Sports

Blooming Prairie forward Allison Krohnberg tries to drive past her Bethlehem Academy defender during the second half of the Awesome Blossoms’ dominant win.

BP girls earn dominant win over BA

The Blooming Prairie girls basketball team didn’t allow Bethlehem Academy to score its 10th point until the second half and never let the Cardinals get closer than 16 points in the second half, cruising to a 46-28 win on Saturday, Jan. 16. The Awesome Blossoms got off to a fast start and led 20-8...

New season, same Sarah. This time she rises up for a high-percentage shot during the final five minutes of Owatonna’s 61-46 win over Rochester Century. Kingland led the Huskies with 16 points. Her ability to play for a competitive team and stay close to home were a couple reasons she chose to commit to play for the MSU-Moorhead Dragons next winter.

A school fit for a King-land

Making a big life decision is never easy and finding the right university for academics and athletics makes it even harder, but despite those obstacles Owatonna girls basketball star Sarah Kingland has found the right school for both of her passions. She recently announced she’ll be continuing her...

Owatonna assistant coach named the state’s best

The Owatonna football team has won five straight section championships and recently the Huskies’ coaching staff members have started to receive recognition for their team’s success. A couple seasons ago, Head Coach Jeff Williams was named the Minnesota High School Coach of the Year, and this...

Blooming Prairie sophomore middle hitter Sierra Larson was named Honorable Mention All-Conference by opposing Gopher Conference coaches for making plays such as this one, hitting the ball past two Medford blockers, including First-Team All-Conference player Kinsey Cronin, right.

BP’s Trihus, Larson receive Gopher Conference honors

Even during a shortened season, the play of Blooming Prairie’s Micalyn Trihus and Sierra Larson stood out to opposing Gopher Conference volleyball coaches who voted them Second-Team All-Conference and Honorable Mention All-Conference, respectively. Trihus was awarded Second-Team All-Conference in...

Owatonna’s Landen Johnson wrestled his way to state runner-up title last season. He hopes to make another run for the state tourney again this year.

Huskies look to repeat last season’s success

By all accounts, the Owatonna wrestling team had a very successful 2019-2020 season, winning the section championship via a dramatic last-period pin and winning fourth place at the team state tournament. Now, the question this season’s team will have to answer is: Can they achieve the same level of...

Just seven Gopher Conference volleyball players were named second team All-Conference and NRHEG senior outside hitter Kendall Johnson was one of them. Here she hits the ball over the outstretched arms of Hayfield’s Maryx Young who was named first team All-Conference.

Panthers earn honors

It was a volleyball season unlike any other and that’s especially true for two New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva (NRHEG) volleyball players, but for a much better reason than COVID-19. That’s because senior Kendall Johnson was named second team All-Conference, while fellow senior Grace Tufte...

Blooming Prairie running back Tyler Archer, center, finds a large hole to run through thanks to the blocking of Mitchell Fiebiger, left, and Sam Pirkl, right. Archer, Fiebiger, Drew Kittelson, in the background all were named to Mid-Southeast All-District team along with Luke Larkoski, Cole Christianson, Bradley Simon and Colin Jordison.

Awesome Blossoms rewarded for their hard work

This past summer members of the Blooming Prairie football team weren’t sure if they’d get to play during the fall season, but once they got it back their commitment to excellence never wavered. They went undefeated, dominated the section championship game and had seven players named to the Mid-...

Joe Pumper of the Owatonna Diving Club prepares to get out of the 39-degree water during the club’s 57th annual dive on New Year’s Day.

Divers preserve an ice-cold tradition

The annual New Year’s Day Dive in Owatonna wasn’t quite the same this year. For the first-time in the event’s 57-year history, neither Troy Matejcek nor his father, Don Matejcek, took the frigid plunge. The elder Matejcek founded the annual event in 1963 and his son is now president of the...

Youth sports resume this week

After being paused the past six weeks, youth sports are finally back! Its return, along with the move to hybrid or in-person learning, gives students a more typical school routine. “It’s something that provides some sort of normalcy to their lives, which is something they haven’t had much of the...

Medford running back Jack Paulson tries to escape the grasp of Blooming Prairie linebacker Tyler Archer during the second half of the Tigers’ 26-15 loss to the Awesome Blossoms. Paulson and nine of his teammates were selected to the Mid-Southeast White All-District Team or All-District Honorable Mention. In addition to making the all-district team, Paulson was also named this year’s Offensive Player of the Year for the Mid-Southeast District.

Seven Tigers named to all-district team

The Medford football team had its most successful season since 2013 by going 6-2 and winning the Section 2AA third place game and now thanks to its contribution to the team’s success 10 Tigers have been selected to the Mid-Southeast White All-District Team or All-District Honorable Mention. The...