Sports from the week of October 29, 2003

Panthers advance to North final Thursday

The Panther volleyball team advanced to the third round of the Section 3AA-North tournament with a 3-0 win over Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop at Redwood Falls Tuesday night. The game scores were 25-21, 25-23 and 25-21.

"We played better than we did against Canby," said Panther Coach Katie Gervais. "We cut down on our serving errors and were a little more aggressive."

The 3-0 match score does not indicate the closeness of the competition as GFW trailed T/M/B only 75-65 in total points scored in the match.

The Panthers will next meet Renville County West, the 3-0 winner over Minnesota Valley Lutheran, at 7:30 this Thursday at Redwood Falls. The winner of that match will meet the winner of the 3AA-South Tournament at SMSU on Saturday, November 1 at 5:30 p.m. for the right to participate in the state tournament.

Depleted runners are 12th in section meet

Canby-Minneota and Luverne will represent Section 3A in the state girls' cross country tournament Saturday.

The Lancers and Cards finished 1-2 in the Section 3A meet in Adrian last week. The Panther were 12th.

The team scores were: 1) Canby/Minneota 49; 2) Luverne, 64; 3) MCW, 82; 4) JCC, 116; 5) Adrian, 153; 6) S/CM/C, 155; 7) Redwood Valley, 218; 8) Windom, 234; 9) MCC, 249; 10) BOLD/BLH, 268; 11) ML-B-O, 283; 12) TMB, 290; 13) YME, 290; SESM, 324.

The Panther individual results were: 37) Steph Kaup, 17:12; 60) Julia Olson, 18:00; 65) Melissa Luckhardt, 18:25; 66) Rebecca Gervais, 18:27; 67) Jessica Mason, 18:40; 91) Megan Pool, 19:16; 92) Jenna Schaar, 19:27.

"It was a disappointment to us," said Panther Coach Steve Jones. "The loss of two of our top runners, Jillian Tholen to mono and Dani Jones to an ankle injury, made it impossible for us to accomplish our goals for the season. However I think we have set a good foundation for next season."

Three-man crews will officiate state tourneys

The Minnesota State High School League has approved the use of three-person officiating crews for the boys' and girls' state basketball tournaments. It will be up to each section tournament to choose whether or not to use three officials.

Schools and conferences may also make their own decision regarding regular season games. The league feels it is wise to have another pair of eyes, "This third person is important for seeing play away from the ball," said Jim Robinson of the MSHSL.

Chuck Evert, former athletic director, official and now a league board member, said, "You have three pairs of eyes instead of two, and that allows for much better off-ball coverage. That is especially important in controlling the roughness of play."

In order to minimize the increased cost of a three-person crew it is felt that each official would take a little less when part of a three-person crew. Dave Furkus, an official who has been working on a three-person crew for the last 8 years said, "I don't mind (taking less money) because I'm more comfortable working in a three-person crew".

There will be free training clinics throughout the state in the next two months for three-person officiating crews.