Sports for the week of September 1, 2004

Scrimmage shows improvement
Football opener is Thursday

The Tracy/Milroy/Balaton football team participated in scrimmage against Sleepy Eye St Mary's, Red Rock Central and Windom Saturday at Sleepy Eye.

"On the whole the scrimmage was a huge improvement over (our showing) the last two years," said Panther Coach Randy McIntire. "We made mistakes on both sides of the ball and we will be working to improve in those areas over the next few days. We are excited about the possibilities for this season and we keep stressing our goal, 'expect to win'." Last year, the Panthers struggled with a 1-8 season.

TMB faces Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, at Tyler, Thursday night. The Danes are the defending conference champion and are favored to repeat this season.

For this Thursday evening the Panthers' depth chart on offense looks like this: Tight end, Paul Johnson, Paul Carlson, Derek Daniels; Tackles Matt Bauer, Sean Fox, Paul Carlson; Guards Dan Malmberg, Kong Her; center David Schiller; QB Donald Strand, Tristan Larson; Wide Receiver Trevor Morin, Brett Jackson; Running back, Seth Swan, Andy Nelson, Matt Engesser, Anthony Rasmussen.

The depth chart on defense looks like this: Ends, Paul Carlson, Sean Fox, Matt Engesser; Tackles, David Schiller, Josh Ruppert, Erik Frisvold; Linebackers, Anthony Rasmussen, Seth Swan, Andy Nelson, Matt Bauer, Dan Malmberg, Paul Johnson; Corners, Trevor Morin, Brett Jackson; Safety Donald Strand, Brad Lanoue.

The Panthers' first home game is against St. James, Friday, Sept. 10. Game time is 7 p.m.

Volleyball team wins opener

The Panther volleyball team opened its 2004 season with a 3-1 win over Minneota. The game scores were 22-25, 25-13, 25-22 and 25-19. The Panthers will meet Marshall in their first home match Friday night. The Tigers moved to 2-0 with a sweep of Mankato West Tuesday night in Marshall.

T/M/B lost the first game 22-25 before the hitting duo of Tessa Nelson and Emily Miller hit their stride. In the four game match Nelson led in hitting with 19 kills while Miller added 9, Nicole Haecherl 6 and Laura Lanoue 5. Laura Lanoue led in serving as she was 18 for 18 with 2 aces, Emily Miller was 19 of 19, Krysta Tholen 19 of 20 with 1 ace and Nelson was 11 of 15. Nelson had 6 ace blocks and Haecherl 2. Libero Andrea VanMoer led in digs with 25 and Lanoue had 24, Nelson 9 and Miller 6. Tholen had 43 set assists

"Last year we had a difficult time making adjustments but tonight we made adjustments to their hitters after the first game," said Panther Coach Katie Gervais. I was pleased with our back row players, we have the hitters and our blocking got better as the match progressed."

Runners take off Wednesday

The Panther boys' and girls' cross-country teams have their first meet of the season Wednesday, Sept. 1.

Coach Marie Clauson hopes to get the runners "running in a pack" if possible.

"It makes it difficult for other runners to pass them and they will feed off one another to keep the pack moving at a good pace," she said.

The Panthers are looking for some very good competition at their first meet.

"There are usually several Class AA teams participating including Fairmont, they always have a very good team," said Clauson.

The Panthers Invitational is scheduled at the Tracy Country Club Thursday, Sept. 9.