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Sports from the week of February 28, 2007

Panthers open tournament against No. 1 seed Saturday

The Panther boys’ open Section 3AA tournament play Saturday, March 3.

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton will face Redwood Valley at Redwood Falls in a 7 p.m. game. Redwood Valley is the No. 1 seed in the south division of the Section 3AA tournament. The Panthers, who bring a 12-13 record into the tournament, were seeded eighth in the bracket. Winner of the Saturday game advances to a 6 p.m. game Thursday, March 8.

Other first-round South Division games pair No. 5 Jackson County Central vs. No. 4 Pipestone, No. 2 Luverne vs. No. 7 St. James, No. 3 Wiindom vs. No. 3 Martin County West.

North Division Section 3AA pairings are No. 1 Montevideo vs. No. 8 BOLD, No. 4 Benson vs. No. 5 MACCRAY, No. 2 West Central vs. No. 7 YME, and No. 6 Morris vs. No 3 Lac qui Parle.


State qualifiers prepare for first-round

Zach Campbell, Luke Prairie and Derek Evans are headed to the state Class AA wrestling tournament at the Xcel Center in St Paul. The individual tournament begins on Thursday, and concluded Saturday.

Campbell is an eighth grader who has wrestled to a 35-3 record. “Zach has had an outstanding season,” said Panther Coach Brian Michelson. “He has the ability to dictate his style of wrestling and that is very important this time of the year.” Zach is rated the No. 2 wrestler in his class and will face a freshman named Greg Naschansky, rated No. 3, from Plainview-Elgin-Millville with a record of 30-3. These wrestlers will open the tournament at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

Luke Prairie is a ninth grader with a 38-3 record and the 130-pound Section 3AA champion.

“Luke has improved a great deal this season,” said Michelson. “He has become very good on his feet.”

Prairie’s first-round opponent is Barry Nelson, a junior from Perham who has a 19-17 record. The winner will meet Joe Zellig from Montgomery-Lonsdale-LeCenter.

Derek Evans is a senior with a record of 29-10 He was the Section 3AA runner-up at 145-pounds.

“Derek wrestled a very good section tournament,” said Michelson. “He has improved a great deal this season and especially in the last month.”

Derek will meet Tyler Lewandowski, a freshman from Foley with a record of 11-4 in the opening round.

“All three of the kids have a good shot at advancing.” said Michelson.


Girls win final home game

The Panther girls’ basketball team finished its regular season on a winning note with a 40-36 victory over Martin County West.

The win gave the Panthers an 8-16 record entering post-season play at Luverne Tuesday night.

The Mavericks led 19-18 at the half but Tracy/Milroy/Balaton out-scored them 22-17 in the second half to secure the win. Ashley Kirk led the Panther scoring with 11 points to go with her 7 rebounds while Mallory Fultz had 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Each team had 27 rebounds. The Panthers had 6 steals to 4 for MCW, and a season-low six turnovers.

 

MCW 19 17 36

T/M/B 18 22 40

T/M/B: Lanoue 2, 2/2, 6; Haecherl 1, 3/4, 5; Miller 1, 2/5, 4; Daniels 2, 0/0, 4; Kirk 4, 3/5, 11; Fultz 4, 2/3, 10. Totals 14, 12/19, 40.


Dolan, Schmidt named to Camden South honors

The Panther boys’ basketball team won the Camden Conference South championship this season and Coach Nat Boyer was selected as the coach-of-the-year. Isaac Dolan and David Schmidt were selected to the all-conference team for the Camden Conference’s south division.

Other Camden south all-conference selections are: Spencer Kor and Brennan Rupp from R-T-R; Adam Hoffman and Danny Hennen from Minneota; Brady Miller and Kyle Marner from Canby; Brandon Ness and Clint Schindler from LH/LB. Schindler of LH/LB was chosen Most Valuable

All-conference Camden north selections were: Mike Schwitters from CMCS; Brent Jansen and Nate Johannson from RCW; Matt Wold and Joe Anderson from Dawson/Boyd; Justin Johnson and Sam Kavenaugh from KMS; Matt Leese, Zach Thissen and Justin Koenen from MACCRAY; Zach Myer and Derek Goldberg from Lakeview. Meyer from Lakeview was chosen Most Valuable. Gary Nelson from MACCRAY was coach-of-the-year.