Sports from the week of December 17, 2003

Wrestlers start with wins

By Dick Donaldson

The Panther wrestling team got off to a great start with dual meet wins over Pipestone and Red Rock Central/Westbrook-Walnut Grove at Tracy Thursday night. The Panthers were obviously highly motivated and extremely aggressive as they won 46-24 over Pipestone and 51-25 over RRC/W-WG.

"The wrestlers did a great job tonight," said Panther Coach Travis Christenson. "The thing that stood out in my mind is how the wrestlers came out aggressively. We were the ones scoring the points first."

The Panthers were led by Derek Evans, Chad Cooreman, Cole Cooreman, Dan Dieter, Andy Nelson and Jordan Rolling with two wins each. Derek Evans (2), Cole Cooreman, Chad Cooreman (2), Drew Hebig, Andy Nelson, Dan Deiter, Paul Carlson, Jordy Rolling and Mike Schreier all registered pins in the meet.

A highlight was the performance of seventh grader "Jordy" Rolling (215) as he recorded two wins for the Panthers in his first varsity experience. Rolling got a pin against Pipestone and his second win came on a forfeit from RRC/W-WG.

"We had to do a little juggling with the weights against Pipestone," said Christenson. "I usually like to wrestle heads up, but we made the moves we needed to and came out on top."

The Panthers host a triangular ·with Marshall and Minneota at the high school gym Thursday, Dec. 18.

"It's great to have the crowd into the match, that makes a great atmosphere to wrestle," said Christenson. "We have to work on conditioning. Pipestone and RRC/W-WG each had four or more matches. This was our first because of Tuesday's weather. All-in-all I'm happy with the outcome."

Powerful Redwood tops TMB in boys' opener

The Panther boys' basketball team opened their 2003-04 season with an 89-66 loss to Redwood Valley at Tracy last Friday night.

The taller, more experienced Cardinals, using a tight press and showing good quickness, opened up a 26-11 lead at the end of the first period and increased that to 46- 27 at the intermission. The Panthers were able to stay with the Cardinals in the second half being out-scored only 43-39.

The Panthers were led in scoring by junior post player John Knott with 23 points plus 2 shots blocked. He was followed by Ross Ladehoff with 10 points. The Cardinals were led by Tim Madson with 19 points.

The Panthers out-rebounded the Cardinals 37-19 (Kirk 9), had 5 blocks to 3 for RV and 16 assists (Peterson 5) to 13 for the Cardinals. The big difference was in the turnovers where T/M/B had 24 to only 8 for the visitors. The Cardinals had 13 steals while T/M/B had 6 (Eric Peterson 3). Redwood Valley hit 32 of 62 field goals for 52% (including 5 of 10 on three pointers) while T/M/B hit 26 of 49 shots for 53%.

Weather postponements shuffle Panther calendar

A host of Panther extra-curricular events have been rescheduled because of bad weather Dec. 9, Dec. 15, and Dec. 16. Here's a summary of the rescheduled events, as compiled by Tracy Area High School Activities Director Bill Taurer.

Rescheduled from Dec. 9

•Boys' basketball ABC vs. BOLD at Bird Island has been moved to Thursday, Feb. 12. A & B-squads will play at Bird Island with B-squad starting at 6 p.m. C -squad will play at Olivia at 6 p.m.

•Girls' basketball ABC vs. BOLD at Tracy has been moved to Monday, Dec. 22. B & C-squads will start at 6 p.m., with the C-squad playing at the Pavilion.

• Wrestling quadrangular with Clara City has been replaced with an eight-team tournament at Springfield Saturday, Jan. 31, starting at 10 a.m.

• Boys' basketball 7 & 8 vs. Lakeview at Cottonwood has been moved to Thursday, Jan. 15 at Cottonwood starting at 4 p.m.

• Girls' basketball 7&8 vs. Lakeview at Tracy has been moved to Thursday, Jan 15 at Milroy starting at 4 p.m.

Rescheduled from Dec. 15

• Junior high sports pictures have been moved to Friday, Dec, 19 at 3:30 p.m.

• The high school Christmas concert has been moved to Friday, Dec. 19 at 2 p.m.

Rescheduled from Dec. 16:

• Girls' basketball vs. RCW at Renville has been moved to Saturday, Jan. 3 at Renville. B-squad will play at Renville starting at 12:30pm with the varsity starting at approximately 2 p.m. The C-squad is already playing in a tournament on Jan. 3 at Sacred Heart.

• Boys' basketball vs. RCW at Tracy has been moved to Saturday, Jan. 3 at Renville. B-squad will play at Sacred Heart starting at 12:30 pm. Varsity will play at Renville starting 30 minutes after the completion of the girl's game. No C-squad game will be played. The Boys' basketball game scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 3 at Renville will now be played at Tracy.

• Girls' and Boys' seventh-grade basketball vs. Lynd has been postponed with no rescheduled date at this time.