Sports from the week of June 14, 2006

Gary Knott jumps to state title

By Dick Donaldson

The Panthers’ Gary Knott has won the State Class A High Jump Championship. Knott cleared 6-5 to claim the title at the Hamline University Track Complex last Saturday.

“It was really exciting,” said Knott. “We had all (the top four contenders) made 6-4 and then I cleared 6-5 on my first attempt. Then I had to bite my fingernails as the others scratched out one by one.”

It had not been easy for Knott. He missed the first try at every height up to 6-5, starting at 5-10.

“It was cold Saturday and I just couldn’t seem to get loose,” said Knott. “But it all ended very well for me.”

Knott has exceeded his winning height twice in competition. He went 6-6 at the Vermillion Meet early this season and also cleared 6-6 once at Luverne.

Knott joins an elite group of Tracy High School athletes who have won state championships.

The first was Nick Kurtz in the long jump in 1965. Two girls’ relay teams claimed state titles in 1982: the 4x100 meter team of Lynda Schmidt, Heidi Schu, Marj. Kosse and Barb Mix and 4x200 meter relay team of Schmidt, Schu, Mary Hannasch and Barb Mix.

In 1987 the boys’ 4x100 meter relay team of Joel Brey, Doug Neisess, Richard Stanek and John Apostol won at the state track meet.

Kris DeRuyck won a Class A championship 300 meter hurdles in 1997, and Jon Peterreins won the pole vault title 1998.

Julie Gifford won the state 1600 meters in 1998, ‘99 and in 2000, and won the 3200 meters run in 2000.

A 4x800 meter relay team of Jillian Tholen, Rebecca Gervais, Kristen Sweetman and Laura Zwach. were state Class A champions in 2002.

“All of our kids did very well,” said Panther Coach Al Landa. “Gary’s performance speaks for itself. Jillian (Tholen) ran her best times ever to pick up a third and sixth. The runner who won the 3200M race set a new state record. It is unfortunate that all three events Bobbi Jo (Buyck) competed in took place in a very limited time frame but she did very well in them all. The MSHSL had a person assigned to her to keep her advised as to what was going on in the three events.”

“I was very impressed with the facilities and with the calibre of the athletes participating,” he added.

Two medals for Tholen

Jillian Tholen placed sixth in the 1600 meters and third in the 3200 meters.. She posted a time of 5:11.48 in the 1600 and 11:07.47 in the 3200. Her time in the 3200 was her best ever, but she had bested the time in the 1600 in this year’s sections. The winner of the 3200 M race set a new state record so the competition was very good.

“I know all of those girls from other track meets and cross-country meets,” said Tholen.. “It had been a great thrill for me to be on the winning relay team in 2002 but that was then and this is now so I rank my participation in this year’s meet right up at the top of my experiences.”

The state meet was especially rewarding for Tholen after having missed last year’s track competition with an injury suffered in basketball. She had tendenitis and played right through it causing it to become worse. The only cure for it was complete rest and rehabilitation.

Jillian and Bobbi Jo Buyck are both going to attend Augustana College, in Sioux Falls

Triple placer

Bobbi Jo Buyck qualified for the State Track Meet in the 100 meters the 100 meter hurdles and in the pole vault. She finished fourth in the 100 meters with a time of 13.29, fifth in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.31 and third in the pole vault with a vault of 10-6.

“I did not have my personal best times in the 100M dash or the 100M hurdles nor the best height in pole vault but they were all right. Everyone was having some problems with the wind and cold,” said Buyck.

Buyck had several things working against her at this meet. All three events (100M dash, 100M hurdles and the pole vault) were all taking place over a very short period of time, and the pole vault was moved indoors.

“I didn’t notice any problem with vaulting indoors,” said Buyck. “It was probably better than outside because there was a nasty cross-wind blowing.

“The pole vault was moved indoors because of a cross-wind that was causing some problems for the vaulters,” said Coach Landa. “ The MSHSL assigned a person to keep Bobbi Jo advised as to what was going on in each of her three events. We even passed on one height in the vaulting so she could catch her breath.”

Buyck had to move right into the pole vaulting almost immediately after running the hurdles and the 100M dash and there is something intimidating about vaulting (or jumping) indoors after being used to the open sky.

As it was Buyck gave a very credible performance in both races and almost reached her personal best in the pole vault. She has cleared 11-0.

“The two vaulters who finished ahead of Buyck had their personal bests on this day,” said Coach Landa.

Legion wins first two

The Milroy Legion Team opened its season with a win over Sacred Heart, at Milroy by a score of 11-2 Thursday evening.

“We got our season off to a good start with a win over a team that was playing very well at the end of the high school season,” said Milroy Coach Derek Flann.

Milroy got on the board first with a pair of runs in the first inning. Sacred Heart tied the score with two runs in the second but a big seven run outburst by Milroy in the fifth inning put the game away.

Derek Daniels started on the mound for Milroy and pitched five innings giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 1 hit while striking out 2 and walking 2. Lucas Walling pitched the last 2 innings and gave up no runs on no hits while striking out 1 and walking 1.

Matt Bauer and Daniels led the 11 hit attack with 3 hits each while Derrick Vandromme added 2 hits.

Sacred

Heart 020 000 0 2 1 1

Milroy 200 072 x 11 11 2

Milroy-Rignell, 2b,3,2,1; Castle,cf ,3,1,1; McCoy,cf; Radke,ss,3,0,0; Bauer,3b,3,3,3; Daniels,p,4,2,3; Carlson,rf, 2,1,0; Hebig,rf,0,0,0; Frisvold,1b,2,1,0; Arens,lf,0,0,0; Vandromme,lf,2,1,2; Walling,p,0,0,0; Nelson,c,4,0,1. Totals, 26,11,11.

Tracy VFW is off to 6-2 start

This year’s VFW baseball team is being coached by Bob and Neil Dolan with some help from Eric Frisvold. The roster includes Adam Baumann, Spencer Zwaschka, Kayne Zwaschka, Chris Hansen, Isaac Dolan, Travis Apperson, Aaron Frisvold, Anthony Dolan, David Schmidt, Adam Haecherl, Trent Edwards, Alex Jones, Will Johnston, John Gervais, Kyle Fraser, Brian Schlager, Eric Lanoue and Taylor Hagberg.

The team has won 6 games and lost 2 to date. Tracy has wins over Sacred Heart 5-2, Redwood Falls, 16-4, 9-6 and 10-3 over Granite Falls and lost 9-4 to Marshall before going 2-1 in the Luverne tournament over the last week end.

In the opening game of the tournament Tracy won over New Ulm by a score of 9-2. Isaac Dolan pitched a three hitter for the Tracy team plus contributing a double while going 3 for 4 at the plate. David Schmidt and John Gervais were 2 for 4 for Tracy.

New Ulm 200 000 0 2 3 1

Tracy 006 011 1 9 14 3

On Saturday Tracy won over Watertown 5-3 before losing to Luverne Saturday evening by a score of 4-0.