old championship in 1999. Jason has won the Minnesota 13 year old championship in 1999 while Tom has placed second in Senior Men's Form and also in Senior Men's Sparring in 1999.

The Morins practice twice per week, Wednesdays and Sundays, in the Masonic building under the tutelage of Jeff Meyer who has reached the third degree level. They are now preparing for the tournament season which runs from January through April. The goal is to qualify for the nationals and receive an invitation to train with the Olympic Team in Colorado Springs in 2000.

Justin has indicated an interest in joining the Army and has been interviewed by a member of the U.S. Army TKD Team. However he has also been getting a lot of attention from college football recruiters. In division II both the University of Minnesota at Morris and Augustana have been in contact and Iowa State (division I) has also shown some interest.

"I am sure that Justin's punting skills were made possible by the workouts in Tae Kwon Do," said his dad.