The Panther wrestling team beat both Montevideo and Lac Qui Parle Valley in a triangular met held at Montevideo last Thursday. They beat LQPV 58-12 and Montevideo 48-23.

Adrian shows its wrestling strength

The Adrian Dragons dominated the Panther wrestling triangular as Tracy/Milroy/Balaton lost one and tied one at Tracy Tuesday night.

Adrian won over the Panthers 55-10 and over Redwood Valley 61-1 while T/M/B tied the Cardinals 32-32.

Cole Cooreman, James Prairie and Adam Snyder led the Panthers with two wins each.

Cole Cooreman builds reputation in 119 class

By Dick Donaldson

Sophomore Cole Cooreman is arguably the hottest wrestler on the Panther squad right now. Cole was the lone Panther to win a championship at the recent Dam Site Tournament in Granite Falls. He has a current record of 12-4 this season and an accumulative record of 38-12 since the beginning of last season.

Cooreman has been wrestling since he was in the first grade and, like most wrestlers, his goal is to qualify for the state wrestling tournament.

Cole is 2-1 with a pin and a decision, over Nathan Barker from Lac Qui Parle Valley, who is ranked seventh in the state at Cole's weight class of 119 pounds. Along with Barker, Cole sees Brandon Croat of Adrian, Zach Morgan of Pipestone, who Cole is 1-0 against, and Travis Elg of Windom/MLBO, who last year was the state champion at 103 pounds, as his primary competitors.

Unlike most wrestlers Cole finds little problem holding his weight except when, over the holidays, there is so much food around.

"My Mom sometimes gets mad at me because I get so grumpy when there is so much food around and I can't eat it," commented Cole.

TMB girls fend off late MACCRAY surge

The Panther girls' basketball team beat MACCRAY at Tracy Friday night 65-50. The win improved Tracy/Milroy/Balaton's season record to 6-4 and they are 5-1 in the 212 Conference.

The Panthers used a tight, pressing defense to take a 22-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and then held on for the win. MACCRAY closed to within six points in the third quarter but a 10-0 Panther run than opened up the lead again.

"We missed quite a few set-ups in the second half," said Panther Co-Coach Paul Soupir . "When you have worked to a good lead you want to keep it."

The Panthers pulled down 22 rebounds ( Loeslie 4, Kaup 4), had 13 steals (Kaup 5), 4 blocks (Nelson 4), and 16 assists, (Kaup 5). T/M/B was led in scoring by Tessa Nelson with 24 points and Kasey Loeslie with 10.

Panther boys lose to MACCRAY

The Panther boys basketball team traveled to MACCRAY Tuesday night and lost to the Wolverines 60-51 in a conference game.

The Panthers got off to a strong start and led the Wolverines 30-27 at the half but a strong 23 point third period by MACCRAY denied the win to Tracy/Milroy/Balaton.

The Panthers were led in scoring by Ross Ladehoff with 14 points and Sean Kirk followed with 11.

YME out-runs, out-guns boys

The Tracy/Milroy/Balaton boys' basketball team was run over by Yellow Medicine East at Tracy Thursday, 70-49.

"Our plan was to try to slow them down with a zone defense," said Panther Coach Nat Boyer. "However they shot so well-hitting three pointers-that we had to change and then they just out-ran us."

Sean Kirk, the lone underclassman of the starting Panthers, hit the first basket of the game to give TMB its only lead of the game at 2-0. The Sting out-scored the Panthers in every quarter except the fourth when both benches were cleared.

John Knott led the Panthers with 11 points. He was followed by Ross Ladehoff with 9 and Sean Kirk and Eric Peterson 8 each. The Panthers pulled down 41 rebounds to 39 for YME, had 2 blocks to 0 for the Sting and each team had 7 steals. The Panthers committed 20 turnovers to only 10 for YME.