“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• Both Tracy-Milroy basketball teams reached the state tournament during this memorable year.
The girls had a simple goal this week at the Minnesota Class A girls’ basketball tournament.
“We’re going up there with the idea of trying to win the thing,’’ says coach Shorty Engel. “We have the ability to do it.”
But even though the Panthers upended the defending Class A champion Midwest Minnesota in the Region 3A playoff last week, Engel isn’t casting his team as one of the pre-tourney favorites.
“We don’t need that kind of added pressure. There are going to be a lot of good teams up there,” he said.
The two top contenders, Engel feels, will be New London-Spicer and Rochester Lourdes. New London is the only remaining undefeated Class A team at 24-0. Rochester Lourdes, 23-2. “has this Decker kid who is probably the finest girls’ basketball player in the state,” Engel said.
The fact that both teams are in a bracket opposite from Tracy-Milroy could be an advantage. But Engel points out it is impossible to know whether T-M is in an easier bracket, not having seen all of the other teams. The Panthers’ first-round opponent is Wheaton, District 21 champion. The Warriors advanced to the state with a 45-40 win over Osakis.
Meanwhile, the boys will take their 21-3 record into the state tourney against New Ulm Minnesota Valley Lutheran (21-4). The two teams will face off at 9:20 p.m. at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota Campus.
The tournament appearance is the second for Tracy High School and the first for Milroy. The only other tourney appearance was 1940 for THS.
“The kids have put in a lot of hard work to get this far,” said coach Bob Ladehoff. “It’s great to see them get to play in the state tournament. I’m really proud of them.”
Tracy-Milroy joins an elite group of schools that have qualified both girls’ and boys’ basketball teams for the state tournament in the same years. It’s happened only twice before — Albany High School did it first in 1981; this year, Duluth East, has also qualified both a boys’ and girls’ team for state basketball competion.
“It’s just a great feeling,” an exuberant Ladehoff exclaimed about the upcoming appearance at state.
• Last week’s answer: The year was 1999 when Willow Lake Lutheran Church celebrated its 125th anniversary.
