Sports for the week of September 8, 2004

Field goal gives thriller to TMB

The Tracy/Milroy/Balaton Football Team pulled off a stunning, last second win over R-T-R Thursday night in the opening game of the 2004 season at Tyler. Junior Matt Bauer's 29 yard field goal as time ran out gave the Panthers a 23-22 win over the highly-favored Knights.
The Panthers found themselves trailing 22-20 on R-T-R's 13 yard line, with 6 seconds showing on the clock. As T/M/B lined up for the field goal attempt, R-T-R called three successive time-outs to try to shake the nerves of Panther kicker, Matt Bauer.
"It really didn't bother me at all," said Bauer, who had consistently put the ball in the end zone on kick-offs and was 2 for 2 on extra point attempts during the course of the game. "I really enjoyed the game, it was a lot of fun."
"I was really proud of the way our kids played," said Panther Coach Randy McIntire. "They wouldn't quit and they remembered that 'We expect to win'."

TMB spikers enjoy MCC sweep

The Tracy/Milroy/Balaton Panther volleyball team swept Murray county Central, 3-0, in action in Tracy Tuesday night. The game scores were 25-16, 25-15, and 25-14. The Panthers improved their season record to 2-1 while the Rebels dropped to 1-1.

"We played with more consistency tonight and our ball conrol was better," said Panther Coach Katie Gervais. "We got i nthe right place and we were ready for the play."

The Panther will host Renville County West Thursday night at Tracy with B squad action starting at 6 p.m. RCW and T/M/B are expected to vye for the Section North Title this season.

"It will be a tough match Thursday night against Renville County West," said Gervais. "It is tough playing them this early in the season because we, hopefully, are not as good as we will be at tournament time. However, they probably are not as good now as they will be either."

Good things come in three for Panther cross country

Three good things happened to the Tracy/Milroy/Balaton cross country program last week.
1) The Panther Jillian Tholen won the Mt. Lake Invitational.
2) The girls' junior varisty won their meet.
3) The Panther boys fielded a complete team for the first time.
"Jillian ran a tremendous race," said Panther Coach Marie Clauson. "I could not have asked for anything else from her. "
The Panthers finished in eighth place as a team. The team scores were: 1) Waseca, 82; 2) United South Central/Alden-Conger, 97; 3) Martin County West, 112; 4) Fairmont, 141; 5) Jackson County Central, 165; 6) Adrian, 178; 7) Blue Earth Area, 185; 8) Tracy/Milroy/Balaton, 212; 9) Worthington, 238; 10 ML-B-O, 242.
The Panther individual finishers were: 1) Jillian Tholen, 14:51; 17) Stacy LaVoy, 17:29; 59) Megan Pool, 20:02; 65) Ashlee Domine, 20:22; 70) Jessica Mason, 20:36; 89) Julia Olson, 23:06.

"The heat was hard to overcome but our athletes did a good job," said Clauson. "It's hard when you've been running in 70 degree weather to switch to 90 degree conditions. Stacy LaVoy also had a great first race, I believe she will only get better as she continues to grow in this sport. Overall I am proud of the team and excited to see what will happen with Jenna (Schaar) and Rebecca (Gervais) return." The two runners missed the race because of conflicting conflicts with Miss Tracy.
Tracy/Milroy/Balaton won the junior varsity race. Panther runners were: 15) Bobbi Jo Buyck, 18)Jessica Coulter, 21) Celia Brockway, 24) Rachel Stobb, 26) Jenny Vroman, 49) Ashlei Carpenter, 82) Cassie Miller.
"Bobbi Jo is a tough competitor and her sprinting background helped her hold off several runners in the last 50 meters," said Clauson. "All of these girls have worked hard and this meet proved how competitive they can and will be."

The T/M/B boys' team placed ninth in the junior varsity meet. The individual results were: 9)Ryan Tholen, 36) Alex Jones, 43) Ross Ryan, 79) Sam Van Nevel, 108) Josh Lubben, 109) Dalton Kirk.
"Ryan ran an excellent race," observed Clauson. "I think this is the start of an excellent season. I am very proud of the boys' team. This was the first meet that they've had enough runners to make a complete team and they started off on the right foot."